Joint Statement by President Calderón and Prime Minister Stoltenberg

Joint Statement by President Felipe Calderón Hinojosa and Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg in Climate Change and Forests:

1. The United Mexican States and Norway are Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and its Kyoto Protocol. We are determined to deepen our cooperation on matters relating to global climate change, forest and environment and to ensure these efforts are supportive of the formal UN negotiations and particularly, contribute to an ambitious outcome at the UN climate Change conference in Cancun, Mexico.
   
2. The global nature of climate change requires the widest possible cooperation by all countries and their participation in an effective global climate change regime, in accordance with their common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities and their social and economic conditions. We stress the importance of cooperation between all countries in addressing the challenges posed by climate change.
   
3. Recognizing that finance is key to the success of our efforts, Mexico and Norway will further our cooperation to enhance the certainty and predictability of adequate climate financing for climate mitigation and adaptation. We will work together to make operational the long-term financial framework needed, including the establishment of the Copenhagen Green Climate Fund. We express our appreciation to the UN Secretary General for his decision to convene a High Level Advisory Group on finance that will explore potential sources of revenue, delivery mechanisms and institutional arrangements that can contribute to the goal of mobilizing USD 100 billion a year by 2020, in the context of meaningful mitigation actions and transparency on implementation. A number of innovative sources should be looked into. 
   
4. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the forest sector in developing countries (REDD+) is crucial to limit the global mean temperature rise to below 2 degrees Celsius relative to pre-industrialized levels.
   
5. We emphasize the importance of actions to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, the conservation and enhancement of carbon stocks in forests and the sustainable management of forests (REDD+), including monitoring, reporting and verification systems, local governance structures and financing mechanisms.
   
6. We confirm our support for a global REDD+ partnership to be formally established at the Oslo Climate and Forest Conference on May 27th, 2010. Such a partnership, endorsed by heads of state and government, would provide fast-track funding for early REDD+ efforts. It will also help building confidence that funding for forest mitigation in developing countries will be scaled up after 2012.  The global partnership will be an important step towards a successful outcome on REDD+ in Cancun. 
   
7. We encourage parties to create similar partnership in other areas such as adaptation, capacity building and technology to enhance immediate implementation of climate change actions in developing countries before the Cancun Conference, Mexico. 
   
8. Norway and Mexico are committed to strengthen their cooperation on REDD-related activities. This collaboration shall be specified in a memorandum of understanding between the Ministers of Environment of the two countries.  The letter of intent should be finalized by the end of May. Mexico’s role as a large forest country, combined with Norway’s engagement in REDD+, makes close collaboration between the two countries in this area natural. 
   
9. As part of this cooperation, Norway expressed the willingness to support activities that could provide useful input to the UNFCCC REDD+ negotiations up to and during the Cancun Conference, and to support activities that harness the REDD-related Mexican experiences and disseminate these to other countries, particularly with Central America and the Caribbean. 
   
10. Mexico and Norway are committed to assist the government and the people of Haiti to rebuild the society after the tragic earthquake in January 2010. Norway would like to see its support coordinated with bilateral initiatives between Mexico and Haiti, in order to further strengthen Mexico’s contributions to Haiti’s forestry sector. 
    
11. Through close cooperation, the two countries reaffirm their mutual commitment to contribute positively to the international efforts on climate change issues in general and on climate financing and reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in particular. 

Mexico City, 9 April 2010