Joint Institute for Security Studies (ISS) and Ministry of Environment and Mineral Resources (MEMR) Seminar, Nairobi: Linking Stakeholders in Conservi

Forests play a great role in sequestering Carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and storing it in a harmless state in tree trunks. Therefore forests play a great role in mitigating climate change which is facilitated by emission of Green House Gases like Carbon Dioxide. By conserving forests and planting more trees, a reduction in the emission of Green House Gases is made. In Kenya currently, forests occupy 1.7% of the total land area, but despite the relatively small forest cover, there is a high dependence on forest for provision of wood and non-wood products.

Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) is a global effort to create a value for the carbon stored in forests, offering incentives for developing countries to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation and invest in low-carbon paths to sustainable development. Its original objective is to reduce green house gases but it can deliver "co-benefits" such as biodiversity conservation and poverty alleviation (Varghese, P. 2009). Recently, estimates for deforestation and forest degradation have been shown to account for 20-25% of greenhouse gas emissions, higher than the transportation sector (Myers E.C., 2007). In order to constrain the impacts of climate change within limits that society will reasonably be able to tolerate, the global average temperatures must be stabilized within 2°C. This will be practically impossible to achieve without reducing emissions from the forest sector, in addition to other mitigation actions.

In Kenya, the Kenya Forest Service as the national REDD focal point, has been spearheading a local multi-stakeholder effort to among other things develop a national strategy for implementation of REDD activities in the country. This is being done in close liaison with the Ministry of Environment and Mineral Resources, which is mandated to coordinate climate change activities in the country. In developing a REDD readiness project proposal for Kenya, a technical working group with three themes was created; a policy committee dealing with laws related to REDD, a consultation committee that seeks to identify relevant stakeholders and a methodology committee that seeks to develop appropriate Measurement Reporting and Verification mechanisms.

The Institute for Security Studies seeks to add onto these on-going efforts through facilitation of a joint Seminar to foster the successful implementation of REDD to ensure benefits for all. The specific objectives of the seminar are to:

The Institute for Security Studies, ISS

As a leading African human security research institution, the ISS works towards a stable and peaceful Africa characterized by sustainable development, human rights, the rule of law, democracy, collaborative security and gender mainstreaming. ISS realizes this vision by: undertaking applied research, training and capacity building; working collaboratively with others; facilitating and supporting policy formulation; monitoring trends and policy implementation; collecting, interpreting and disseminating information; and networking on national, regional and international levels.

Ministry of Environment and Mineral Resources, MENR

The mandate of the ministry is to monitor, protect, conserve and manage the environment and natural resources through sustainable exploitation for socio-economic development aimed at eradication of poverty, improving living standards and ensuring that a clean environment is sustained now and in the future. To achieve this, the ministry has technical departments. One such department is the Department of Resource Surveys and Remote Sensing (DRSRS). The Mandate of DRSRS is the collection, storage, archiving, analysis, updating and dissemination of geo-spatial information on natural resources for informed decision-making for sustainable management with the aim of reducing environmental degradation and alleviating poverty. In the REDD preparation programme for Kenya, DRSRS is spearheading the methodology theme and will provide information on the Carbon status of the forests and how the carbon changes with time. This is the information required for valuing the forests as Carbon sinks.