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Rights to carbon and payments for services rendered under REDD+: Options for the case of Mexico
Abstract
Mexico is relatively advanced in its preparation for international policy on Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD+) and has many of the pre-conditions needed to support a community approach in the implementation of a national REDD+ programme, particularly as regards tenure of forests and experience with community forest management and PES schemes, although these conditions do not pertain everywhere. One critical issue that is yet to be resolved concerns rights to carbon credits and distribution of the financial benefits flowing from REDD+. We demonstrate that attribution of carbon credits from reduced deforestation and degradation at the community level is virtually impossible from a technical viewpoint, since these credits are counterfactual. Payments based on assessment of performance of each community in terms of such reductions would moreover be inequitable and inefficient. Flat rate payments in return for agreed improvements in management are likely to be more motivating and much easier to administer. However, increases in carbon stock (forest enhancement) can be physically measured on site, and could be more easily attributed to each individual community. We therefore propose a system in which reduced deforestation and degradation are considered environmental services, with credits accruing to national government. The financial value of the credits may be used to finance flat rate payments to communities who agree to implement improved management. On the other hand, credits for forest enhancement, which reflect measurable increases in carbon in the communities’ trees, would be considered environmental goods. These should be considered the direct property of the owners of the forest (in the same sense as wood or poles) and it would be possible for communities to sell these credits themselves. We acknowledge however that many other problems face implementation of REDD+ in Mexico, and provide a number of important examples.
... Los derechos del carbono en el sector forestal son un requisito para los esquemas de mercados del carbono y la distribución de beneficios (Corbera et al., 2011;UN-REDD Programme, 2013;Skutsch et al., 2013;Felicani, 2018;Streck, 2020), los cuales generalmente no están definidos en forma clara en las legislaciones nacionales. Otro requisito es la propiedad de la tenencia de la tierra, la cual está relacionada con los derechos del carbono (Corbera et al., 2011). ...
... La distribución de beneficios del mecanismo REDD+ ha sido sujeto de controversias, aun cuando hay consenso sobre sus principios generales: legalidad, legitimidad, efectividad, eficiencia, equidad, adicionalidad y transparencia (Zuñiga y Deschamps, 2014). Existe una preocupación de que los recursos financieros asociados a los pagos o compensaciones se queden en el gobierno (Skutsch et al., 2013). ...
... Balderas y Skutsch (2012), Skutsch y Balderas (2017) y Skutsch et al. (2013Skutsch et al. ( , 2014, han discutido ampliamente la distribución de beneficios del mecanismo REDD+ en México. Balderas y Skutsch (2012) propusieron separar las componentes de REDD+ en deforestación, degradación forestal e incremento de los almacenes de carbono, donde esta última tiene derechos de los propietarios y legales poseedores. ...
RESUMEN Los derechos del carbono forestal son un punto crítico en el desarrollo de mercados del carbono y esquemas de distribución de beneficios asociados al mecanismo REDD+. El análisis de las diferentes conceptualizaciones de los derechos del carbono sobre los almacenes y sus incrementos, pertenecen a los propietarios y legales poseedores de los terrenos forestales y sus recursos. Por lo que se refiere a los derechos sobre las recompensas de acciones de reducción de emisiones de los bosques, los argumentos son que éstos son inexistentes e ilegales y deben pertenecer al gobierno federal (CONAFOR). La distribución de beneficios está condicionada a los derechos del carbono y a la tenencia de la tierra, lo que en México presenta condiciones de centralidad, inconsistencias y contradicciones. El esquema de Pagos por Servicios Ambientales (PSA) se analiza en el contexto de REDD+, por lo que ha sido propuesto como un esquema de pagos de un fondo gubernamental a los propietarios y legales poseedores, basado en actividades (esfuerzos) por la reducción de emisiones, más la consideración de un pago directo por los incrementos en los almacenes de carbono. Con el uso de argumentación de dobles negativas, se ha aclarado que la no deforestación, escenario ex post, es equivalente a la conservación de los almacenes de carbono y, la no degradación forestal, es equivalente al incremento de los almacenes de carbono, terminando la controversia de a quién le pertenecen los derechos por la reducción de emisiones de los bosques. Palabras clave: inexistencia e ilegalidad derechos pro reducción de emisiones; distribución de beneficios; pagos por servicios ambientales; no deforestar = conservar almacenes; no degradar = incremento almacenes. ABSTRACT Forest carbon rights are a critical point in the development of carbon markets and benefit sharing schemes associated with the REDD+ mechanism. The analysis of the different conceptualizations of the carbon rights over the stocks and their increments belong to the owners and legal holders of the forest land and its resources. The rights over the rewards for actions to reduce emissions from forests, the arguments are that these are non-existent and illegal and should belong to the federal government (CONAFOR). The distribution of benefits is conditional on carbon rights and land tenure, where in Mexico it presents conditions of centrality, inconsistencies and contradictions. The Payments for Environmental Services (PES) scheme is analyzed in the context of REDD+, for which it has been proposed as a payment scheme from a government fund to owners and legal possessors based on activities (efforts) for the reduction of activities, plus the consideration of a direct payment for increases in carbon stores. With the use of double negative argumentation, it has been clarified that no deforestation, ex post scenario, is equivalent to the conservation of carbon stocks and no forest degradation is equivalent to the increase of carbon stock, ending the controversy of who owns the rights for the reduction of emissions from forests. Keywords: non-existence and illegality of rights to reduce emissions; distribution of benefits; payments for environmental services; no deforestation = stocks conservation; no degradation = stocks increase.
... They include REDD+ pilot projects that are linked to national REDD + strategies as a response to a call for demonstration activities (UNFCCC, 2007b). Simonet et al. (2014) show that 23% of all REDD+ projects are pilot projects integrated into national REDD+ strategies. In addition, there is a wide variety of informal approaches, concepts and self-defined REDD+ projects that are labeled as REDD+ by their proponents. ...
... Lawlor et al. (2013) explicitly include A/R projects. Simonet et al. (2014) explicitly distinguish REDD, A/R and Improved Forest Management (IFM) projects but include them all in their study. ...
... "doubt about its centrality" summarizes the general perception. Of 329 projects assessed globally by Simonet et al. (2014), only 21% are at present engaged in carbon transactions. With four out of 23 projects (= 17.4%) selling carbon credits, the share is comparable for the CIFOR GCS sites . ...
... Cartography of climatic types has often been subordinated to land cover types or intermingled with atmospheric data obtained at climatic stations and further interpolated (e.g., García 1973, Rivas-Martínez et al. 2011a. Sound climate mapping, however, turns scientifically challenging at regions with contrasting ecological configuration; as it is the case of Michoacan province in Mexico-which covers an area approximately the size of Costa Rica-harbors representative temperate and tropical native ecosystems (Velázquez et al. 2003, Velázquez et al. 2009, Sarukhán et al. 2009, Skutsch et al. 2013, and is comprised of a peculiar geomorphological configurations (Bocco et al. 2001). ...
... DCAM subjected the resulting surface climate data to quality control and data outside two standard deviations above or below the mean were eliminated. With the remaining differences, spatial interpolation was performed using Inverse Distance Weighted Interpolation (Shepard 1968). The final layer was then calculated as the sum of all the surface climate data, plus the WorldClim data, plus the interpolated surface of the differences. ...
... Current data management tools and analytical methods have, in part, helped to overcome these limitations. RS, GIS and geostatistics have enabled access to, and the analysis of, data in a raster format (Shepard 1968, Fernández-Eguiarte et al. 2011. ...
Abstract. Rigorous mapping of climatic patterns outstands as one of the mayor issues concerning
climatic change. This paper investigates the extent of the bioclimatic approach to develop a rigorous
cartographic methodology to express climatic diversity patterns. Michoacan, Mexico was chosen to
represent a region of complex geo-ecological layout where the Nearctic and Neotropical biogeographical
realms converge. Bioclimatic indices were computed and their spatial expression was processed in a
Geographic Information System. Ground verification was performed at 93 sites across the province. In
addition, from 2010 until 2012, more than 2000 kilometers of roads were surveyed to gather data on
isobioclimate boundaries. In total, one macrobioclimate, two bioclimates, four thermotypes, five
ombrotypes and 14 isobioclimates were distinguished in Michoacan. The Tropical pluviseasonal bioclimate
was the predominant bioclimate, covering 56.17% of the province. The Tropical xeric covers 43.82% and the
Tropical pluvial is practically negligible, covering 0.01% of the entire province. The relevance of the
outcome is discussed in light of its potential use for assessing likely effects of climatic change
... The way that the REDD+ discussion on equity has developed offers interesting insight into this issue. Although there have been a number of interesting discussions on the meaning of equity in REDD+ in academic literature [57][58][59][60], the main focus at the policy level has been on safeguards and benefit sharing (see Table 2 for the case of UN-REDD). FCPF requires countries to provide and justify a benefits distribution plan that respects customary rights to lands and territories and that reflects broad community support "so that incentives are applied in an effective and equitable manner, and shared with those stakeholders most critical to protecting forests (the benefit sharing plan will provide details on the benefit-sharing process, related distribution criteria and timelines and types of beneficiaries)" [61]. ...
... To our knowledge, this has been addressed, and only in the context of benefit sharing, in just two countries, Nepal [63] and Vietnam [64,65], where a formula to differentiate needs of the family (Nepal) or their individual contribution to increasing carbon stocks (Vietnam) has been used. We note that these benefit distribution systems relate to rewards for increases in carbon storage, rather than for decreased deforestation, which is much more difficult to link with individual behavior or position (see Skutsch et al., [60] for a detailed explanation). We also note in passing that lack of equality within communities does not necessarily mean there are no shared norms. ...
Community based approaches are becoming the norm in environmental governance initiatives. One prominent example of this is Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD+), a climate change mitigation strategy that aims at reducing carbon emissions caused by deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries. REDD+ policies generally evoke communities as both potential beneficiaries of REDD+ and as agents for its implementation. However, it is unclear what REDD+ policies are really referring to when they talk about communities. Drawing on critical social science literature about the idea of community, this article advances a performative perspective to analyze how communities are articulated in international and national REDD+ policy, and reflects on the potential implications of these articulations. Results reveal that international policy documents, including those of the major non-governmental organizations (NGOs) engaged in REDD+, tend to present an interpretation that corresponds to Agrawal and Gibson’s myth of communities as small, localized, and homogenous social units that share social norms. On the other hand, national policy documents reveal enormous variety in the communities that are actually targeted in national REDD+ policies in terms of resources, governance structure, and social cohesion. One conclusion that could be drawn from this is that the dominant uniform interpretation of communities in REDD+ policy, and in much academic and NGO literature, is clearly unrealistic. However, this does not mean that it is inconsequential. We conclude our article by discussing the performative effects of the identified articulations of community.
