Videotaped Opening Remarks for the Opening of the Oslo Climate and Forest Conference 2010
Robert B. Zoellick
President, World Bank Group
May 27, 2010
Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I am sorry that I couldn’t be with you in person, but I appreciate this opportunity to speak to you. This meeting could prove to be most important for the forest and climate change agenda. So I want to thank the government of Norway for hosting this timely conference. One important message that came out of Copenhagen was that the world is ready to move toward a practical, realistic, and significant REDD-plus partnership. Now we need to move. The outcome of this meeting could be the first comprehensive component for a future international agreement on climate change.
REDD-plus could show the way for other areas of the climate change negotiations, by combining sound institutional arrangements and practical action on the ground.
It is encouraging to see countries coming together. I want to thank President Sarkozy for convening the forest basin meeting in March and Prime Minister Stoltenberg for organizing today’s conference on the REDD-plus partnership.
But there is more work ahead and not all of it will be easy. REDD-plus necessitates an ambitious agenda. We collectively need to reform policies, build institutions, and launch demonstration activities. This has been the focus of the UN-REDD Programme and the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility. The World Bank launched the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility in Bali in 2007, to assist developing nations to reduce emissions from deforestation, including with performance-based payments. In some 3 years, the Partnership has grown to include 37 forest countries.
We also recognized that addressing deforestation poses special development challenges, and we cannot allow the poor to bear an unfair burden. Protecting our forests means investing in cleaner growth.
This is the focus of our Forest Investment Program--transformational investments in various sectors to reduce pressure on forests.
Through these early efforts, we learned that a successful REDD-plus effort depends on new partnerships in this increasingly dynamic and multi-polar world. Governments must work with civil society, indigenous groups, and the private sector.
The potential gains are significant. Australia, France, Germany, Japan, Norway, Slovenia, Spain, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the European Union have already pledged $4.5 billion for REDD-plus. This is a huge opportunity. I want to thank them for their commitment.
I also wish to recognize the forest countries. They are putting REDD-plus on the agenda. They will ultimately make REDD-plus happen, through changes in land-use policies and directing capital to cleaner growth.
The World Bank, the other multilateral development banks, and the United Nations have established the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility, the Forest Investment Program and the UN-REDD Programme to help countries reach their objectives.
These initiatives already bring together more than 50 countries and organizations to demonstrate that we are committed to addressing the causes of forest loss in sustainable ways.
The Secretary General and I have agreed to work together to deliver the services that may be requested to make this happen. Our teams are already exploring options for enhancing cooperation and coordination.
The World Bank stands ready to assist the REDD-plus partnership in any way we can. So we look forward to the outcome of this important meeting.
REDD-plus is already catalyzing the integration of forest policies with country strategies, monitoring systems, stakeholder engagement, and inter-agency cooperation. Now we need to build the momentum and goodwill. Our aim should be a successful REDD-plus result that will be a major achievement in Cancún.
Thank you.
