Forest Day started off with a  speech by President Calderon, who said we must “empujar todos” (“push all”) towards a REDD+ agreement. An agreement on REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation) is predicted by many high level panelists to be one the biggest outcomes from COP 16.

Forest Day 4: Photo courtesy of www.cc2010.mx

“REDD + is an enormous prize within our grasp” –  John Ashton, the special representative for climate change at the UK Foreign Commonwealth Office.

Tony La Vina, Chair of the REDD working group, said there are “exceptionally good dynamics at the REDD+ negotiation.”

During Forest Day, attendees were surveyed on a variety of topics. Here are 2 interesting results:

Q: How important is it to monitor the co-benefits of REDD+? Response: 65% of attendees support monitoring even if it effects emission reduction effectiveness.

Q: How should forests be included in a post-Kyoto climate agreement, through a REDD ++ agreement? Response: There was very low support to support additional measures post-Kyoto, likely based on the fear that additional requests now would affect the success of  the current REDD + negotiations.