REDD+, Local People and Community Forestry

Transcription

1 REDD+, Local People and Community Forestry Ben Vickers RECOFTC The Center for People and Forests Food, Livelihoods and Climate Change in the Mekong CSO Information Sharing Workshop Bangkok, 10 th August, 2010

2 What is REDD? Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation

3 What is REDD+? 1. Reducing emissions from deforestation: reducing the area of forest land that is converted to other land uses 2. Reducing emissions from forest degradation: reducing the amount of biomass that is lost from forests 3. Conservation of forest carbon stocks: protecting vulnerable forest ecosystems 4. Sustainable management of forest: using and extracting forest resources responsibly, without risking the supply of forest products and services to future generations 5. Enhancement of forest carbon stocks: creating new forest areas and restoring degraded forests

4 REDD moves ahead Do Less Harm Do More Good

5 What is REDD++?? Not a recognized term in negotiations Not about additional strategies, but about how they are implemented Fair trade carbon verified social and environmental benefits Confusing, sometimes ridiculed (REDD++ +???)

6 Safeguards in REDD+ Social and environmental co-benefits are not an optional extra, but essential to success Recognized at COP15 as a core part of any future agreement

7 Social safeguards Respect for the knowledge and rights of indigenous peoples and members of local communities, by taking into account relevant international obligations, national circumstances and laws, and noting that the General Assembly has adopted the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples; Full and effective participation of relevant stakeholders, including in particular indigenous peoples and local communities;

8 Environmental safeguards Actions that are consistent with the conservation of natural forests and biological diversity, ensuring that REDD+ strategies are not used for the conversion of natural forests, but are instead used to incentivize the protection and conservation of natural forests and their ecosystem services, and to enhance other social and environmental benefits; Actions to address the risks of reversals (permanence); Actions to reduce displacement of emissions (leakage);

9 Key questions for negotiators Who defines minimum social and environmental standards? Who verifies that they are followed? What happens when they are not followed?

10 REDD+ needs Forest People To deliver RESULTS To deliver DATA

11 Tragedy, or Triumph, of the Commons? Elinor Ostrom on Common Property Resources Direct link between communal management and carbon storage (Chhetre and Agrawal, 2009) Forest size, rule-making ability MORAL ARGUMENT to PRACTICAL IMPERATIVE

12 Forest Ownership in Vietnam

13 Potential for improvement in quality

14 Kyoto- Think Global Act Local (KTGAL) Carbon stock assessment over 5 years Nepal: 3 CF sites: tco 2 e/ha/yr sequestered Tanzania: With community management; tco 2 e/ha/yr sequestered Without community management; tco 2 e/ha/yr emitted

15 Do local people need REDD+?

16 The Time Before Carbon (BC)

17 But Forest Loss and Degradation continues Security of Tenure, Rights Greater STAKE, Greater MEANS, No SAY Weaker STAKE, Weaker MEANS, All the SAY

18 The Logic of Community Forestry Those with the closest direct stake in forest resources, in terms of livelihood dependency, WILL affect the outcome of management strategies and MUST be involved in decisionmaking.

19 But Success of Community-based approaches depends on engagement of the right stakeholders in the right way

20 Benefit and costs under different scenarios (Skutsch, Karky, 2009)

21 For Local Communities with secure tenure and use rights Forest carbon break even price of <$4 At $5 carbon price, carbon revenue is 10-30% of value of combined forest benefits More benefit for larger areas, fast-growing stock No incentive if existing benefits foregone Also need to factor in additionality and benefit/cost sharing

22 Do these people need REDD +? Not exactly, but at the right price, a very handy bonus If rewards are for INPUTS rather than OUTPUTS Not at the expense of my current livelihood

23 Strategy for ensuring local participation in REDD+ Secure rights to forest land Accelerate allocation of forest land Effective law enforcement Clarify functions of state agencies Minimize transaction costs Interim incentives for local people Design of REDD-compliant Benefit Distribution System for Vietnam (UN-REDD, GTZ), Jan 2010 Dr Nguyen Quang Tan, RECOFTC country coordinator, Vietnam

24 Local people holding the key to forest carbon markets Do No Harm Understand Local Needs and Aspirations Utilize Local Knowledge and Skills

25 How are Mekong countries measuring up to the challenge? Cambodia, Lao PDR, Thailand and Vietnam all completed R-PINs for FCPF Currently developing R-PPs No substantial funds received Vietnam a core partner country in UN-REDD, funding released by Norway Cambodia an observer UN-REDD country, REDD Roadmap being supported by UNDP WB s FIP Lao PDR selected as one of five countries globally: $25 million

26 Pilot projects PACT/CCI Oddar Meanchay, 13 community forests, 66,000 ha WCS Seima Mondulkiri, 188,000 ha, adjacent to Commercial CF project WCS and KfW projects under development in Lao PDR Winrock/ARBCP PES project in Lam Dong, Vietnam also to be used as UN-REDD pilot site, SNV project also under development

27 Recognition of Community Forestry CF explicitly referred to as a key REDD+ strategy in Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam strategies Cambodian OM pilot project a source of lessons on CF in REDD Technically too complex Dangerously raised expectations CF expansion strategy to 2 million ha, linked to REDD Roadmap Vietnam CF expansion and data collection linked to UN- REDD readiness program Thailand CF program limited by extent of PA network and limited acceptance of the role of local people in forest management Lao PDR claim that CF inappropriate in Lao context

28 Participatory strategy development Vietnam VNGO+CC and CCWG acknowledged as partners in national REDD WG, but no decision-making power INGO participation in Cambodia s REDD Roadmap development, but limited representation of grassroots organizations Thailand: polarized opinion of CSOs/govt Lao PDR no recognizable CSO involvement

29 FPIC in UN-REDD Vietnam An essential part of UN-REDD country programs, Vietnam first to pilot Testing of approaches in UN-REDD program context, in preparation for full REDD programs post-2012 Some noticeable improvements in openness of MARD to meaningful consultation Effective communication materials Appropriate facilitators, well-trained No access to other information sources Limited time Consent to what? Agreement that protecting forests is a good idea

30 Thank You