Opening Remarks
Kazuo Suzuki (President, FFPRI)

DAY1Opening Session

Opening Remarks
Kazuo Suzuki (President, FFPRI 1)
Last year in Japan we had record breaking heavy rains and snows, which seem to be the symbol of
the climate change. It has given us opportunity to think of the climate change and its impact. In suchcircumstances, the IPCC 2 Fifth Assessment Report 3 was submitted after six years of work, which has actuallyraised interest in the ongoing and continuous increase in the greenhouse gas effect emission. Also, in order tosuppress the global temperature increase within two degree Celsius, we have to work not only the reduction of
the emissions due to the forest degradation and deforestation, but also work on the new afforestation as well as
CO 2 underground storage measures.
In such initiatives the Fourth Assessment Report 4 has indicated the importance of reducing
emissions from forest. That has received attention globally, but at that time it was only the expectation thatwas discussed and there were no concrete technology or policies to support that.

In such circumstances, in2010, the REDD Research and Development Center 5 of the FFPRI was established. We have been working
very aggressively on implementing the accuracy, transparency, and have very well balanced monitoring
technologies to balance the cost and also work on the analysis of the drivers as well as the safeguard measures.
Looking back, in the forest carbon monitoring, it was considered to be quite unrealistic to achieve
any accuracy. It was considered not good or not right to discuss the drivers and safeguard. However, for thepast five years, together with the developed countries and developing countries working together we haveaddressed these issues one after another.

Then, two years ago at the COP 619 Warsaw 7 meeting, the basic

agreement on the framework of the REDD+ was reached.

In response to that last year was a year where

Brazil and other countries have submitted the data with a scientific ground on the reference level and thetechnical assessment has been carried out. This indicates that, for the past five years, the REDD+ initiative
has seen substantial progress.
At the COP20 8 held at the end of last year, based on the Warsaw framework agreement, thediscussion and the exchange of opinion was held regarding the REDD+ funding and financial mechanisms.
In response to that, in the open seminar this fiscal year, the REDD Research and Development Center of theFFPRI has decided to go one step beyond from what we have been doing and focus not only technology, but
go beyond to discuss the financing and policies as well.

This year’s discussion is going to be the key inForestry and Forest Products Research Institute: http://www.ffpri.affrc.go.jp/en/
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change: http://www.ipcc.ch/
3 http://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar5/
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http://www.ipcc.ch/publications_and_data/publications_ipcc_fourth_assessment_report_synthesis_report.ht
m
5 http://www.ffpri.affrc.go.jp/redd-rdc/en/
6 Conference of the Parties: https://www.cbd.int/cop/
7 http://www.cop19.gov.pl/
8 http://www.cop20lima.org/

DAY1
Opening Session
establishing the solid ground for the REDD+ for the year 2020 and beyond.
The REDD Research and Development Center has been established for five years. We are facing amilestone. Up until now we have been focusing on the scientific aspects and served as a technical hub toconnect REDD+-relevant parties in Japan. However, in the future, we will have to shift our focus more
towards the actual operation and projects in the field. Last November, the REDD+ platform was establishedin Japan, so we have taken one big step forward in promoting REDD+ in Japan.
With this international seminar today, I hope that we will be able to enhance and deepen theunderstanding related to the financial mechanisms, the organizational policies, as well as further promotion of
the measures for forest preservation, conservation, and the measures against climate change.

For theorganization of this seminar, we have received support from JICA 9, ITTO 10, CIFOR 11, IGES 12, and RIHN 13.
We have also received substantial support from the Forestry Agency 14, MOFA 15, METI 16, MOE 17, and theJapanese Forest Society 18. Taking this opportunity I would like express our deepest gratitude to all the people
involved and I appreciate your continuous support in advance.

Japan International Cooperation Agency: http://www.jica.go.jp/english/
International Tropical Timber Organization: http://www.itto.int/
11 Center for International Forestry Research: http://www.cifor.org/
12 Institute for Global Environmental Strategies: http://www.iges.or.jp/en/
13 Research Institute for Humanity and Nature: http://www.chikyu.ac.jp/rihn_e/
14 http://www.maff.go.jp/e/15 Ministry of Foreign Affairs: http://www.mofa.go.jp/
16 Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry: http://www.meti.go.jp/english/
17 Ministry of the Environment: http://www.env.go.jp/en/
18 http://www.forestry.jp/english/
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