12th Session of United Nations Forum on Forests
NCCF in joint collaboration with TERI participated in the two side events at the 12th session of UN Forum on Forests (UNFF) from 1-5 May 2017 at UN Headquarters, New York.
Side Event 1 : Issues and Challenges for implementing Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) in India: 01 May 2017
Mr Sachin Raj Jain presented the ‘Status of Forest Certification in India’., He highlighted the role and the status of the Forest Certification in India. He explained that in a country like India, which ranks seventh in terms of its geographical area and second in terms of its population in the world, faces several threats and pressures on its forest resources. He further stated that Forest Certification is a market based non-regulatory conservation tool designed to recognize and promote responsible forest management.
He explained that through forest certification, timber harvest planning and practices are evaluated by an independent third party, according to standards that address environmental protection as well as social and economic welfare. Mr Jain also explained the detailed process of Forest Certification in India and the available certification schemes. He then linked it to India’s NDC target of creating an additional carbon sink of 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent through additional forest and tree cover by 2030. He ended his presentation highlighting the issues and challenges with the Forest Certification process in the country.
Side Event 2 : Opportunities for mitigating Climate Change through the forestry sector in India: 02 May 2017
Mr. Sachin Raj Jain, stated that forests are national resource of global concern. He said that the forests particularly in developing countries like India are under rapid rates of deforestation and degradation. Thus in-order to capture drivers of forest degradation, the global community has shown the window of forest-based carbon financing through Afforestation Reforestation Clean Development Mechanism (AR-CDM) and Reduced Emission from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) which should be used to its fullest potential.