Environmental Education Media Project

High-level meeting at Downing Street, with PM and EU ministers, focuses on forests and climate

Media Contacts:

• Jonathan J. Halperin, jhalperin [at] eempc.org, +1 301-951-0229
• Lance Kramer, lance [at] eemp.org, +1 240-620-8189

WASHINGTON, DC (November 26) — As “end of the pipe” solutions for controlling global emissions of greenhouse gases seem ever more elusive, top-level political leaders in the ramp-up to COP15 are focusing greater attention on forests and ecosystems as keys to addressing climate change.  Beginning with a small gathering at Number 10 Downing Street in London on Wednesday (Nov. 25) evening, in events organized by IUCN and the Government of the United Kingdom, in support of The Global Partnership on Forest Landscape Restoration, Ministers from the UK, Sweden, and Norway and leading global forestry figures have been examining the benefits of forest and ecosystem restoration.

Examples of successful large-scale ecosystem restoration projects in China, Rwanda, and Ethiopia, bringing vast denuded landscapes back to full ecosystem function, were shown to the assembled ministers by John D. Liu, presenter on the BBC World documentary film that airs globally on Friday, November 27th.  The film, “Hope in a Changing Climate,” will premiere at COP15 at the Museum of Natural History in Copenhagen at 7:45pm on December 17th.  Screenings and facilitated discussions of “Hope in a Changing Climate” are also confirmed with 36 organizations in 14 nations, organized by the Environmental Education Media Project (EEMP) and the Mason Center for Climate and Society.

Liu and EEMP Executive Director, Jonathan J. Halperin, will both attend COP15 as NGO observers with a team from George Mason University that also includes Professor Paul Schopf, Director of the Center for Climate and Society, and Dr. Liping Di, Director of the Mason Center for Spatial Information Science and Systems.

In commenting on the London meetings, Halperin applauded the participant for “…embracing the reality that the greatest technology we can bring to bear to help stabilize our climate is nature itself.  Forests, grasses, plants, and soil are our greatest allies in the fight to manage our climate so we can all survive.  That serious political leaders like those at the London meetings are coming to understand this is very refreshing news indeed.  The power of people, working with nature, to change our world should not be underestimated.”