The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) held its 14^th meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice (SBSTTA) in Nairobi, Kenya on 10-21 May 2010. Relevant and important themes discussed during the meetings included Biodiversity and Climate Change as well as Forest Biodiversity. In addition to the official sessions, over 90 side events were held on a wide array of topics including several that focused on issues relating to REDD+ and Forest Biodiversity.

In order to reach out to this key biodiversity constituency and begin to build a strong relationship, the UN-REDD Programme held a side event focused on “Forest Biodiversity, Ecosystem Services and REDD+”. Over 60 people, including negotiators, NGO representatives, and multilateral colleagues, attended the side event held on 11 May 2010. Ravi Prabhu, Senior Programme Officer for UN-REDD/UNEP moderated and kicked off the event by emphasizing the importance of sustainable forest management not only for obtaining carbon credits but also for the conservation of biodiversity and the potential of payment for other ecosystem services.

Over 60 participants, including negotiators, NGO representatives, and multilateral colleagues, attended the UN-REDD side event, focusing on forest biodiversity, ecosystem services and REDD+.

Nicolas Kosoy, the Implementation Coordinator for the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, UNEP, provided the first presentation about the economic valuation of forest ecosystem services and raised some key issues about equity, participation and the importance of bundling services. This presentation was followed by one from Josephat Nyongesa, Natural Resource Project Economist, WWF-EARPO, who provided an on-the-ground perspective about local management of ecosystem services and Barney Dickson, Head of the Climate Change & Biodiversity Programme, UNEP-WCMC, concluded the presentations with an explanation of the various tools for integrating ecosystem services in national REDD+ strategies and decision-making that his team has been producing for the UN-REDD Programme.

The presentations were followed by a lively discussion about the need for biodiversity and other safeguards and the importance of creating synergies between the Rio Conventions, especially the CBD and UNFCCC. Participants also raised concerns about corruption and elite capture that could arise when payments from ecosystems are flowing in an area. Mr. Prabhu concluded the event by stressing the importance of the biodiversity community in the establishment of a REDD+ mechanism and the desire of the UN-REDD Programme to cultivate this relationship between climate change and biodiversity counterparts.