Cecilia Luttrell

Center for International Forestry Research | CIFOR

Benefit-sharing mechanisms are a central design aspect of REDD+ because they help to create the necessary incentives to reduce carbon emissions. However, if stakeholders do not perceive the benefit sharing as fair, the legitimacy of REDD+, and support for the mechanism, will be weakened. In this paper, drawing on data from CIFOR’s Global Comparativ...

Forests in low and middle-income countries are at the centre of climate change mitigation efforts. But these forests are also areas of high levels of insecurity and are found in fragile states with weak governance, especially over forestlands. Nations affected by conflict hold 40 per cent of the world’s tropical forests (Donovan et al. 2007). No fe...

We are living in a time of crisis on planet Earth. Urgent calls for transformational change are getting louder. Technical solutions have an important role to play in addressing pressing global challenges, but alone they are not enough. After all, who decides what kind of transformation is needed, of what, and for whom? What principles guide those d...

Indonesia is the world’s largest producer of palm oil, responsible for 60 percent of global production. While contributing to economic growth, the expansion of palm oil production has been a key driver of deforestation in the country. Most deforestation linked to palm oil has historically been driven by large-scale producers. Smallholders are howev...

REDD+ was designed globally as a results-based instrument to incentivize emissions reduction from deforestation and forest degradation. Over 50 countries have developed strategies for REDD+, implemented pilot activities and/or set up forest monitoring and reporting structures, safeguard systems and benefit sharing mechanisms (BSMs), offering lesson...

Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD+) in developing countries is based on the premise that conserving tropical forests is a cost-effective way to reduce carbon emissions and therefore can be fully funded by international actors with obligations or interests in reducing emissions. However, concerns have repeatedly been raised...

Policy instruments for implementing the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation and the enhancement of forest carbon stocks (REDD+) mechanism operate within an orchestra of policy mixes that affect the forest and other land sectors. How will policymakers choose between the myriad of options for distributing REDD+ benefits, and...

This brief focuses on lessons from the extractive resource sectors (oil, gas and mining) for REDD+ benefit-sharing. Specifically, it examines the different ways that revenues accruing to the government are distributed to subnational levels and the outcomes of different arrangements for doing so. These lessons are particularly relevant for scenarios...

International negotiations for reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation and the enhancement of forest carbon stocks (REDD+) under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) were finally concluded in 2015. However, due to the complex design and implementation processes of REDD+ policies and measures, including benefit...

Voluntary partnership agreements (VPAs) use their timber legality assurance systems to generate credibility and trust by ensuring independence in the design of auditing and monitoring systems, encouraging civil society monitoring and involving multiple stakeholders. Most of the countries in which VPAs are being established are also REDD+ countries....

This brief examined 16 anti-corruption measures (ACMs) implemented in Indonesia – a key REDD+ country – to draw lessons for REDD+ benefit sharing mechanisms (BSMs). The selected ACMs were clustered into three categories based on the actor implementing the measure (government, NGO or private sector/market) and assessed using the 3E (effectiveness, e...

Benefit sharing is the distribution of direct and indirect net gains from the implementation of REDD+. It includes direct benefits (monetary gains or increased availability of forest ecosystem services and goods) as well as indirect ones (e.g. improved governance infrastructure provision) (Luttrell et al. 2013). Lessons on effectiveness, efficiency...

The aim of this working paper is to provide a global overview and up‑to‑date profile of REDD+ benefit‑sharing mechanisms, and to analyse the political‑economic factors influencing their design and setting. The analysis draws primarily on a review of existing benefit‑sharing mechanisms for REDD+ and natural forest management, namely fund‑based appro...

This paper presents the results of a three-year action research project, which investigated the impacts of participatory forest management (PFM) on poverty. Beginning with an analysis of over 30 cases reported in the literature, the project went on to undertake field research in Kenya, Tanzania and Nepal, three countries representing very different...

In spite of the impressive scale of community forestry in Nepal over the last three decades, and its apparent benefits in terms of improved forest condition, there are concerns that the main economic benefits are not equally distributed and that the community forestry process perpetuates or even reinforces social inequity, economic and environmenta...

https://www.odi.org/sites/odi.org.uk/files/odi-assets/publications-opinion-files/4480.pdf The proliferation of sources of authority in public governance has led to a variety of partnerships developing between the state, the business sector, NGOs and other civil society actors, and to the emergence of multi-stakeholder processes to reconcile their...