... Critics of REDD+ have warned of the mechanism's potential to recentralize forest governance, marginalize local communities and resource users, bolster corruption and entrench inequity within the forest sector (Phelps et al. 2010;Larson 2011;Jaung and Bae 2012). There are also fears that benefits accruing from REDD+ will not be fairly distributed to local communities (Skutsch et al. 2013;Chomba et al. 2016). Some scholars have therefore called for REDD+ to recognize community rights to access, use and management of natural resources (Sandbrook et al. 2010); an advocacy based on a common problematic of national government failures in managing natural resources (Gibson and Becker 2000;Heltberg 2002;Delmas and Young 2009). ...
... However, in the case of REDD+, tenure is further fraught with uncertainties around carbon rights (Hajek et al. 2011;Duchelle et al. 2014;Sunderlin et al. 2014). Very few countries have developed carbon rights (Skutsch et al. 2013) to guide REDD+ projects. It has been argued that, to avoid conflicts, carbon rights have to be defined and the complexity around its transfer further unpacked (Palmer 2011). ...
Forested countries in the global south that have agreed to engage in REDD+, a policy mechanism for addressing climate change, are receiving support to improve laws, policies, systems and structures. As a mechanism initiated at the global level and seeking to use forests to address a global commons crisis (atmospheric carbon concentration), understanding how REDD+ translates into implementation at the local level is essential. Therefore, using a systematic review approach, we examined 15 studies of REDD+ in the context of public and/or community managed forests, drawn from a comprehensive application of inclusion criteria to identify relevant published peer-reviewed empirical research. The common property resources literature was used to highlight the role of local institutions in REDD+ and to distil how REDD+ community forest projects conform to Ostrom’s collective action principles. The review revealed limited sharing of information and decision-making authority with communities; a general absence of FPIC; and a lack of defined benefit sharing and conflict resolution arrangements in many of the REDD+ projects.
... Whether all carbon is of the same type, in terms of crediting and ownership, has also been brought into question. It has been noted [14] that there may be a need to distinguish between ownership of sequestered carbon, carbon sinks, and carbon sequestration potential, and elsewhere we suggest [11,45] that there may be a legal distinction between ownership of carbon stocks, including any increases in stocks (which can be measured as standing, within the trees) and ownership of reductions in emissions of carbon (which are abstract and counterfactual, measured against a baseline representing what would have happened in the future without intervention). ...
... This brings us to a point that seems to have escaped many commentators on REDD+, which is that payment by performance to individual communities or forest owners is technically almost impossible, at least regarding reduction in deforestation and degradation [11,45]. This is because reductions in deforestation and degradation can only be measured against a forecasted baseline. ...
... A community based approach is particularly appropriate in Mexico, where a very large proportion of the forested area (estimates range from 80% to around 60%: Bray et al. (2003), FAO (2010), Skutsch et al. (2013)) is legally in the hands of clearly defined communities, which are of two types, ejidos and comunidades 2 . Both were created as a result of policies of land redistribution after the Mexican Revolution (Assies 2008). ...
... Not surprisingly, these latter questions are subject to much more conflict, and they have not yet been fully resolved. Although there is certainly consensus that programmes should focus on communities, it is quite noticeable that very little attention has been given to what practical activities might be included under REDD+ at community level, and which activities would be likely to be most effective or cost-efficient in terms of carbon saving (Skutsch et al. 2013). This situation is not unique to Mexico but is a common weakness in national REDD+ planning documents. ...
In Mexico, REDD+ is being presented as a win-win policy enabling forest communities to benefit financially and diversify their income sources while preserving and increasing their forest carbon stocks through more sustainable management. Under the national programme, it is expected that forest communities will have opportunities to tailor their own approaches. However, to date there is little understanding about what opportunities and constraints exist in reality for forest communities to contribute to REDD+, and even less about how their members perceive these opportunities. We assess potential and constraints at community level and investigate perceptions about opportunities in REDD+ and strategies that communities are currently envisaging for participation, in seven communities in the Ayuquila River Basin and around the Chamela-Cuixmala Biosphere Reserve in Jalisco, and in the area surrounding the Monarch Butterfly Reserve in Michoacan. We find that there is more opportunity for reduced degradation and forest enhancement than for reduced deforestation, in all the communities; that it may be difficult to establish additionality for REDD+ activities in some communities; that the amount of forest resource per community may greatly affect the potential to participate; that the presence of people with no land rights may complicate the distribution of benefits; that communities expect REDD+ in general to follow the Payment for Environmental Services model, and that lack of information about what activities may count as REDD+ activities and what level of financial rewards may be expected mean that communities cannot at present adequately appraise whether REDD+ will be worth their while or not.
Spanish
En México, REDD+ está siendo presentada como una política ambiental positiva para todos, que permitirá a las comunidades forestales beneficiarse financieramente y diversificar sus fuentes de ingreso, a la vez que preservar e incrementar las reservas de carbono existentes en sus bosques, gracias a un manejo más sustentable de los mismos. A nivel nacional, se espera que las comunidades forestales tengan la oportunidad de adaptar esta política según sus necesidades. Sin embargo, todavía se sabe muy poco acerca de las oportunidades y limitaciones existentes para que las comunidades forestales puedan contribuir a la política REDD+, y aún se sabe menos sobre cómo los habitantes de comunidades forestales perciben estas oportunidades. En este artículo evaluamos el potencial y las limitaciones a escala de comunidad e investigamos las percepciones de las comunidades con relación a sus oportunidades en REDD+, así como qué estrategias están diseñando para participar en dicha política, en siete comunidades situadas en la cuenca del río Ayuquila y alrededor de la Reserva de la Biosfera Chamela-Cuixmala, en Jalisco, y en el área que rodea la Reserva de la Biosfera de la Mariposa Monarca, en Michoacán. Encontramos que en todas las comunidades estudiadas hay más oportunidades para evitar y revertir la degradación, que para reducir la deforestación; que puede ser difícil establecer la adicionalidad para actividades REDD+ en algunas comunidades; que la cantidad de recursos forestales existentes en la comunidad puede afectar enormemente el potencial para participar; que la presencia de habitantes sin derechos de propiedad de la tierra puede complicar la distribución de beneficios; que en general las comunidades esperan que REDD+ siga el modelo de Pagos por Servicios Ambientales; y que la falta de información sobre qué actividades pueden ser elegibles como actividades REDD+ y sobre qué nivel de beneficios económicos puede esperarse implica que las comunidades todavía no puedan evaluar de manera adecuada si su participación en REDD+ será beneficiosa o no.
French
Au Mexique, la REDD + est présentée comme une politique gagnant-gagnant permettant aux communautés forestières d'obtenir des bénéfices financiers et diversifier leurs sources de revenus tout en préservant et en augmentant leurs stocks de carbone forestiers, grâce à une gestion plus durable. Dans le cadre du programme national, il est prévu que les communautés forestières auront la possibilité d'adapter leurs propres approches. Cependant, il y a peu de compréhension de ce que sont réellement les possibilités et les contraintes pour les communautés forestières pour contribuer à la REDD+, et encore moins sur la façon dont leur membres perçoivent ces possibilités. Dans cette étude, nous évaluons le potentiel et les contraintes au niveau de la communauté et étudions les perceptions sur leurs opportunités au sein de REDD+ et les stratégies de participation qu'ils envisagent actuellement, dans sept communautés du bassin du fleuve Ayuquila, autour de la réserve de la biosphère de Chamela – Cuixmala au Jalisco, et dans la zone entourant la Réserve du Papillon Monarque dans le Michoacan. Nous constatons qu'il y a plus de possibilités pour éviter la dégradation de que réduire la déforestation, dans toutes les communautés; qu'il est difficile d'établir l'additionnalité des activités de REDD+ dans certaines communautés; que la quantité des ressources forestières peut grandement influer le potentiel de participer; que la présence de personnes sans droits fonciers peut compliquer la répartition des bénéfices; que les communautés attendent que REDD+ va suivre le modèle de paiement des services environnementaux; et que le manque d'informations relatives à quelles activités seront pris en comptes comme des activités REDD+ et quel niveau de récompenses financières peuvent être attendus signifie qu'à l'heure actuelle les communautés ne peuvent pas évaluer de manière adéquate s'il vaut la peine de s'impliquer en REDD+.
... Whether all carbon is of the same type, in terms of crediting and ownership, has also been brought into question. It has been noted [14] that there may be a need to distinguish between ownership of sequestered carbon, carbon sinks, and carbon sequestration potential, and elsewhere we suggest [11,45] that there may be a legal distinction between ownership of carbon stocks, including any increases in stocks (which can be measured as standing, within the trees) and ownership of reductions in emissions of carbon (which are abstract and counterfactual, measured against a baseline representing what would have happened in the future without intervention). ...
... This brings us to a point that seems to have escaped many commentators on REDD+, which is that payment by performance to individual communities or forest owners is technically almost impossible, at least regarding reduction in deforestation and degradation [11,45]. This is because reductions in deforestation and degradation can only be measured against a forecasted baseline. ...
This review presents some main themes in the debates that are currently ongoing on the subject of distribution of benefits under new international policy on reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+), as represented in academic and 'grey' literature. After a brief introduction to REDD+, the review describes how issues of equity, carbon rights and ownership, and procedural and distributive justice have been presented in the context of REDD+. It then analyses how these themes play out at the international level - distribution of benefits between developing countries - and at the national level - distribution of benefits within national programmes and in projects.
... Related to this, the lease and sale of communal rights was an important issue that emerged from the research. While not legal under the Mexican (Agrarian Law (Ley Agraria), 1992), it is something that is occurring through informal local channels (Ellis et al., 2015;Murphy and Rossi, 2016), which means non-binding contracts and no guarantee of participation in decision-making assemblies (Skutsch et al., 2013;Barsimantov et al., 2009). The redesign of Agrarian Law to formally allow for the sale of communal lands while maintaining sustainable harvest regulations and creating broader participation rules in communal structures may be essential if human and social capital in Mexican forest communities is to be maintained. ...
