​This all-day symposium will explore the potential benefits and challenges of linking programs in foreign jurisdictions directed at Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) to California’s cap-and-trade program as sources of offsets.  Using the recently released REDD Offset Working Group draft recommendations on this topic as a springboard, the program will include speakers from government, academia, the NGO community, and foreign subnational governments.  It will focus, in particular, on regulatory design elements and the legal and institutional mechanisms that would be required to enable California to recognize emissions reductions from jurisdictional REDD programs as offsets under California's cap-and-trade program.  Soliciting public feedback on the REDD Offset Working Group draft report will be a primary aim of the symposium. 

The REDD Offset Working Group (ROW) was established in February 2011 as a result of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed in November 2010 between the Governors of California, Chiapas and Acre, as part of a collaborative effort to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation. Deforestation and forest degradation account for approximately 15% of the world’s annual greenhouse gas emissions. Comprehensive efforts to constrain the impacts of climate change will require significant global cooperation to reduce GHG emissions from deforestation and forest degradation. Based on direction in the MOU, the ROW was created with state representatives and technical experts, who serve in their personal capacities.​

Please visit the event website for more information: http://www.law.ucla.edu/centers-programs/environmental-law/Pages/Event.aspx?EventID=49​