The 14-day negotiations at the COP17 in Durban led to the approval of a package of decisions. The outcome is considered a major success for the European Union, which is determined to undertake further commitments under the Kyoto Protocol for the period after 2012. 

“The determination of Hedegaard and her team salvaged Durban talks on global warming” (Reuters)

The main elements of the package of decisions are as follows:

1. The establishment of the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action, a commitment by all countries to work on a "process to develop a protocol, another legal instrument, or outcome with legal force under the Convention applicable to all Parties”. This process is to be completed by 2015. This means that countries will now be working towards an agreement that will, at a minimum, have “legal force” covering the actions to be implemented by all countries as of 2020. 
2. The new Green Climate Fund (of US$100 billion per annum as of 2020) was established as one of the means to promote investment in developing countries to help deploy low carbon energy, support reductions in deforestation, and assist the most vulnerable countries in increasing their resilience to the impacts of global warming.
3. The 2^nd commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol (Kyoto-2) will start in 2013 (without the participation of Japan, Russia and Canada). A number of key points still will need to be decided on in 2012, for example whether the commitment period should end in 2017 or in 2020, what the emission targets should be, and how unused emission rights should be managed. A new element of this 2^nd commitment period is the introduction of accounting rules on land‐use, land use change and forestry (LULUCF).

The Durban Platform is a symbolic step forward and is also an instrument that leaves the door open to legal commitment for all countries, thereby helping to remove the distinction between developed and developing countries. Delayed action is better than no action!  

Forest negotiations and the JRC’s contribution

With current Kyoto Protocol rules, countries may use forest “credits and debits” to meet emission objectives. Most agree that these rules do not foster incentives for better forest management; credits are obtained with no additional effort, and material and energy substitution is addressed inconsistently.

Projections of CO₂ sequestration (sink) by forests for 14 EU MS which used the estimates prepared by the IES (based on modelling work of IIASA and EFI) to set their forest management reference level (FMRL). FMRL is the level of sink against which future performance will be assessed.

Projections of CO₂ sequestration (sink) by forests for 14 EU MS which used the estimates prepared by the IES (based on modelling work of IIASA and EFI) to set their forest management reference level (FMRL). FMRL is the level of sink against which future performance will be assessed.

IES scientists Frédéric Achard and Giacomo Grassi provided support to the negotiations related to Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry (LULUCF, for industrialised countries) and on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD+, for developing countries). With regard to LULUCF, the projections prepared by the IES in collaboration with forest modellers from the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), the European Forest Institute (EFI), DG CLIMA and the EU MS, were used by 14 EU Member States (MS) to determine their Forest management reference levels. More generally, the support provided by the IES during negotiations was crucial to help decide on future accounting rules for forest management.  With regard to REDD+, the JRC contributed to ongoing negotiations on a post-2012 climate agreement by summarising the technical capabilities for estimating emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in the tropics and by exploring pragmatic solutions for implementing actions at national level.

According to G. Grassi, the forest reference level (RL) agreed in Durban for LULUCF is in theory a positive step forward, because it allows for mandatory accounting and gives incentives to do better, and the risk of using credits for doing nothing is reasonably low. In practice, projected RLs involve technical complexities and high uncertainties. LULUCF is more a leverage than a solution but, for some countries, the new rules may be key to joining Kyoto‐2. On REDD+, it was noted that inviting developing countries to propose reference levels with only very generic guidance on practical implementation/methods could cause problems in the future.

JRC involvement in Side Events

“Global forest land-use change from 1990 to 2005 - Initial results from the Remote Sensing Survey of the FAO Global Forest Resources Assessment”              
30^th November 2011
This side event was jointly organised by the JRC and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO). The initial results were presented of the Remote Sensing Survey (RSS) of the Global Forest Resource Assessment 2010 (FRA2010), led by the FAO. The side-event was opened by M. Bucki (DG CLIMA) who mentioned that the FAO FRA-2010 RSS project was funded mainly by the EC (80%). F. Achard presented the JRC contribution to the RSS and A. Gerrand (FAO) the initial results. Two national partners (from Papua New Guinea and Angola) presented their experience of participating in the survey. The presentations were followed by discussions with attendees.

A joint FAO / JRC summary report entitled “Global forest land-use change from 1990 to 2005” was released during the side-event. The Inter Press Service (IPS) News Agency reported on this side event in an article entitled ‘Observing Deforestation from Space’.

CLIMA side-event entitled "The cost-effectiveness of REDD+"
30^th November 2011
This event (chaired by M. Bucki) explored the impacts of different incentive schemes on the mitigation, adaptation and development potential of REDD+. An extract of a submitted paper1 was presented by G. Grassi under the title “The REDD+ matrix: a pragmatic and conservative solution for countries with low monitoring capacities”. The side event was well attended (60 persons) and the presentation was well received.

ESA side-event entitled “Sustaining Systematic Climate Observations from Space”
30^th November 2011
F. Achard moderated the side event organised by ESA on Systematic Climate Observations from Space with presentations by the South African National Space Agency (SANSA) and Gabon on the REDD+ system. A presentation was made with inputs from the IES SOLO Action about JRC contributions on Long-term Systematic Observations. The event let to interesting discussions and a constructive proposal from South Africa and Gabon on space development issues in Africa.

EUrocLIMA: Science and policy jointly fighting Climate Change in Latin America
6^th December 2011
IES scientist Cesar Carmona-Moreno co-chaired this joint side event with DG DEVCO. At the event, the biophysical and socio-economic components of EUrocLIMA were presented and the preliminary results from a wide range of research areas were discussed with participants. These included Water Resources, Soil, Food Security, Biofuels and Drought and Desert.

The analysis of the results and reports will be freely accessible to the Climate Change community through the JRC web pages. The results of the scientific component will be in line with the needs of Latin American policy makers in the different fields. These will have the possibility to interpret the scientific results from a regional perspective and better understand the climate change impacts in their own countries.

During Q&A a replication in Africa of the EUrocLIMA approach in linking science and policy was suggested by a representative of the African Union.