Rural commons globally are facing environmental, demographic, and economic changes that challenge their sustainability. In addition, political and regulatory burdens can complicate the running of communal enterprises that provide income and livelihoods for community members, young and old. When these challenges combine with the cultural changes driven by globalization, youth in rural areas-especially those without access to land-may look outside of their communities for opportunities. The labor shortages and detachment from place that follow can undermine local capacities to manage communal lands for natural resource-based livelihoods. Researchers and NGOs that have studied and supported community-based resource management, including community forest enterprises (CFEs), argue that building community capacities and improving access to markets are necessary for forest commons to be sustainable. Yet, the role of young people in all of this remains under-studied, including how their perceptions and motivations vis a vis forest livelihoods and work compare to those of older members who enjoy tenure rights and associated benefits. To help address this knowledge gap, we conducted semi-structured interviews with youth/young adults and older rights-holders in communities in different regions of Mexico with their own forestry enterprise, along with a small number of non-community members working in or supporting the country's community forestry sector. We found that youth held a degree of attachment to traditional rural life, but perceived limited economic opportunities locally, low and unstable incomes, and few retirement benefits associated with forest work. This, along with the physical strain of land-based livelihoods, a lack of access to credit, processing delays for harvesting permits, and outdated logging equipment, contributed to diminished interest in the forestry sector and enhanced motivations to out-migrate. To cope with internal labor shortages, communities seek labor from afar, offering short-term contractual wages, and lease land and rights to outsiders. Such actions occur outside of federal commons law, suggesting that the regulatory context in Mexico is out of step with the emergent realities and needs of contemporary forest communities.
... The fourth group revealed the importance of indigenous communities during the SP process for ES conservation programs (Rodríguez-Robayo and Merino-Pérez, 2018), bringing attention to territorial conflicts (Ibarra et al., 2011). This group of articles included an analysis of emerging contexts among governments, global strategies for climate change (e.g., REDD+), and local communities in LA (Skutsch et al., 2013;Entenmann et al., 2014). ...
In this article, we propose that ecosystem services (ES) should be studied integrating social participation and the narrative of social actors. We analyzed the ES literature (1996–2020) in Latin America (LA), basing our review on the concept that the study of this topic should be transdisciplinary and post-normal (i.e., extended peer communities). We prepared the review using the Scopus® and Web of Science™ (WoS) databases. We found 1069 articles related to social participation in ES studies in 20 LA countries, identifying 310 articles for further analysis using screening and eligibility protocols. We also used a random sample (n = 50) of the 310 articles for a detailed analysis of social participation and extended peer communities. Results showed that articles increased from seven in 2010 to 39 per year from 2015 to 2019. English is the primary language used (91% of the articles), with only one journal accepting publications in Spanish. The most common collaboration combination has been one LA author and one or more non-LA authors (41% of the articles). The semantic network analysis showed 35 thematic clusters, with the most common corresponding to ES protection and provision issues. Direct social participation was included in 62% of the articles, mainly through interviews; however, consultancy processes have dominated the participatory perspective of the authors without transformative involvement. We discuss article language and low inter-countries collaboration, both influencing the lack of social participation required for the transdisciplinary analysis of ES.
... Este estado mexicano tiene casi la misma extensión territorial que el país centroamericano de Costa Rica (58,599 km 2 del primero vs 51,100 km 2 del segundo). Su ubicación geográfica, su accidentado territorio y la presencia de convergencia de dos zonas biogeográficas (neártica y neotropical) trae como consecuencia que cuente con una gran variedad de tipos de vegetación, tanto de origen tropical como templada (Velázquez et al., 2003, Sarukhán et al. 2009Velázquez et al., 2009;Velázquez et al. 2010;Skutsch et al., 2013). Los insumos base para la construcción de la cartografía climática, y por ende, de la caracterización bioclimática, fueron tomados del Atlas Climático de México (ACM) (Fernández-Eguiarte et al., 2011). ...
La crisis ambiental presente, a diferencia de otros grandes eventos catastróficos a nivel planetario, por primera vez deriva del com�portamiento de una sola especie. Por su magnitud sin precedente, nos referimos a la “Antroera” como al corto periodo de transforma�ción del planeta Tierra por conducto del Homo sapiens (Hs). Las diversas esferas sociales difieren en cuanto a las posibles conse�cuencias de lo que reconocemos como la Huella Humana (HH) como el vector detonador de disturbio de la integridad ambiental en
buena parte de procesos irreversibles. Aquí, los autores, postulamos que es el (Hs) es quien a su vez puede, usando sus atribuciones
mentales, técnicas, políticas, económicas y otras por descubrir, aportar las formas de minimizar la HH y revertir los niveles de distur�bio por debajo de los umbrales de resiliencia de los socio-ecosistemas. Un ejemplo es la contribución del profesor Salvador Rivas�Martínez en su propuesta de Bioclimatología. Los autores, motivados por senda iniciativa, nos dimos a la tarea durante los últimos 15 años generar estudios de línea base para llevar a la Bioclimatología hacia líneas de investigación inéditas. Presentamos cuatro líneas de investigación que, basados en los principios de la propuesta original de Rivas-Martínez, nos han permitido abonar a entender temas ambientales. La primera, “Regionalización Bioclimatológica” refiere a la complementariedad sobre otros modelos del estudio
del clima con un método robusto espacialmente explícito de los gradientes integrales expresados en isobioclimas. La segunda línea
“Paleo-Bioclimatología” describe como poder reconstruir los paisajes a través de la integración de escuelas paleo-ecológicas, biocli�matológicas y geográficas y sus implicaciones en los modelos predictivos. La tercera línea “Etno-bioclimatología” se ha desarrollado para entender procesos de domesticación del espacio donde las prácticas milenarias de los grupos indígenas se hacen presentes en morfotipos geoculturales. La última línea “Bioclimatología del paisaje” abona a entender las grandes transformaciones del mosaico
de paisajes urbanos-rurales-naturales actualmente imbricados y con consecuencias sociales, culturales y políticas. En suma, los auto�res buscamos hacer honor el legado dejado por el Salvador Rivas-Martínez a su contribución y apunta a detonar propuestas de buen manejo ambiental a partir de la generación de conocimiento de vanguardia donde el estudio de la vegetación en cada una de las líneas de investigación se convierte en el indicador principal de los ejes de validación de los resultados
... When first proposed, REDD þ was limited to reducing emissions from deforestation, but it has gone through several changes ( Figure 1) and the most recent version includes the need for Non-Carbon Benefits (NCBs) (Angelsen et al. 2009;Minang et al. 2009;Parrotta, Wildburger, and Mansourian 2012;Rival 2013;Skutsch et al. 2013;Wong et al. 2016;Angelsen et al. 2018). The NCBs in the REDD þ strategy is what Turnhout et al. (2017) called "a triple win REDDþ". ...
This study assessed community perceptions on Non-Carbon Benefits (NCBs) as incentives for participation in Reduced Emission from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD+) and the role of Village Participatory Land-Use Plans (VPLUPs) in supporting this in Kilosa district of Tanzania. A mixed-method research design was used in the data collection. Results indicated that the majority (95%) of the respondents thought that VPLUPs had facilitated REDD+ implementation. The results also demonstrated that the REDD+ initiative remains an important source of NCBs. While the respondents believed NCBs were available and important to them, its future availability was somewhat of a concern. The respondents further indicated that the best way to improve VPLUPs (and consequently enhance the REDD+ related activities) and maintain the flow of NCBs, was to improve the knowledge of VPLUPs. NCBs should be considered in the planning, design and implementation of REDD+, especially considering that carbon markets remain questionable and unreliable.
... Another recent instrument developed for land-use planning is community land-use planning (CLUP). CLUP is promoted by the National Forestry Commission (Conafor) through 'bottom-up' approaches in areas of indigenous communities and ejidos (Mexican agrarian units that combine private and communal land tenure), which possess around 60% of Mexican forested lands (Skutsch et al., 2013(Skutsch et al., , 2015. ...
Social participation has become a relevant topic in environmental agendas in recent decades. The first Ecological Land Use Planning Program (ELUPP) implemented in Mexico under a participatory approach was the ELUPP of the Jalisco Coast (ELUPPJC), decreed in 1999. This paper analyses participatory processes in the ELUPPJC from a long-term perspective to identify obstacles to their implementation from the perspective of different stakeholders. Data were obtained through document analysis and semi-structured interviews, first in 2001 shortly after the ELUPPJC was decreed, and subsequently in 2015 after decisions had already been taken based on the ELUPPJC. The findings show that the factors currently limiting social participation are similar to those identified in 2001. These limitations are related mainly to the lack of dialogue and negotiation among stakeholders. The adoption of bottom-up strategies to build local ELUPPs by some of the communities in the study site provides an essential lesson for participatory processes.
... In the Mexican countryside, ejidos are important institutions in the management of natural resources (Alcorn and Toledo 1998;Barnes 2009). At present, approximately 54% of all land in Mexico, and 60% of all forest land, fall within ejidos or similar systems of land tenure (Skutsch et al. 2013(Skutsch et al. , 2015. Analysis of the management strategies that are practiced in ejidos is therefore important in terms of conservation and sustainable development Cohen Salgado 2014). ...
The analysis of resource management strategies is considered to be relevant to the conservation and sustainable use of ecosystems. In Mexico, ejidos are the most important of the land tenure institutions that grant access to resources inside communities. Although it is recognized that an ejido’s internal structure creates different social groups, few studies have explored their resource management strategies. The aim of this study was to characterize natural resource management strategies in two ejidos in a highly biodiverse region on the southern coast of Jalisco, Mexico. We sought to identify differences in strategies and the variables that explain these differences. We took the household as the unit of analysis, and conducted 55 structured interviews that tackled different aspects of households’ productive activities and natural resource management. We used cluster and ordination analyses to generate a typology of natural resources management strategies, and linear models to identify the variables that differed among groups. The results show that four different natural resources management strategies were strongly associated with differences in land tenure and the type of ecosystem that a household manages. This information can help us to enhance and diversify strategies for sustaining both ecosystems and community livelihoods.
... The highest elevations are occupied by semi-cold climates, which cover the remaining 3% of the study area. In Mexico, nearly 60% of the forest lands are owned by ejidos (i.e., a tenurial system in which land is managed collectively) or agrarian communities [35], where forests are often managed for timber production. The remaining forested areas are managed by private property owners and, in a smaller proportion, by the government in the form of natural protected areas [36,37]. ...
Assessing forest degradation has been a challenging task due to the generally slow-changing nature of the process, which demands long periods of observation and high frequency of records. This research contributes to efforts aimed at detecting forest degradation by analyzing the trend component of the time series of Leaf Area Index (LAI) collected by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) over Central Mexico from 2002 to 2017. The analysis of the trend component is proposed to overcome the challenge of identifying very subtle and gradual changes that can be undetected if only the raw time series is examined. Additionally, the use of LAI as an alternative to other widely used indexes (e.g., Normalize Difference Vegetation Index and Enhanced Vegetation Index) facilitates consideration of the structural changes evident from degradation though not necessarily observable with spectral indices. Overall, results indicate that 52% of the study area has experienced positive trends of vegetation change (i.e., increasing LAI), 37% has remained unchanged, and 11% exhibits some level of forest degradation. Particularly, the algorithm estimated that 0.6% (385 km 2) is highly degraded, 5.3% (3406 km 2) moderately degraded, and 5.1% (3245 km 2) slightly degraded. Most of the moderate and highly degraded areas are distributed over the east side of the study area and evergreen broadleaf appears to be the most affected forest type. Model validation resulted an accuracy of 63%. Some actions to improve this accuracy are suggested, but also a different approach to validate this type of study is suggested as an area of opportunity for future research.
