Forests and Climate Change after Lima: Perspectives from the Asia-Pacific region

Almost every nation is now a signatory to the Convention on Climate Change. The first Conference of Parties (COP) was held in Berlin in 1995. Two decades since, we have come a long way, but we have yet to reach the ultimate objective of stabilizing greenhouse gas concentrations at a level that would end human-induced influence on the climate. While the COP negotiations are landmark events for humankind, many experts who work in the field and are not directly involved in the negotiations cannot claim to comprehend what is being discussed. With this in mind, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), in cooperation with other agencies, has been conducting post-COP consultations to explore what COPs mean in practical terms. This publication reports on the outcome of one such consultation – Forests and Climate Change after Lima: An Asia-Pacific Perspective. The report provides valuable insights into what Lima truly represents for climate change negotiations, and how these initial proposals will set the path for climate change agreement post-Kyoto protocol.