Background
The Asia-Pacific is one of the world’s most dynamic regions. Its rapid development is accompanied by many challenges, including global climate change and a growing population. Agricultural expansion to achieve food security and economic development can threaten the sustainability and biodiversity of the region’s tropical forests, and the many ecosystem services they provide.
Against this backdrop, some regional economies are adopting a green-growth approach to sustainably manage their forests and landscapes. As part of the Paris Climate Change Agreement, countries have also established targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, including emission reductions from the forest sector. Similarly, leading businesses are committing to sustainable land-use and investment practices, including pledges to halt deforestation.
The 3rd Asia-Pacific Rainforest Summit (APRS) comes after the landmark global agreements reached in 2015 through the Paris Climate Change Agreement and the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals. There was a need to use this momentum, develop new partnerships and deliver locally based solutions in the sustainable management of forests and landscapes to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions.
APRS is part of the Asia-Pacific Rainforest Partnership (APRP), which supports the implementation of the Paris Climate Change Agreement and encourages the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in the region. APRP brings together countries from across Asia-Pacific.
APRS is an important event which gathers actors from a wide range of sectors, including governments, private sector executives, leading practitioners from non-government organizations and world-class researchers from institutions and academies to exchange knowledge and highlight leading practices to slow, halt and reverse deforestation in the Asia-Pacific region.
2018 APRS
The 3rd APRS is a key regional event which brings together government, business, civil society and the research community to catalyze practical action on forest conservation to help achieve sustainable development in the region.
Themed “Protecting Forests and People, Supporting Economic Growth,” APRS will provide the opportunity for countries from across the region to showcase their work on balancing economics, well being of forest communities and conservation.
The 3rd APRS will focus on crucial areas for action, including:
- Restoring degraded landscapes and protecting high conservation value forests.
- Formulating national policies that reduce rainforest loss, support sustainable economic development and work towards the milestones set during the Paris Climate Change Agreement and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.
- Increasing the knowledge, understanding and conservation of the region’s biodiversity, threatened species and watersheds.
- Enhancing collaboration with international partners to strengthen forest governance and promote legal timber.
- Building national systems to measure and monitor forest resources to facilitate future participation
in REDD+.
The 2018 APRS will build on the success of the 2016 APRS held in Brunei Darussalam and the 2014 Summit held in Sydney, Australia, and will continue the international dialogue on forestry in the region.
The Previous APRS
From 3-5 August, 2016, more than more than 300 representatives from government, research, civil society and the private sectors from across the Asia-Pacific came together in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei Darussalam, to discuss ways to sustainably slow, halt and reverse deforestation in the region.
The 2nd APRS concluded that:
- Asia-Pacific leaders are committed to continuing regional partnerships to protect the region’s forests, including the APRP established at the first APRS.
- The private sector has an important role to play, including eliminating deforestation from its own practices, as well as by investing in a green economy.
- Public-private-people partnerships will be key for finding sustainable strategies to protect forests and address climate change.