NMBU has been granted Permanent Observer Status at the conferences of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
This year’s UNFCCC conference will take place in Marrakech, Morocco 7 – 18 November and it will be the first time the Norwegian University of Life Science (NMBU) participates with an official delegation at a UN conference. The accreditation as Observer applies to all future UNFCCC conferences.
«This gives us the opportunity to present results from climate related research to the negotiators, NGO-representatives and other researchers,» Professor Arild Vatn, head of the NMBU delegation, explained.
In NMBU’s case this applies to research on the conservation of forests as a measure to mitigate climate change - Reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+) - unique research that has been done over the course of seven years.
Further, many other researches will also present their research at the conference.
This gives us access to valuable knowledge. The conference is also a valuable arena for discussions with negotiators, and the plenary sessions offer insight into the negotiation process,» said Vatn.
The UN climate change convention was adopted in 1992 at the “Rio summit” and entered into force in March 1994. The convention is the framework for international climate-related collaboration.
Negotiations under the convention take place at the annual Conference of the Parties (COP) where climate and environment ministers from the member States (Parties) review and discuss the implementation of the Convention. Many NGOs and other organisations also attend the COPs.
This year’s COP (number 22) starts soon after the Paris Agreement enters into force (4 November).
Professor Arild Angelsen has participated at the UNFCCC COPs since 2008 as part of the CIFOR delegation (Center for International Forestry Research), where he is an associate researcher.
He agrees that the COPs are an important venue for meeting fellow researchers, participants from member States, the civil society and the private sector, and points to the COP 17 in Durban (2011) as an example:
«Before the conference, a small group had worked on the reference levels for the REDD+ mechanism. We presented this to the climate negotiators and our proposal for a “stepwise approach” was included in the COP decision.»
Three NMBU-departments are represented in the official NMBU-delegation: the School of Economics and Business (HH), Department of Ecology and Natural Resource Management (INA) and Department of International Environment and Development Studies (Noragric.)
Participants include Prof. Arild Vatn (Noragric), Prof. Arild Angelsen (School of Economics and Business), Assoc. Professor Katharina Glaab (Noragric), PhD candidate Mary Gorett Nantongo (Noragric), Post-doc Åsa Grytli Tveten (INA) and PhD candidate Mariann Birkedal (INA).
Together with Noragric’s PhD candidate Raymond Achu Samndong Vatn and Nantongo will participate in a side-event funded by the Nordic Council of Ministers, “Providing support to developing countries: means of implementation, replicable tools and approaches».
Angelsen is presenting his research on reference levels for REDD+ at a CIFOR side-event called «Governing information in Climate Change: Challenges, opportunities, and risks». He will also chair two other side-events.