Not at COP18? Stay informed at home!

Right now, the Rainforest Alliance’s climate team is in Doha, Qatar tracking COP18 negotiations and facilitating workshops and events to raise the profile of key issues related to reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD+), climate-smart agriculture and the role of voluntary sustainable certification systems in climate change adaptation and mitigation .

Fortunately, you don’t have to be in Doha to stay abreast of COP18 news. You can monitor and track progress and pitfalls at the climate summit from afar. We know being a “virtual participant” can be overwhelming, so we’ve put together a list of informative, credible and insightful resources.

Getting up to speed

• The World Resource Institute’s Doha landing page: a great resource for tracking key themes at Doha and explaining the climate summit in the context of the full year of negotiations, as well as reports and case studies covering US and international climate policies.
• The International Institute for Sustainable Development’s brief history of the UNFCCC, the Kyoto Protocol and major themes from previous climate COPs
• Conservation International’s UNFCCC landing page: excellent resources on technical issues concerning climate change and land use, including REDD+ monitoring, reference emissions levels, adaptation, the Green Climate Fund, social and enviornmental safeguards, and a range of other hot negotiation topics.
• Foundation for International Environmental Law and Development’s Updated Guide for REDD+ Negotiators: the REDD+ trackers guide to the ins and outs of the key negotiation topics on the table in Doha

Staying abreast of daily negotiations and updates

• Daily web coverage, reports and summaries of major COP agreements and newsworthy happenings:
  • The International Institute for Sustainable Development’s Earth Negotiations Bulletin 
  • Third World Network
  • The Stakeholder Forum for Sustainable Development’s Outreach magazine
  • The Climate Action Network Eco Newsletter
• Ecoagriculture Partners’ Landscapes for People, Food and Nature blog, an on-the-ground look at COP18 side-event discussions and emerging themes, such as the role of institutions and governments in climate change action for communities and addressing the barriers to climate-smart agriculture.. You can also follow them on Twitter.
• The UNFCCC has an entire portion of its website dedicated to virtual participation, which includes live streaming videos of negotiations, links to interviews from climate experts, and iPhone and iPad “Negotiator” apps. Tune in to see the discussions live!

We hope you find this short list of resources helpful! Don’t forget to check our Frog Blog often for updates, and follow us on Twitter for up-to-the-minute news.