On Thursday, September 30, the German Advisory Council on Forests and Climate Change held its first meeting. This marked the start of the multi-stakeholder dialog on the development of the first German forest climate standard.
The meeting took place virtually. All participants will only have the opportunity to meet physically at the next conference in Berlin.
In his opening speech, Alexander Zeihe, Chairman of the EVA, emphasized the Forest Climate Council's claim to build a bridge between the pursuit of the major goals of protecting the global climate and the concrete requirements and needs of silviculture and forest farmers in Germany on the ground.
Moriz Vohrer, Technical Director of the Forest Climate Standard Secretariat, then introduced the participants to the development of climate standards with a brief historical overview and presented the analysis used to identify best practices for forest climate standards. Derived from these, a first draft of ten principles for the German Forest Climate Standard was presented, which served as a basis for technical discussion among the participants.
The participants then went into workshops and focused on the principles of the standard, various specialist topics and carbon ownership issues. These and other topics will then be developed in joint workshops at subsequent meetings of the Forest Climate Council.
The specific aim of the multi-stakeholder dialog is to present an initial pilot version of the standard next spring, on the basis of which the first projects in Germany can then undergo certification. The Secretariat is offering forest owners who want to start climate-friendly afforestation as early as spring 2022 the opportunity to include selected areas in the pilot phase of the forest climate standard.
Interested forest owners and project developers can contact the secretariat of the Forest Climate Standard: sekretariat@waldklimastandard.de
At this first meeting of the Climate Council on Forests, it became clear that all participants are very willing to cooperate and to take joint responsibility for the major goals formulated in the 2015 Paris Agreement.