What is COP26?
COP26 is the 2021 United Nations annual climate change conference. COP stands for Conference of the Parties. Parties are the signatories of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) - a treaty agreed in 1994 which has 197 Parties (196 countries and the EU). The 2021 conference, hosted by the UK, together with our partners Italy, in Glasgow, will be the 26th meeting of the Parties, which is why it's called COP26. United Nations climate change conferences are among the largest international meetings in the world. The negotiations between governments are complex and involve officials from every country in the world as well as representatives from civil society and the global news media.
FSC and climate change
Climate change undermines the natural ecosystems on which we rely for our basic needs – food, health, and shelter – and many of the products that support our livelihoods and economies. Protecting forests from conversion to other land uses such as agriculture, introducing management practices that maintain the integrity of the forest, and restoring degraded forests, all contribute to reducing the impacts of climate change. FSC believes in the importance of nurturing responsible forestry to protect healthy and resilient forests that sustain life on earth. FSC certification can be an important tool to secure the necessary protective measures to prevent deforestation. The FSC system contributes to mitigating climate change by promoting sustainable forest management, and the recycling of wood materials. Our global framework for forest management standards, gives special attention to protecting the function of forests as net removers of CO2 from the atmosphere.
Ecosystem services
Ecosystem services are the benefits that we obtain from nature and natural processes. The FSC Ecosystem Services Procedure builds on FSC forest management certification by allowing forest managers or owners to make specific, credible claims on how their management activities are contributing to maintaining and/or enhancing various ecosystem services in their forests. Ecosystem services claims provide nature-based information through the measurement of impacts such as carbon sequestration and storage, biodiversity conservation, watershed services, soil conservation and recreational services.
FSC at COP26
FSC will be hosting a virtual event at COP26 in partnership with Reforestamos Mexico (RM) and WWF Madagascar:
Co-creating forest-based solutions to enhance social and ecological resilience with shared value
In this event we will have an open dialogue with key sectors that benefit from, promote, support and invest on sustainable forest management, forest conservation and restoration and the need to cocreate tools that help them ensure positive social, environmental and economic impacts.
Date: Tuesday, 9 November 2021
Time: 18:30 -19:45 GMT
FSC will also be hosting another event:
A forest of solutions – The Congo Basin public and private sector for healthy forests, healthy communities and a healthy world
Date: Thursday 11 November 2021
Time: 10:00-11:00 GMT
The session will feature responsible forest management, conservation and restorations nature based solutions against climate change in the Congo Basin. It will integrate the views of key sectors connected to forests with an integrated value chain approach that includes all products and services and the benefits they provide to society. Our integrated value chain approach includes sectors committed to deliver positive climate benefits connected to forests, such as the financial sector and governments and indigenous peoples depending and living in forests.