IBI's Activities at the UN Climate Change Conference in Poznan, Poland
December 1 - 12, 2008
|
IBI is pleased to announce that it will participate in conference activities in Poznan, Poland at the upcoming United Nations Climate Change Conference. The UN Climate Change Conference is the 14th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP 14) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). During the 2 weeks of the conference, an estimated 8,000 people and over 190 government delegations will participate. The UNFCCC is one of the most important environmental agreements to lay down a framework for international actions to address global climate warming.
For additional information on the United Nations Climate Change Conference COP14, being held in Poznan, Poland, go to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) website, at: http://unfccc.int/2860.php
IBI will present a technology exhibit, rent an office and meeting space providing biochar materials and samples, and host a seminar. This venue offers an excellent opportunity for IBI to showcase the role of biochar in addressing climate change. Highlighted below are IBI's specific activities as well as an opportunity for IBI network members to contribute information.
| |
Poznan Update: IBI Announces Micronesia Backing for Biochar as Carbon Mitigation and Storage Strategy at the UN Climate Meeting in Poznan, Poland
POZNAN, Poland, December 12, 2008 � The International Biochar Initiative (IBI) announces that Micronesia has filed a submission at the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) proceedings underway in Poznan to introduce biochar as a technology for consideration as a �fast-start� strategy to �mitigate climate change in the immediate near-term.� The submission places biochar on the draft agenda to be considered during UNFCCC negotiations in Copenhagen in 2009.
Micronesia�s proposal follows the filing of a submission by the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) endorsing biochar earlier this week. The UNCCD, a sister convention to the UNFCCC, identified biochar as a unique opportunity to address soils as a carbon sink, in line with its 10 year strategic program that calls for the promotion of low-carbon footprint sustainable practices and technologies that assist affected countries in the implementation of their National Actions Programs to Combat Desertification and Drought.
IBI Executive Director Debbie Reed said, �This is an incredibly important achievement, since Micronesia, as a UNFCCC country party, has officially positioned biochar as a mitigation technology for adoption even prior to the post-2012 framework. The UNCCD submission was an excellent start to what we sought here in Poznan, but the Micronesia submission offers a chance to jump-start efforts to adopt biochar as a climate change mitigation technology.� For more information, see the December 12 press release below.
| 
Biochar in the UNFCCC Policy Context |
Biochar Technology Exhibit
The International Biochar Initiative (IBI) and the Biochar Engineering Corporation (BEC) are jointly presenting a Biochar Exhibit at the Poznan Exhibition "Technologies for Climate Protection". The exhibition site will be on the grounds of the International Poznan Fair, in Pavilion 5 (Section G; Miscellaneous Booth 5G). Look for the joint IBI/BEC Exhibit, which will be on display from 1 - 14 December. The exhibit will feature BEC's Biochar Batch Production Unit as well as an information board on biochar production and utilization, to include a description of other biochar production technologies, and other relevant information. We will also be presenting a new film on biochar at the exhibit, featuring Johannes Lehmann and others discussing Terra Preta, biochar production, biochar's beneficial properties in soils, biochar and climate change, as well as the potential for carbon sequestration.
Please plan to come by and view the exhibit, and see the biochar information boards and the film!
Visit the Technologies for Climate Protection Exhibition homepage by clicking here.
|
 |
| The BEC unit for display at Poznan |
|
|
IBI Office and Meeting Space
The International Biochar Initiative (IBI) and the Biochar Engineering Corporation (BEC) are jointly renting an office and meeting space at the Poznan Technology Exhibit in Exhibition Hall 5, Pavilion 5, Office 210. Look for the IBI logo outside our office. We will have biochar materials to hand out, technical information, a video display, and biochar samples.
IBI Personnel in Poznan, Poland:
Please come by and say hello to the IBI staff staffing the IBI Office and Meeting Space at the Poznan Technology Exhibit in Exhibition Hall 5:
Johannes Lehmann
Chairman of the Board
International Biochar Initiative
Debbie Reed
Executive Director, Policy Director
International Biochar Initiative
|
IBI Side Events: Friday, December 5, 2008
Side Event: 9:00 � 10:30 am, Fox Room: Biochar � A New Item for the Climate Toolkit to Decrease CO2 and High Impact Climate Agents from 9:00 � 10:30 am. This side event will focus on biochar science and policy applications and discuss how biochar offers one of the only carbon negative climate solutions available today. The carbon in biochar is stable for hundreds to thousands of years; and biochar-amended soils enhance crop productivity and agricultural sustainability. With high impact climate and agricultural benefits, biochar belongs on the SBSTA agenda.
Seminar: 4:00 � 4:50 pm, Discussion and Banquet Room at the Poznan Technology Exhibition Hall 5. Biochar: A Carbon-Negative Technology to Combat Climate Change and Enhance Global Soil Resources. Open to all participants at COP-14 and to the general public, this seminar will convey the promise of biochar as a climate change mitigation tool. The seminar will focus on scalable biochar production technologies in the both the developing and developed country context.
IBI Side Events: Thursday, December 11, 2008
The Secretariat of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) hosted a side event Thursday, December 11 titled: New stoves for rural households to capture carbon, reduce deforestation, and improve soil fertility. The event introduced the concept of mobilizing rural households to adopt new high-efficiency cookstoves that reduce emissions and also produce charcoal that can be incorporated into soils for both carbon sequestration and soil improvement. The side event was chaired by Gregoire de Kalbermatten, UNCCD Deputy Executive Secretary, and speakers included: Sergio Zelaya, UNCCD; Barney Dickson, Head of Climate Change and Biodiversity, UN Environmental Program, World Conservation Monitoring Center; Debbie Reed, Executive Director of IBI; and Robert Flanagan, President of S.A.F.F.E (Sustainable Agricultural Food and Fuel Enterprises) Ltd.
|
How IBI Network Members can Participate
Materials
IBI would like to invite its network members to submit printed information (brochures or pamphlets or similar items) on their organization, projects, technologies, policies and other relevant topics to be displayed in the IBI Office and Meeting Space during the Poznan Conference. However, all interested parties must arrange delivery of their materials to the site, and IBI cannot be responsible for the delivery (or return) of these materials. IBI will not return these materials after the conference. IBI will display printed materials on a tabletop or on shelving in the IBI office, and may make materials available as handouts, if desired. For more information on submitting materials, and to receive a list of forwarding services identified by the Polish government for sending materials to the site, please email Thayer Tomlinson at info@biochar-international.org with the subject line "Materials for Poznan".
Photos
IBI is developing a number of printed materials for the conference and is updating the IBI website and would like to include photos of projects, technologies, field trials, and biochar. If you have photos you would like to contribute, please send them with explanations of the subject and photo credit information to Kelpie Wilson at kelpie@dishmail.net with the subject line "Biochar Photos". Photos for Poznan need to be submitted by Nov 1, 2008. IBI will be assembling a photo database with these images and will use them on the IBI website as well. Please send the highest resolution possible.
|
|