... Ejidos and agrarian communities (ACs) are institutions with a mixed system of land tenure between communal and private [28,29]. About 54% of all land in Mexico and around 60% of all forests fall within these land tenure institutions [30,31]. Both were created as outcomes of the Mexican Revolution (1910)(1911)(1912)(1913)(1914)(1915)(1916)(1917) involving process of land restitution of pre-Hispanic origin in the case of ACs, and land redistribution to landless peasants in the case of ejidos. ...
Values play an important role in farmers' land management decisions, becoming increasingly relevant when designing environmental policy. One key element that influences farming decisions is the land tenure under which farmers and their land are embedded, which represents different sets of rights for farmers. Therefore, the aim of this study was to elicit farmers' values regarding the social and ecological attributes of the landscape, and determine how these values vary according to differences in land rights. We performed this exercise in the two most important land tenure systems in rural Mexico. We carried out a choice experiment to understand preferences for different landscape attributes such as vegetation cover, surface water, terrain slope, and type of property. Then, we probed how these preferences change according to the land rights that farmers hold. We found that surface water was consistently the most important landscape attribute. However, there were clear differences that were related to land rights for some values, such as for example, vegetation cover. Institutional mechanisms such as boundary rules and conflicting values are part of the explanation of these differences. These results provide a bridge to understanding farmers' management decisions, and in the future, improving sustainable development.
... watershed level, district etc. India was instrumental in developing the various elements of REDD+ and The Khasi Hills Community REDD+ Project is India's first community-based REDD+ programme, and will protect and restore 27,000 ha of forest (ICFRE, 2016 Skutsch, 2006;Phelps et al., 2010) and ecosystem services . Implementation of REDD+ requires benefit sharing mechanism to be followed effectively so that incentive accrued through carbon crediting are shared among forest based communities (Skutsch et al., 2013). Identification of drivers of deforestation and forest degradation is the most relevant indicator to implement the REDD+ and address the drivers of deforestation and forest degradation through various activities to reduce the emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (Hosonuma et al., 2012). ...
Paris Agreement recognized the role of forests as a carbon sink for mitigation of climate change, under Article 5 as REDD+, i.e., reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation and role of conservation, sustainable management of forests and enhancement of forest carbon stocks. Forest cover change analysis was done between two time periods 2005 and 2015 to assess the forest degradation. Carbon sequestration potential of the forests of Sikkim for mitigating climate change is also estimated. Benefits of implementing of REDD+ in Sikkim involving local communities as a stakeholder to conserve and sustainably manage the forest is assessed. Gaps and challenges faced by the stakeholder in implementing REDD+ at the project level are also highlighted.
... Most studies argue that REDD+ is a cost effective way to reduce carbon emissions to mitigate climate change in the short term (Angelsen et al., 2012;Editorial, 2009;Richards and Stokes, 2004;Stern, 2007). On the other hand, some studies raise concerns that REDD+ may interrupt a promising trend of decentralised forest management in developing countries (Phelps et al., 2010), crowd out conservation motivations, reproduce social inequities and exclusions (Corbera, 2012), and generate inequitable and inefficient income to communities (Skutsch et al., 2013). The flow of income from REDD+ to forest-dependent communities is risky and may be financially unsustainable in the longer term given the funding challenges faced by REDD+ projects (Beyene et al., 2016;Sunderlin et al., 2015). ...
Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) has been piloted in developing countries as a climate change mitigation strategy, providing financial incentives for carbon sequestration in forests. This paper examines the economic feasibility of REDD+ in community forests within two watersheds in central Nepal, Ludikhola and Kayarkhola, using data on forest product demand, carbon sequestration, carbon price and REDD+ related costs. The benefits of REDD+ are about $7994, $152, and $64 per community forest, per hectare of forest area, and per household in Ludikhola watershed compared to $4815, $29, and $56 in Kayarkhola watershed, respectively, under the business-as-usual scenario. Compared to the EU ETS carbon price ($10.3/tCO2e), the average break-even carbon price in community forests is much higher in Kayarkhola watershed ($41.8/tCO2e) and much lower in Ludikhola watershed ($2.4/tCO2e) when empirical estimates of annual expenditure in community forests are included in the analysis. The incorporation of annual expenditure estimates and opportunity cost of sequestered carbon (in the form of firewood prices in local markets) in the analysis suggests that community forests are economically infeasible for REDD+ at the prevailing carbon prices. The implication of our findings is that economic feasibility of REDD+ in community forests depends on the local contexts, carbon prices and the opportunity costs, which should be carefully considered in designing REDD+ projects.
... This implicitly assumes that all communities – and the people within them-are more or less equally poor. In reality, land and resources are not equitably distributed either within or between rural communities (Skutsch et al., 2013;Skutsch, 2013;Karsenty et al., 2014). In designing a 'pro-poor' benefit distribution system, therefore, the presumption has to be that unless special provisions are included to counteract the tendency, benefits are likely to become concentrated in the hands of the wealthier members of the rural population (Atela et al., 2014;Pokorny et al., 2013;Peskett et al., 2011). ...
There have been many calls for ‘pro-poor’ distribution of REDD+ benefits. Although international payments will be granted to participating countries strictly based on their carbon performance, this will not necessarily be the case for benefit-sharing at local levels. In this paper we analyse the technical and legal constraints to the development of ‘pro-poor’ benefit distribution systems, using the prototype scheme of Mexico as an example. There are two distinct types of carbon impacts in REDD+: avoided/reduced emissions and carbon sequestration/removals. From a legal perspective it is possible to link the ownership of carbon stocks and enhancements in forests to the legal owners of trees and land, thus enabling them to participate in carbon markets to trade carbon credits for sequestration/removals. However, we argue that it is not possible to create exclusive property rights over avoided/reduced emissions since they are counterfactual; they have no legal existence; moreover deforestation is illegal in Mexico without a land use change permit, and to pay for not deforesting would be tantamount to paying people not to commit a crime. In order to share the financial benefits derived from avoided/reduced emissions, the principle of fair compensation to those producing environmental benefits can however be used. The funds resulting from avoided/reduced emissions, assessed at national level, will be used by the government for investments at the local level in activities which directly or indirectly lead to more sustainable territorial development within communities, via up-front payments for efforts rather than ex-post rewards for carbon results. Although results-based benefit distribution systems in REDD+ can be defended on grounds of environmental effectiveness and cost-efficiency, they have a much higher probability of systematically excluding vulnerable groups, in comparison with effort-based strategies. Mexico's effort-based approach to the finance of initial REDD+ activities has the potential in principle to be a pro-poor instrument, but up to now, specific interventions to target vulnerable groups have not been implemented, nor have adequate guidelines been developed to promote an inclusive local distribution of benefits.
... From the early 20th century, large areas of forest were assigned to local communities under different levels of control (Bray and Merino 2004). Although a precise percentage is still unknown, 60% of the country's forested area is the lowest figure recognized of lands belonging to indigenous or ejido communities (Skutsch et al. 2013(Skutsch et al. , 2015. These both types of agrarian organizations emerged from the Mexican Revolution (1910)(1911)(1912)(1913)(1914)(1915)(1916)(1917) and they perform a key role in the condition of Mexican forest ecosystems. ...
Analysis of social-ecological systems is becoming increasingly used since the framework provides a valuable set of variables for understanding relationships between people and ecosystems. This interaction focuses on the use and management of natural resources that, in many cases, are common-pool resources. In Mexico, common-pool resources have long been explored since at least 60% of the forested lands in the country are held under the legal figure of 'ejidos' and indigenous communities, which aimed at driving the collective use of lands and resources. However, few studies incorporate ecological processes for an integrated understanding of social-ecological systems. In this study, we seek to understand how ecological variability influences the creation and functioning of 2 Sofía Monroy-Sais et al. different rules and, consequently, institutions for forests management. Our case study was conducted in an ejido with high ecological variability located in Jalisco on the Pacific coast of Mexico. The research approach was interdisciplinary and combined qualitative and quantitative methods. We conducted participant observation and 23 semi-structured interviews; botanical collections were also carried out. We found that there is strong influence between ecological variables and the emergence of rules and collective action. The most important variables influencing these processes were the economic value of resource units, ecosystem services perceived by local people and location and size of the resource system (including area and number of species). Historical processes also play a part that generates knowledge of resource systems and the current social, economic and political settings at a larger scale. The establishment of relationships with variables that produce certain outcomes for the framework of the social-ecological system is an important challenge to be met in order to move forward in both theory and practice.
... Some of the existing research highlighted that the distribution of costs and benefits between different layers of government and local people might be one of the critical factors of the success (or failure) of REDD + projects in the future. For example, it was difficult to distribute financial benefits of REDD + due to the difficulty to separate the contributions from each type of stakeholders (Skutsch et al., 2013). However, when the implementation of REDD + projects progresses in the future, more research on the distribution of REDD + costs and benefits is required to ensure equitable sharing of benefits and costs among stakeholders (Loft et al., 2014). ...
The costs and benefits of the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD⁺) projects are often reported in isolation. There is a lack of comprehensive understanding of the types of REDD⁺ costs and benefits reported in the literature. In this paper, we conducted a review of 60 unique REDD⁺ costs and benefits studies. We found that no single study covers all categories of costs and benefits in a comparable form. A total of 56 comparable estimates were available for opportunity costs, 21 for transaction and implementation costs, 23 for total costs, and only four for direct monetary benefits. We found that, on average, the total REDD⁺ cost ($24.87/tCO2e) was 2.23 times higher than the opportunity cost and the opportunity cost was 3.28 times higher than the transaction and implementation costs. Costs estimates among studies vary widely based on estimation approach used and the scale of the studies. We noted that future REDD⁺ costs and benefits studies should provide estimates of all relevant costs and benefits, and the distribution of these costs and benefits among project stakeholders. These findings have implications in REDD⁺ project design and implementation.
... Ejidos and communities are, generally speaking, a common property regime governed by a community assembly where collective tasks regarding social organisation and resource management are regularly performed. However, these tenure regimes are also characterised by the existence of family-managed plots, which are often clearly demarcated and can be formally registered as a result of the 1990s liberalisation reforms and the land titling programme that followed (Bray, 2013; Skutsch et al., 2013 ). These reforms contributed to the consolidation and extension of " quasi-private " property rights in agricultural lands within Mexican ejidos and communities. ...
Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) have been promoted worldwide as a means to incentivise biodiversity, forest conservation and sustainable forest management. Mexico has been at the forefront of PES implementation since 2003, and the country has now more than 2.6 million hectares under a variety of PES contracts. In this article, we perform a choice experiment with a group of 82 community forest owners who are receiving a payment for providing biodiversity-related ecosystem services in the state of Chiapas. Considering possible future evolutions in contract design, we explore individuals preferences over contract characteristics including who is involved in deciding the parcels to be included in the contract, the type of technical intermediary, the level of payment and the type of incentive (either in individual cash payments or in collective investments). Our results show a reluctance to decide collectively on issues related to forest conservation, as well as on dedicating a share of payments to collective projects. We find strong individual preferences for payments in cash, even when the amount of monetary compensation is lower than in the existing PES contract, and we show that most participants value positively the help received by external service providers in PES implementation. An analysis of preference heterogeneity suggests that community leaders play a key role in moderating individual preferences and enhancing participation structured around working groups. We thus argue that the willingness to accept a PES program is greatly dependent on local governance factors. As such, exploring ways for PES contractual options to match the diversity of local conditions and individual preferences – allowing a modular allocation of PES into cash or investment on an individual or collective basis- could further stimulate participation in Mexico’s PES programme.
... In Mexico, 55-59% of all forests fall within the territories of autonomous agrarian communities [44,45]; these form the basic rural landholding units of the country, together with private properties, which account for at least 40% of the forests. Mexico´s REDD+ strategy involves a broad approach to sustainable rural development, in which communities and private property owners are heavily involved. ...
There have been many calls for community participation in MRV (measuring, reporting, verification) for REDD+. This paper examines whether community involvement in MRV is a requirement, why it appears desirable to REDD+ agencies and external actors, and under what conditions communities might be interested in participating. It asks What’s in it for communities? What might communities gain from such an involvement? What could they lose? It embraces a broader approach which we call community MMM which involves mapping, measuring and monitoring of forest and other natural resources for issues which are of interest to the community itself. We focus on cases in México because the country has an unusually high proportion of forests under community communal ownership. In particular, we refer to a recent REDD+ initiative—CONAFOR-LAIF, in which local communities select and approve local people to participate in community-based monitoring activities. From these local initiatives we identify the specific and the general drivers for communities to be involved in mapping, measuring and monitoring of their own territories and their natural resources. We present evidence that communities are more interested in this wider approach than in a narrow focus on carbon monitoring. Finally we review what the challenges to reconciling MMM with MRV requirements are likely to be.
... The livelihood capital asset link of CBFM to REDD Plus. Recent debates on REDD Plus focus on the critical role that will be played by local communities in achieving the goal of anticipated triple benefits of emission reduction, biodiversity conservation and sustainable management (Lasco et al. 2010(Lasco et al. , 2011Cronkleton et al. 2011, GIZ 2012, Skutsch et al. 2013, Inoue et al. 2013. Since most tropical forests of the world are subjected to utilization which could potentially contribute to deforestation and forest degradation (GIZ 2012, RECOFTC 2010, it is also the active involvement of local communities in REDD Plus that could lead to effectiveness, efficiency and equity (3E+) and provide co-benefits (Agrawal & Angelsen 2009). ...
The Philippines is one of the pioneers to adopt participatory approach in forest management, as embodied in. its national strategy for sustainable forest management and social justice in the uplands, called Community-Based Forest Management (CBFM). The program's almost three decades of implementation saw positive impacts on the livelihood assets of local communities. CBFM has evolved to tackle global concerns as well, such as climate change and biodiversity conservation. Meanwhile, international climate change negotiations have drawn a means to provide financial incentives to reduce deforestation and forest degradation through Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in developing countries (REDD Plus). This mechanism hopes to bring "triple benefits", namely: emission reduction, biodiversity conservation and poverty alleviation. Given their parallel goals, CBFM sites are promising candidates for implementing REDD Plus, and the latter is expected to have important implications on the process and potential outcomes of CBFM. This paper looks into the local stakeholders' assessment of the impacts of CBFM on the livelihood assets of local communities and the potentials of REDD Plus implementation in the future. The literature is replete with examples emphasizing the importance of local stakeholder's participation in REDD Plus, yet their perception particularly on the added value it gives remained unclear. Results of the study revealed that CBFM implementation contributed largely to building the capital assets of people organization (PO) members, especially the human, social, natural and physical capitals. Full positive effects have yet to be realized though for the financial capital. PO members and the local institutions (DENR, LGU, NGO) expressed optimism, though with varied levels, on REDD Plus further enhancing the above capital assets. This optimism, however, does not translate to confidence in achieving the triple-benefits, as risks are also perceived by PO members posed by the likely creation of forest enclosures that could limit areas for livelihood activities. If realized, improved economic conditions could also encourage in-migration that would increase pressure to the forests. Caution should therefore be exercised in implementing REDD Plus to ensure that the intended goals are achieved in the context of views and aspirations of local stakeholders.
... On the other hand, the Assembly system provides no guarantees of participation for the local community members who are not ejidatarios, and therefore cannot vote in the Assembly (Skutsch et al. 2013). Nonejido members include vulnerable groups such as women, younger generations who may or may not inherent ejidal rights, and migrants. ...
This paper examines the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change mechanism Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD+), and its associated multitude of global to local safeguards, as they apply to a single ejido on the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico. It draws on written sources and interviews to analyze the ways in which broad international norms articulated through the REDD+ safeguards, including support for human rights and sustainable livelihoods for local communities, are translated at national, regional, and local levels.
Our findings indicate a wide range of perspectives on what constitutes sustainability, from strict conservation to more forest use-oriented strategies, such as community forestry and traditional Mayan shifting cultivation. These visions, in turn, shape what types of REDD+ interventions are considered a good "environmental fit," i.e., that fit the environmental problems they aim to address.
Fits and misfits also occur between institutions, and play a core role in determining whose visions of sustainability prevail. We found a good fit in the case study ejido between REDD+ and the Payment for Ecosystem service (PES) scheme, which sets the parameters for what counts as "sustainable livelihoods" within a strict conservation paradigm. We likewise found a good fit between REDD+ safeguards and institutions supporting local community rights to reject REDD+ projects. However, despite the strength of procedural safeguards, the parameters of the PES scheme constrained the choice of REDD+ activities available, including the possibilities of local people to work on the farm and in the forest, and hence the scope of its distributive benefits.
This highlights the important, but also problematic, roles of institutional and environmental "fit" in determining whose rights are safeguarded and what is recognized as a sustainable livelihood strategy. It also calls for more proactive efforts to expand the range of REDD+ activities in ways that safeguard livelihood diversity.
... To tackle efficiently the causes and consequences of forest degradation, analysis at a scale compatible with the degradation processes is needed. For example, in Mexico, where some studies have claimed that as much as 80% of the forest area is on communal land managed by rural agrarian communities (Bray et al., 2006), data at the community level is required (Skutsch et al., 2013). These agrarian communities are in any case the target group of most REDD+ programs in Mexico (Estrada, 2010) since the policy of the Mexican government is to use REDD+ as a strategy to promote cross-sectoral rural development, as well as to foster the sustainable management of forest ecosystems (SEMARNAT, 2010). ...
The intensity of forest degradation is linked to landowners’ decisions on management of their shifting cultivation systems. Understanding the processes involved in this land use type is therefore essential for the design of sustainable forest management practices. However, knowledge of the processes and patterns of forest transition that result from this practice is extremely limited. In this study, we used spatially-explicit binary logistic regression to study the proximate factors that relate to forest degradation by combining biophysical and socio-economic variables. Our study region is within the Ayuquila Basin, in Western Mexico, a typical fragmented tropical dry forest landscape dominated by shifting cultivation. Through a survey and semi-structured interviews with community leaders, we obtained data on the forest resources and on the uses that people make of them. Detailed forest cover maps for 2004 and 2010 were produced from high-resolution SPOT 5 data, and ancillary geographical data were used to extract spatial variables. The degree of social marginalization of each community and the ratio of forest area to population size were the main factors positively correlated with the probability of the occurrence of forest degradation. Livestock management and use of fence posts by the communities were also positively associated with forest degradation. Among biophysical factors, forest degradation is more likely to occur in flatter areas. We conclude that local drivers of forest degradation include both socioeconomic and physical variables and that both of these factors need to be addressed at the landscape level while developing measures for activities related to REDD+.
... To some extent, the construction of local baselines could mirror this process. It is highly unlikely that each and every community or forest owner will be required to develop an individual baseline, given the costs and the difficulties involved in this [25]; however an approach including local data can be used to develop baselines for specific management units. Rather there are likely to be regional or provincial level baselines and possibly sub-provincial baselines. ...
Countries at the United Nations Framework on the Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) have decided to engage local communities and indigenous groups into the activities for the monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) of the program to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation and increase carbon removals (REDD+). Previous research and projects have shown that communities can produce reliable data on forest area and carbon estimates through field measurements. The objective of this article is to describe the framework that is being created for REDD+ under the UNFCCC to identify the potential inclusion of local information produced through community-based monitoring (CBM) into monitoring systems for REDD+. National systems could use different sources of information from CBM: first, local information can be produced as part of public programs by increasing sample size of national or regional inventories; second, government can collect information to produce carbon estimates from on-going management practices implemented at local level driven by access to local direct benefits (e. g., forest management plans, watershed conservation); third, national data systems could include information from projects participating in carbon markets and other certification schemes; and finally information will be produced as part of the activities associated to the implementation of social and environmental safeguards. Locally generated data on carbon and areas under different forms of management can be dovetailed into national systems and be used to describe management practices, complement existing information or replace Tier 1/2 values with more detailed local data produced by CBM.
... The focus in the Northern hemisphere has tended to be on the unequal distribution of environmental burden, while in the South on that of benefits (Schroeder et al., 2008). While REDD + implementation is still incipient, equity in REDD + is most frequently discussed in relation to potential benefit-sharing mechanisms between governments and forest custodians (Peskett et al., 2011;Balderas Torres and Skutsch, 2012;Pham et al., 2013;Skutsch et al., 2013;Luttrell et al. 2013). ...
Equity is frequently cited as one of the key design aspects of environmental governance regimes. In the context of Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+), a forest-based climate change mitigation instrument, the manner in which ‘equity’ is understood will be of critical importance for the impacts and acceptance of REDD + policies and initiatives. Whereas the concept has been extensively studied in the academic literature, references to equity in REDD + policy debates and documents are often vague, leaving room for various interpretations and modes of implementation. In our case study of the Tanzanian national REDD + policy domain, we provide a conceptual framework based on an institutional logics approach for analysing the various underlying rationalities in the ‘equity in REDD+’ debate. We apply it to demonstrate how the involved policy actors draw from heterogeneous equity logics in their support for and opposition to different governance models, highlighting the importance of precise contextualization and operationalization of broad international principles in national REDD + initiatives.
