The Peruvian government and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) on Thursday signed an agreement to contribute to significant reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in the country.
The document was signed by Peru’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Gonzalo Gutierrez and the President of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Luis Alberto Moreno, and constitutes a Memorandum of Understanding stipulating cooperation in implementing new projects to curb such emissions.
Inked on the sidelines of the 69th Session of the UN General Assembly, the agreement seeks to achieve target of zero net emissions from land use change and forestry in Peru by 2021, and will promote the sustainable development of the country’s agricultural, forestry, and mining sectors.
To this end, the Peru-IDB cooperation will focus on strengthening environment and agriculture sectors in order to improve the land management system, good environmental governance and forest monitoring systems.
The IDB will contribute with technical and financial resources for the establishment of the enabling conditions, governance and structure of the financial mechanism as well as enhancement of capacities for achieving the expected results of emissions reductions from deforestation and forest degradation.
Since 2012, the IDB has been supporting the Government of Peru to start discussions with donor countries to design a financial mechanism for reducing greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation and forest degradation.
Peruvian forests, which account for the fourth largest extension of tropical in the world, are particularly vulnerable to the threat of climate change, due to the susceptibility of its mega biodiversity -which represents 10-15 percent of the world’s species- the high density of its carbon stocks and the well-being of its indigenous peoples to these changes.
(END) NDP/EGZ/RMB
Published: 9/26/2014