Legal Timber investigates a topical issue in international forest policy: how to verify the legality of traded timber in ways that will satisfy both the commercial interests of producer states and the social and environmental concerns of civil society and consumers. This seemingly straightforward and technical matter proves, on investigation, to be...

VERIFOR is an applied research project co-funded by the EC's Tropical Forestry Budget Line and the Governments of the Netherlands and Germany. It will provide practical, research-based policy advice for decision-makers on the verification of legality in the forest sector. The coverage is pan-tropical.

T h e e m e r g e n ce o f n e w f i n a n c i n g mechanisms associated with the rise of carbon markets brings potential for increased investment in forestry. This paper explores the implications of these mechanisms for community forestry and suggests ways in which such finance may contribute to the pro-poor outcomes of community forestry. The pap...

Forest degradation is a major source of greenhouse gas emissions. In the Brazilian Amazon it is responsible for 20 per cent of total emissions (Asner et al. 2005). In Indonesia, the forest stock is decreasing by a rate of six per cent a year, only one-third of which is due to deforestation (Marklund and Schoene 2006). In Africa, the annual rate of...

This note provides details on the differing approaches to empowerment in a variety of donor agencies and NGOs , according to a selection made from official documentation associated with these agencies . The debates and concepts surrounding empowerment are discussed more fully in the paper on ‘Understanding and Operationalising Empowerment...

This paper uses a working definition of ‘ownership ’ as the ‘active support to and ability to control ’ the objectives, process and outcomes of a verification system. The paper examines some of the issues around the theme of ownership of verification systems, and the possible strategies for developing ownership. Topics of interest include: 1. The r...

This chapter examines the effects of aquaculture development on the livelihoods of households in two historically and geographically distinct coastal communities in north and south Vietnam. It is shown that the importance of open-access resources for livelihoods increases in line with the poverty and vulnerability of the social group. This increase...

The inclusion of communities in the management of state-owned or formerly state- owned forest resources has become increasingly common in the last 25 years. Almost all countries in Africa, and many in Asia, are promoting the participation of rural communities in the management and utilisation of natural forests and woodlands through some form of Pa...

Marzo de 2006 En la década del '70 surgió el interés por el tema de los combustibles forestales, que fue mayormente impulsado por el aumento de los precios de los combustibles fósiles en 1973 –y la consiguiente preocupación por la energía– y por ciertas publicaciones influyentes sobre el tema, como la de Eckholm de 1975 titulada Other Energy Crisis...

This toolkit d escribes a range of tools that CSOs mi ght use to understand and map polit ical context, in order to engage mor e effectively in policy pr ocesses. Policy is the result of inte ractions amo ng diffe rent organisations about what cour se of action should be taken. The sum of these interactions constitutes the policy process . A...

The uneven distribution of benefits amongst different social groups, such as the men and women involved in rural development forestry, has been an important area of interest in all the thematic areas in the literature. The focus on gender in rural development forestry has covered a number of aspects. These include firstly the differences in partici...

A voided deforestation (AD) is a hot topic in climate change circles, including the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Using financial incentives to reduce rates of deforestation and forest degradation in tropical countries has much to commend it, as deforestation is a major contributor to climate change. It might also...

Illegal logging is an issue of major national and international concern. Combating illegal logging depends on effective enforcement operations to ensure compliance and identify forest crime. Independent monitors have an important role in ‘monitoring the monitors ’ and verifying legality. This briefing paper examines the part that external agencies...

This report, commissioned by DFID and drafted between January and March 2003, provides a rapid overview of food security issues in relation to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in seven Asian countries (Bangladesh, India, Nepal, China, Indonesia, Cambodia and Vietnam). Three of the countries (Bangladesh, India, Cambodia) were treated in more...

Vietnam is currently undergoing a rapid economic and social transition involving the dismantling of the co-operative system and the official embracing of a market economy. The paper uses an institutional approach to examine adaptation to such changes in two coastal communes in mangrove forest areas. Having provided the historical and policy context...

The objective of the thesis is to investigate the ways in which institutions shape livelihood resilience. Livelihood resilience is defined as the ability of an individual or household to recover from, or to withstand changes in, the social or physical environment, and the ability to adapt to changing circumstances and thus ensure security of liveli...