... Forest owners could be expected to carry out regular ground-level surveys of biomass stock in the forests which they register under the REDD+ programme; monitoring could be considered as part of the management requirements. In Mexico, around 59% of all forest is owned by ejidos (communal agrarian settlements) or communities [73], and is (at least in principle) managed communally; most of the remainder is in the hands of small property owners. It is hoped that the management practices they would need to follow under REDD+ would first reduce rates of degradation and then reverse them as forest enhancement takes place. ...
The difficulty of defining and quantifying forest degradation is a major constraint in the implementation of the international mitigation mechanism Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+). Our aim is to develop an operational framework for defining and quantifying forest degradation at a local level for early REDD+ projects and for national REDD+ programmes, through a ground level approach. We critically review and discuss national and international definitions of forest and of forest degradation, and then analyze the main difficulties in making these operational, evaluating the key elements and threshold values that are used, and contextualizing them using Mexico as a case study. We conclude that, given the lack of historical biomass data and the limited capability for monitoring degradation using remote sensing, forest degradation is best measured against a local benchmark that represents areas of low or no degradation that have comparable biophysical characteristics. Use of benchmarks of this type could offer a quick-start option for local assessment and OPEN ACCESS Forests 2014, 5 1654 construction of reference levels for forest degradation. These could be refined as more data become available and could eventually be integrated into national monitoring systems.
... Moreover, a benefit distribution system based on individual baselines would risk presenting perverse incentives. Those responsible for a parcel which has never been deforested in the past will be at a disadvantage compared to those who have considerably deforested their forests in the past, since the latter will be able to claim more credits when they start to improve their management [32]. This kind of metric is unlikely to be considered legitimate by the general public, as it does not reward those who have always maintained their forest well, a point that we will discuss in more detail below in the section on political and equity considerations. ...
Monitoring is a central element in the implementation of national REDD+ and may be essential in providing the data needed to support benefit distribution. We discuss the options for benefit sharing systems in terms of technical feasibility and political acceptability in respect of equity considerations, and the kind of data that would be needed for the different options. We contrast output-based distribution systems, in which rewards are distributed according to performance measured in terms of carbon impacts, with input-based systems in which performance is measured in term of compliance with prescribed REDD+ activities. Output-based systems, which would require regular community OPEN ACCESS Forests 2014, 5 1597 carbon inventories to produce Tier 3 data locally, face various challenges particularly for the case of assessing avoided deforestation, and they may not be perceived as equitable. Input-based systems would require data on activities undertaken rather than change in stocks; this information could come from community-acquired data. We also consider how community monitored data could support national forest monitoring systems and the further development of national REDD+.
... An extended public discussion process has contributed both in the development of the 'Vision for REDD+ ' (SEMARNAT, 2010) and in the preparation of the national strategy for REDD+, which is now in draft. Mexico has a number of advantages over other developing countries interested in REDD + in that in Mexico (a) forest tenure is clearly defined, it has been variously estimated that 59% to 80% of all forests are under the authority of communally managed rural agrarian settlements (ejidos and comunidades indigenas) (Barnes, 2009;Bray and Merino-Pérez, 2002;Skutsch et al., 2013); (b) there has been an active program of payments for environmental services for water and biodiversity for the last 10 years, mostly through such rural settlements and thus considerable experience with this kind of instrument (Alix-Garcia et al., 2005;Muñoz-Piña et al., 2008) and (c) a national forest inventory was initiated in 2004, with the result that data on forest condition is available for around 23,000 sample plots, which are spread at 5 km intervals throughout forested land (SEMARNAT, 2010). ...
Payments for ecosystem services (PES) are becoming a global ecological protection strategy used to promote sustainable social and economic development. However, the current PES research and applications are often local and one-sided. The lack of a unified framework for PES results in a high policy cost and low ecological and social benefits. A large number of local PES experiences need to be comprehensively analyzed to construct a unified PES framework, which can provide support for the implementation and optimization of nature conservation policy in different regions of the world. Here, we combined natural language processing methods to analyze 1919 global studies on PES. We obtained the topics and spatiotemporal distributions of PES, as well as the compensation modes of hotspot ecosystem services in 114 countries worldwide. PES have been studied in 80% of the world (excluding Antarctica), but the research topics and distributions are very uneven. We found a disconnection between PES socioeconomic strategies and knowledge of natural ecosystem dynamics. Therefore, the knowledge and experience of PES must be exchanged globally, and PES need to be further integrated with the sustainable development goal (SDG) framework. We propose a PES framework that couples socioeconomic and ecosystem dynamics and be oriented toward sustainable development to make comprehensive management decisions. On this basis, a consistent PES solution may be provided for future theoretical research and implementation strategies of conservation.
Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD-plus) was evolved to provide incentives for the enhancement of carbon stock through conservation of forests. There are concerns about the potential impacts of REDD-plus on local livelihoods. This article accesses the socioeconomic impacts of two townships within the REDD-plus pilot project through using households’ data from control and intervention villages. It found that REDD-plus pilot program had no significant impact on livelihood resources but relatively contributed to some extent for the development of physical capitals, particularly in terms of community awareness raising in intervention villages. The study revealed that 63% of households in intervention villages were pursuing “Forests and Daily Labor” Livelihood Strategy (LS) in which 54% of households were using “Human and NTFPs” capitals. Meanwhile, in control villages, 27% of households were following “Forest and Wage Labor” Livelihood strategies (LS) in which 31% of households were depending on forest resources. Most of the households in intervention villages depend on the non-timber forest resources (NTFPs) for their livelihoods and they do not have enough income for their welfare. For control villages, households were pursuing daily labor for their livelihood and they also had to depend on forest resources for their subsistence and commercial purposes. This study also found that the sole dependency of forest resources for livelihood could not create standalone livelihood strategy in the area of high poverty and forest dependency rate. This study recommends Community Forestry (CF) as a policy framework which should be used for the integration of REDD-plus activities to the community livelihood development. Moreover, this study encourages inter-sectoral dialogue for the cooperation among agencies, line-departments to ensure REDD-plus implementation benefits to local communities’ livelihood resources.
Key words: REDD-plus, socioeconomic impacts, livelihood strategies, livelihood resources, pilot program, Myanmar
The REDD program (“Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation”) was launched in 2007. Two years later it was modified into REDD +. Since then, numerous sub-national initiatives have implemented REDD + or REDD +-like mechanisms. Now, shortly before the COP (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Conference of the Parties) in Paris 2015 it is timely and necessary to analyze insights and to draw upon lessons learned. This study reviews multi-national REDD+ studies by applying qualitative content analysis using the UNFCCC Warsaw Framework for categorization.
Experiences with the implementation of core REDD+ topics like institutional responsibility and results-based financing are mostly not encouraging. Monitoring systems require further development, and guidance for jurisdictional approaches is lacking. Experiences with reference levels, permanence and leakage have hardly been reported. More general topics like stakeholder participation, tenure clarification and biodiversity co-benefits are in turn more advanced. But these are not necessarily effects of REDD+ components in the projects. The projects obviously offer a platform to advance classical development issues.
We conclude that financial signals from the upcoming COP in Paris are essential to encourage further development and implementation. This supports conclusions in accordance with the UNFCCC session in Bonn 2015 stating that methodologies are now complete and implementation must begin. Additional conclusions are drawn for specific topics of the Warsaw Framework. Authors claim that REDD+ should stimulate and support transformational change.
The Special Issue of International Forestry Review, Smallholders and forest landscape transitions: Locally devised development strategies of the tropical Americas brings together a number of papers on the role of
smallholders in rural development. Collectively the papers demonstrate that while there is opportunity to more actively engage smallholders in local development and environmental protection of tropical America, this requires major changes in policy design and implementation. Within the prevailing policy frameworks only a smaller proportion of smallholder families can become economically successful, providing they receive the
right support. If policy frameworks are better adapted to the needs and capacities of smallholders, their role in regional sustainable development can be significantly boosted. Whether such a shift of the
policy framework is likely in a world where relevant policy mechanisms are dominated by decision makers representing the interests of the societies in urban and developed contexts is an open question. The
global community will increasingly be faced with the severe effects of climate change, poverty migration, financial crises and food insecurity, which gives grounds for a cautious optimism that more integrative
approaches to rural development will be pursued that put smallholders of tropical America and elsewhere, and nature at the centre.
Reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+) attracts poor nations to keep their forest standing only to sequester carbon through monetary incentives. However, in countries like Nepal where forest is an integral part of social practices, communities need to keep using forests for making a living. Based on household survey, field interview, personal observation, and broad review of forestry legislations, this paper scrutinizes villagers’ experiences of changes in forest management after implementation of a REDD+ pilot project in nine Community Forestry Users Groups (CFUGs) of Nepal. Since REDD+ was not initiated by local communities but tacitly implemented by international NGOs, most villagers lacked knowledge about it and the associated benefits from the pilot project, thus fewer villagers were found to be motivated to participate in the pilot project. Consequently, it delinked villagers from their forest by implicitly tightening uses rules, which resulted in constraints to fetch forest products. In addition, REDD+ benefits were distributed to some poor households but not to all, which resulted to an antagonistic sentiment in the villages. Thus, a rigorous assessment of conditions and framework of REDD+ and an involvement of local community from the start without compromising in the uses of forest products is of the utmost importance before considering the REDD+ framework as an alternative or as similar to CFUG in Nepal. Alternatively, REDD+ can be a part or a development project under the CFUG’s framework, which could be socially as well as legally acceptable on the present situation.
In response to the commentary by Jens Friis Lund we suggest that the problem lies not in community monitoring but in the way the reward systems are designed. For the case of REDD+ we propose that if payments are made for inputs rather than for outputs, the problem can largely be resolved.
Resumen
Las políticas históricas de uso de la biodiversidad nacional no han favorecido su conservación ni uso sustentable; tampoco lograron el bienestar social. Sin embargo, en las últimas décadas se han establecido nuevas políticas que incluyen criterios ambientales con las cuales es posible hacer compatibles el desarrollo y el bienestar social, al tiempo de aprovechar el potencial productivo que ofrece el capital natural del país. En este capítulo se hace referencia a los cambios ocurridos en el periodo que transcurre desde la etapa posrevolucionaria hasta nuestros días.
