Secretaries of the Environment and delegates from the Governors’ Climate and Forests (GCF) Task Force in Brazil convened in Brasília, April 18-20th, 2018, to discuss the GCF Task Force’s structure and coordination and learn from leading experts on a range of technical and policy issues.
As a result of the meetings, secretaries and delegates decided that starting June 1, 2018, the GCF will hire a full-time Executive Secretary who will be based in Brasília and directly connected to the Legal Amazon Governors’ Consortium. They recognized the significant contributions of IDESAM, who has been serving as the GCF Coordinator since the inception of the GCF coordination structure in Brazil. The decision was also taken to form a focused Secretaries Council to advance the GCF Task Force’s work throughout the Amazon, as well as to strengthen networks with partners including non-governmental institutions and universities.
Additional discussions focused on outcomes from the first GCF Task Force Executive Committee meeting, held April 12-13 in Boulder, Colorado, which aims to enhance members’ participation in the growing GCF network; potential opportunities for REDD+ in Brazil from two global sectoral agreements, the International Civil Aviation Organization’s Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA) and International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) recent decision to mitigate maritime navigation emissions; and Green Climate Fund financing opportunities for REDD+ projects.
On April 19th, the United Nations Development Programme, partner to the GCF Task Force, led a robust technical workshop that united GCF Task Force members, leading environmental organizations in the Brazilian Amazon, and technical experts to explore how platforms can monitor the performance of statewide strategies to reduce deforestation and promote sustainable development. Members also learned how different finance tools can be used to advance jurisdictional investment plans, which would help unlock the finance needed to achieve results at scale. And on April 20th, GCF Task Force delegates participated in a training session on negotiation strategies and skills to strengthen their participation in key forest and climate decision-making forums.