Co-Chairs’ Summary : Dialogue on Forests and Climate - Gland, Switzerland

On 24-25 June 2008 in Gland, Switzerland, The Forests Dialogue convened the second full dialogue under its Forests and Climate Change (FCC) initiative. This dialogue was hosted by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). It was preceded by a scoping dialogue held in conjunction with the UNFCCC COP 13 in Bali, Indonesia on 9 December 2007 and by the first full dialogue under this initiative in Washington DC on 1-2 April 2008.

The objectives of the Gland Dialogue were to develop, through multi-stakeholder discussions, key messages for a Global Forest Leaders Statement and establish a roadmap on forests and climate issues to the UNFCCC COP 15 (December 2009, Copenhagen).

The Gland Dialogue reconfirmed that there is an urgent need to find common ground, or a common voice, for forest stakeholders to influence the global climate agenda. The participants in Gland developed 6 core key messages aimed at informing climate negotiators, governments, investors and donors, and the media on the key forest and climate priorities from a prominent group of forest leaders.