An increasing amount of information is being collected on the ecological and socio-economic value of goods and services provided by natural and semi-natural ecosystems. However, much of this information appears scattered throughout a disciplinary academic literature, unpublished government agency reports, and across the World Wide Web. In addition, data on ecosystem goods and services often appears at incompatible scales of analysis and is classified differently by different authors. In order to make comparative ecological economic analysis possible, a standardized framework for the comprehensive assessment of ecosystem functions, goods and services is needed. In response to this challenge, this paper presents a conceptual framework and typology for describing, classifying and valuing ecosystem functions, goods and services in a clear and consistent manner. In the following analysis, a classification is given for the fullest possible range of 23 ecosystem functions that provide a much larger number of goods and services. In the second part of the paper, a checklist and matrix is provided, linking these ecosystem functions to the main ecological, socio–cultural and economic valuation methods.
REDD+ is the term used for a proposed multilateral policy aiming to incentivize developing countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase removals by limiting deforestation and forest degradation, conserving forest carbon stocks, sustainably managing forests and enhancing forest carbon stocks. REDD+ is intended to be implemented as a national and results-based policy, in which payments would be related to actual carbon emissions reductions and paid in proportion to these at the end of an accounting period. Several NGOs have campaigned to ensure that the benefits of REDD+ reach local communities, although so far few have pursued the issue of direct ownership of carbon. In areas where the forest is formally owned by government, the risk arises that people who currently exercise customary rights may be alienated from the forest on the grounds that they are responsible for the degradation, and that even if they engage in activities which ensure the sustainability of carbon stocks, they may not be entitled to the financial benefits.
The present contribution explores likely socio-cultural and institutional factors that better correlate with successful forest community management in Mexico. To this end, 8 Forest Agricultural Units of the Durango State and 8 of the Michoacán State were analyzed. In each unit, six socio-cultural driving variables were measured and five response variables derived from a land use cover change analysis between 1986 and 2000. A land cover dynamic index is proposed as a surrogate of the performance of the natural capital. Based on the natural capital dynamics index, both states are increasing their forest resources. Cluster and correlation analyses depicted forest management, institutional organization, degree of governance and economic development as the main underlying driving factors guiding successful forest community management. On the contrary, age of the agricultural unit, emigration, land parceling, loss of communal natural capital and age of forest plan management were highly correlated with processes decreasing their natural capital.
Forest loss in the tropics is one of the most critical contemporary environmental problems. Understanding the complex sociopolitical and ecological forces operative in producing this problem has thus become an important scientific mandate. Some recent literature has suggested that modern market economy trends in Latin America—namely, rural out-migration and policies strongly favoring high-input, industry-based agriculture—have helped curtail and sometimes revert the net loss of tropical forests, mainly through afforestation of land abandoned by smallholders. Government in Mexico, a megadiverse country with one of the biggest out-migration and remittance economies in the world, has excelled in applying free-market policies and in discouraging historical smallholder agriculture. Our analysis of Mexico's development path and of recent deforestation and reforestation trends at the national, regional, and local levels shows that, contrary to expectations, net deforestation is still occurring, and that other development, agricultural, and reforestation strategies are needed.
The objective of REDD+ is to create incentives for the reduction of emissions from deforestation and forest degradation and for the increase of carbon stocks through the enhancement, conservation and sustainable management of forests in developing countries. As part of the international negotiations under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), compensation would be estimated in relation to national performance but how these incentives will be channeled within countries has not been specified and there are concerns about how the benefits will be shared among different stakeholders. One central issue is that under the national approach good performance in one region can be offset by underperformance in other regions of the country thus preventing the generation of predictable local incentives. Other issues relate to the need to provide incentives to a wide range of stakeholders and to avoid perverse reactions. To address these and other issues we propose separating the accounting of reduced deforestation, reduced degradation and enhancement of forests. The local attribution of credits would be easier for carbon enhancement, and possibly reduced degradation, than for reduced deforestation, since carbon gains can, in principle, be measured locally in the first two cases, while estimating achievements in reduced deforestation requires a regional approach. This separation in attribution of rewards can help to create adequate incentives for the different stakeholders and overcome some of the problems associated with the design and implementation of national REDD+ programs.
Community-based forestry has the potential to improve forest management in the commons. Unfortunately, the ease with which logging interests are able to ignore community decisions and steal timber remains troubling. This article analyzes how illegal logging is highly erosive to community cohesiveness and institutions in the context of community forestry in Mexico. It analyzes the modus operandi of clandestine logging operations and their complex relationship with common property managers. Resistance and complicity simultaneously manifest themselves in the struggle to protect forest resources. Finally, to bridge scholarship with practice, I propose a framework for diagnosing timber theft in common property forests that may help orient conservation efforts.
Decentralization of forest governance has been promoted as a way to conserve forests more effectively, while also improving rural and forest-dependent livelihoods. Prior to assessing the consequences of this decentralization trend, there is a need to critically examine the degree to which decentralization of forest management decision making is actually happening. In particular, it is unclear whether communities are securing legal authority and/or decision-making power over the forests on which they depend. This study uses case studies of community forestry in Brazil and Mexico to examine the amount of decision-making power communities and smallholders have received over forest resources. A framework for assessment is developed that identifies criteria of relevance to community members' rights and day-to-day activities. We found that in both countries the government maintains significant control over forest resources through heavy regulation of extraction, but that communities have increasing control over day-to-day forest management decisions. We conclude by posing questions on the appropriate levels of decentralization for optimal outcomes.
Since 2005, Parties to the UNFCCC have been negotiating policy options for incentivizing reductions of (greenhouse gas) emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD) in a future climate regime. Proposals on how to operationalize REDD range from market-based to pure fund-based approaches. Most of the current proposals suggest accounting for REDD at the national level. Accounting for emission reductions and implementing policy reform for curbing deforestation will take time and imply high levels of technical and institutional capacity. Therefore it is essential that developing countries receive sufficient support to implement national REDD programmes. To save time and ensure prompt action in reducing deforestation, a REDD approach is proposed that integrates project-level and subnational REDD schemes into national-level accounting. This 'nested approach' can achieve meaningful reductions in GHG emissions from improved forest governance and management, while allowing for an immediate and broad participation by developing countries, civil society and the private sector.
This paper offers a normative analysis of the current negotiations on reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD) under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Drawing on existing theories of distributive justice, we seek to determine which interpretations of equity are embodied in the key proposals and policy approaches to REDD in the run up to a post-Kyoto climate agreement. Our analysis indicates that whilst the various proposals are characterised by different and sometimes contradictory notions of equity, it is the ideas that are more consistent with neoliberal concepts of justice that tend to prevail. The result is that despite abiding contestations and controversies, emerging REDD policy solutions for the post-2012 climate regime looks very likely to reflect a commitment to market-based approaches to forest governance. However, whilst such market-based approaches might serve the preferences of powerful players, their effectiveness in terms of forest preservation, the protection of indigenous peoples and sustainable community development remains extremely dubious. On a broader note, our analysis reinforces the growing realization that the international arena is not beyond the pale of moral arguments but rather that the governance of global environmental change implicates elemental ethical questions regarding which ways of life human beings ought to pursue.
Forest management is an important carbon mitigation strategy for developing countries. As demonstrated by the case of Mexico, community forest management is especially effective because it offers tangible local benefits while conserving forests and sequestering carbon. Community forestry receives minimal government support now, but the clean development mechanism (CDM) of the Kyoto Protocol could leverage additional resources to promote the approach in Mexico and elsewhere. We argue that adequately designed and implemented, community forestry management projects can avoid deforestation and restore forest cover and forest density. They comprise promising options for providing both carbon mitigation and sustainable rural development. These kinds of projects should be included in the CDM.
Mexico faces both high deforestation and severe water scarcity. The Payment for Hydrological Environmental Services (PSAH) Program was designed to complement other policy responses to the crisis at the interface of these problems. Through the PSAH, the Mexican federal government pays participating forest owners for the benefits of watershed protection and aquifer recharge in areas where commercial forestry is not currently competitive. Funding comes from fees charged to water users, from which nearly US$18 million are earmarked for payments of environmental services. Applicants are selected according to several criteria that include indicators of the value of water scarcity in the region. This paper describes the process of policy design of the PSAH, the main actors involved in the program, its operating rules, and provides a preliminary evaluation. One of the main findings is that many of the program's payments have been in areas with low deforestation risk. Selection criteria need to be modified to better target the areas where benefits to water users are highest and behavior modification has the least cost, otherwise the program main gains will be distributive, but without bringing a Pareto improvement in overall welfare.
Land tenure and carbon rights constitute critical issues to take into account in achieving emission reductions, ensuring transparent benefit sharing and determining non-permanence (or non-compliance) liabilities in the context of REDD+ strategies and projects. This is so because tenure systems influence who becomes involved in efforts to avoid deforestation and improve forest management, and that land tenure, carbon rights and liabilities may be linked or divorced with implications for rural development. This paper explores these issues by looking at tenure regimes and carbon rights issues in Mexico, Brazil and Costa Rica. It is effectively shown that complex bundles of rights over forest resources have distinct implications for REDD+ design and implementation, and that REDD+ strategies in selected countries have to date failed in procedurally addressing land-use conflicts and carbon rights entitlements and liabilities.
In this paper we consider different strategies for implementing a payment for environmental services (PES) program to mitigate deforestation in Mexican common property forests (ejidos). We begin by discussing the policy context within which PES programs find themselves, highlighting other possible interventions to help preserve environmental amenities in Mexico. We then discuss some basic principles of environmental payment schemes, formalizing these into three that we simulate: payment of the opportunity cost for forests at risks; payment for environmental benefits provided by forests at risk; a flat payment scheme with a cap on allowable hectares, similar to the type of program often applied in developing countries; and a program of opportunity cost payments for forest at risk with highest environmental benefit per dollar paid. We find that, of these three, the last is most efficient and the second most egalitarian. We also repeat a simulation of the third scheme using predicted, rather than actual risk, which circumvents the problem of strategic behavior on the part of recipient communities but introduces some error into the targeting process. Finally, we consider the characteristics of communities that receive payments from the most efficient program, finding that larger and more remote ejidos receive the lion’'s share of the budget, but that payments to them are not necessarily more efficient. This scheme also gives more, though smaller on a per capita basis, payments to poor and indigenous communities, where they are more efficient than those to non-poor and non-indigenous ejidos.
One of the key questions that has arisen in the
context of the REDD+ debate surrounds which
actors have the right to exploit the benefits of
GHG emissions reductions and removals in
REDD+, and the associated rights to international
payments. Because carbon is stored in trees and
land, in many cases the answer will entail an
understanding of rights over the resources and
services they provide. These concepts are often
included in the widely used but normally poorly
defined term ‘carbon rights.’
Mexico leads the world in community management of forests for the commercial production of timber. Yet this success story is not widely known, even in Mexico, despite the fact that communities around the globe are increasingly involved in managing their own forest resources. To assess the achievements and shortcomings of Mexico's community forest management programs and to offer approaches that can be applied in other parts of the world, this book collects fourteen articles that explore community forest management from historical, policy, economic, ecological, sociological, and political perspectives. The contributors to this book are established researchers in the field, as well as many of the important actors in Mexico's nongovernmental organization sector. Some articles are case studies of community forest management programs in the states of Michoacán, Oaxaca, Durango, Quintana Roo, and Guerrero. Others provide broader historical and contemporary overviews of various aspects of community forest management. As a whole, this volume clearly establishes that the community forest sector in Mexico is large, diverse, and has achieved unusual maturity in doing what communities in the rest of the world are only beginning to explore: how to balance community income with forest conservation. In this process, Mexican communities are also managing for sustainable landscapes and livelihoods.
The relationship between biodiversity and the rapidly expanding research and policy field of ecosystem services is confused and is damaging efforts to create coherent policy. Using the widely accepted Convention on Biological Diversity definition of biodiversity and work for the U.K. National Ecosystem Assessment we show that biodiversity has key roles at all levels of the ecosystem service hierarchy: as a regulator of underpinning ecosystem processes, as a final ecosystem service and as a good that is subject to valuation, whether economic or otherwise. Ecosystem science and practice has not yet absorbed the lessons of this complex relationship, which suggests an urgent need to develop the interdisciplinary science of ecosystem management bringing together ecologists, conservation biologists, resource economists and others.
Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD+) is being proclaimed as “a new direction in forest conservation” (Anglesen, 2009: 125). This financial incentives-based climate change mitigation strategy proposed by the UNEP, World Bank, GEF and environmental NGOs seeks to integrate forests into carbon sequestration schemes. Its proponents view REDD+ as part of an adaptive strategy to counter the effects of global climate change. This paper combines the theoretical approaches of market environmentalism and environmental narratives to examine the politics of environmental knowledge that are redefining socio-nature relations in the Rufiji Delta, Tanzania to make mangrove forests amenable to markets. Through a case study of a “REDD-readiness” climate change mitigation and adaptation project, we demonstrate how a shift in resource control and management from local to global actors builds upon narratives of environmental change (forest loss) that have little factual basis in environmental histories. We argue that the proponents of REDD+ (Tanzanian state, aid donors, environmental NGOs) underestimate the agency of forest-reliant communities who have played a major role in the making of the delta landscape and who will certainly resist the injustices they are facing as a result of this shift from community-based resource management to fortress conservation.
The general reluctance of policy makers to include forests in discussions about global warming has changed with the development of measures to Reduce Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD). Mesoamerica presents a logical starting point to promote REDD due to the extent
of its forest, and the relatively advanced state of its forest management institutions and policies. This paper reviews the prospects for REDD in Mesoamerica using PES and other instruments, with emphasis on the effectiveness of REDD measures at reducing emissions, and their efficiency and
fairness. It concludes that in spite of reduced deforestation in the region, the growth of payments to avoid deforestation will be the most important policy change related to REDD in the region in the coming years. However, the magnitude and impact of any payments must not be exaggerated and
should be set in context of the overall trends resulting from broader social and economic dynamics.
At Copenhagen, the Ad Hoc Working Group on Long-term Cooperative Action (AWG-LCA) was ready to endorse REDD-plus and to make explicit reference to the “rights of indigenous peoples and members of local communities” (UNFCCC, 2009). The reference is important because it acknowledges the historical background from which REDD-plus is developing: the historical dispossession, political exclusion and cultural marginalization of indigenous peoples and members of local communities (hereafter referred to as “forest people”). Recent experience with the recognition of forest people's rights suggests three broad principles for operationalizing rights under REDD-plus: participation in political decision-making, equitable distribution of forest benefits, and recognition of forest people's particular identities. In addition, the emphasis on rights requires the development of decision-making processes at multiple scales and related across scales. Global-scale institutions will be important but not sufficient in themselves. Effective and equitable REDD-plus requires nested forest and climate governance.
Nepal has long history of community forest management. Community managed forest was introduced with dual objective: to improve management of forest and to alleviate poverty. It was to reduce the rate of deforestation and to increase the biomass levels of existing forested areas, and thus to increase the rate of uptake of carbon from the atmosphere. As yet, this carbon reduction strategy has not been recognised under the Clean Development Mechanism of the Kyoto Protocol2, which is the vehicle by which carbon reduction in developing countries may be financed by North countries. If payment for carbon is to act as an incentive to communities to manage forests in their vicinity however, there has to be some guarantee that they will receive a financial reward for the carbon, as adequate compensation for the work that are made in achieving the sustainable management of their forest. But for this to happen, there would need to be clarity on the ownership issues. This paper will discuss ownership issue and the position of communities in the Forest Act of Nepal.
In Nepal, the community forestry programme was introduced in the late 1970s with a dual objective: to
improve forest management and to alleviate poverty. It resulted in a reduction in the rate of deforestation and an
increase in biomass levels of existing forested areas. An added benefit was an increase in the rate of carbon dioxide
sequestration from the atmosphere, helping to mitigate climate change. This valuable ecosystem service has not
been recognized under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) of the Kyoto Protocol2, which is the main vehicle
by which carbon reductions in developing countries may be financed by Northern countries. If carbon trading is to
succeed as an incentive for sustainable forest management, there has to be some guarantee that forest‐dependent
communities will receive financial compensation for their carbon sequestration services. This article discusses these
ownership issues in general and the position of communities within the Forest Act 1993 of Nepal in particular.
Land use conversion typically implicates deforestation and fragmentation of primary land cover types, which invariably translates into impoverishment of both natural and cultural capital. Understanding where conversion is taking place crucially underpins sound environmental policy instruments to prevent these enormous social and economic costs. This paper examines 30 years of semi-detailed (1:250 000) land cover mapping in Mexico. Pre-existing analogue databases describing land cover patterns in the 1970s and 1990s were reviewed, corrected, reorganized and transformed into a digital format. Current land cover patterns were depicted by conducting updated reinterpretation on Landsat ETM+ imagery. Digital cartographic overlaying was performed and the results were used to construct a spatially explicit land use/land cover change (LULCC) database with an additional accuracy assessment procedure. The value of the results of this analysis is also seen in the light of their direct applications for identifying critical watershed trends, for guiding the allocation of financial funds for sound land use planning and for assessing the effectiveness of established protected areas. This effort highlights the importance of new and more effective geographical approaches to depict, understand and contribute to informed measures to mitigate ongoing negative trends in land cover and climatic changes.
Understanding people’s willingness to participate in projects and programmes of payments for ecosystem services (PES) has not been a key analytical concern of the scholarly literature around this new field of environmental policy and practice. This paper analyses participation in four communities benefiting from payments for biodiversity and carbon fixation in Mexico, and contrasts the results for each case with neighbouring communities that do not receive payments. We take a holistic approach that accounts for procedural rules, actors’ interactions, institutions and values, and individuals’ characteristics. We show that the nature of PES rules and the effectiveness of communication with government officers and NGOs influence resource managers’ ability and willingness to participate. We highlight community size, resource managers’ ability to diversify livelihood activities and local perspectives on the conservation of common forests, particularly sacred values and intergenerational concerns on forest conservation, as critical participation drivers. This analysis provides insights on why and how these new institutions may be attractive for some resource managers and permits to draw some recommendations for the future design of PES projects and programmes.
The concept of ecosystems services has become an important model for linking the functioning of ecosystems to human welfare. Understanding this link is critical for a wide-range of decision-making contexts. While there have been several attempts to come up with a classification scheme for ecosystem services, there has not been an agreed upon, meaningful and consistent definition for ecosystem services. In this paper we offer a definition of ecosystem services that is likely to be operational for ecosystem service research and several classification schemes. We argue that any attempt at classifying ecosystem services should be based on both the characteristics of the ecosystems of interest and a decision context for which the concept of ecosystem services is being mobilized. Because of this there is not one classification scheme that will be adequate for the many contexts in which ecosystem service research may be utilized. We discuss several examples of how classification schemes will be a function of both ecosystem and ecosystem service characteristics and the decision-making context.
The relationship between biodiversity and the rapidly expanding research and policy field of ecosystem services is confused and is damaging efforts to create coherent policy. Using the widely accepted Convention on Biological Diversity definition of biodiversity and work for the U.K. National Ecosystem Assessment we show that biodiversity has key roles at all levels of the ecosystem service hierarchy: as a regulator of underpinning ecosystem processes, as a final ecosystem service and as a good that is subject to valuation, whether economic or otherwise. Ecosystem science and practice has not yet absorbed the lessons of this complex relationship, which suggests an urgent need to develop the interdisciplinary science of ecosystem management bringing together ecologists, conservation biologists, resource economists and others.
A globally consistent methodology using satellite imagery was implemented to quantify gross forest cover loss (GFCL) from 2000 to 2005 and to compare GFCL among biomes, continents, and countries. GFCL is defined as the area of forest cover removed because of any disturbance, including both natural and human-induced causes. GFCL was estimated to be 1,011,000 km(2) from 2000 to 2005, representing 3.1% (0.6% per year) of the year 2000 estimated total forest area of 32,688,000 km(2). The boreal biome experienced the largest area of GFCL, followed by the humid tropical, dry tropical, and temperate biomes. GFCL expressed as the proportion of year 2000 forest cover was highest in the boreal biome and lowest in the humid tropics. Among continents, North America had the largest total area and largest proportion of year 2000 GFCL. At national scales, Brazil experienced the largest area of GFCL over the study period, 165,000 km(2), followed by Canada at 160,000 km(2). Of the countries with >1,000,000 km(2) of forest cover, the United States exhibited the greatest proportional GFCL and the Democratic Republic of Congo the least. Our results illustrate a pervasive global GFCL dynamic. However, GFCL represents only one component of net change, and the processes driving GFCL and rates of recovery from GFCL differ regionally. For example, the majority of estimated GFCL for the boreal biome is due to a naturally induced fire dynamic. To fully characterize global forest change dynamics, remote sensing efforts must extend beyond estimating GFCL to identify proximate causes of forest cover loss and to estimate recovery rates from GFCL.
The Evolution of Costa Rica's Carbon Rights. REDDnet Case Study
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A Nested Approach to REDD+; Structuring Effective and Transparent Incentive Mechanisms for REDD+ Implementation at Multiple Scales. The Nature
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Project Performance Assessment Report, Mexico; First and Second Community Forest Projects
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Carbon Rights in REDD+: The Case of MEXICO
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Community Forest Monitoring for the Carbon Market: Opportunities under REDD
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Legal frameworks for REDD: design and implementation at the national level International Law Principles for REDD+; the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the Legal Obligations of REDD+ Actors A typology for the classification, description and valuation of ecosystem functions, goods and services
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An Integrated REDD+ Offset Program (IREDD) for Nesting Projects under Jurisdicational Accounting
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