IIED Report: REDD and Payments for Ecosystem Services

Incentives to sustain forest ecosystem services: A review and lessons for REDD, Ivan Bond, Maryanne Grieg-Gran, Sheila Wertz-Kanounnikoff, Peter Hazlewood, Sven Wunder, Arild Angelsen. IIED (2009), 62 pages, isbn: 9781843697428

An assessment of the utility of payments for ecosystem services as a tool for REDD was commissioned by the Norwegian Minister for the Environment and International Development to inform Norway’s International Climate and Forest Initiative (N-CFI). The N-CFI specifically recognises that REDD efforts should contribute to securing indigenous peoples’ rights, improving the livelihoods of forest-dependent communities, and to conserving forest biodiversity. This report represents a summary of ten papers which made up the assessment.

The report looks into how compensation for ecosystem services could contribute to REDD, and reviews 13 Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) projects in Africa, Southeast Asia and Latin America. PES are designed to provide financial incentives to the land owner to preserve the forest and are thought to be an effective instrument for implementing REDD. Under PES, payments for environmental services are conditional and are only made if the service, such as conserving forest areas, is delivered.Important preconditions for success include supporting improved forest governance, land tenure and rights for forest dependent communities, as well as scaling up current small-scale experience with PES.

One of the recurring concerns with payments for ecosystem services, particularly in the context of the much larger-scale payment schemes that would be required for REDD, is that indigenous and forest-dependent communities will not benefit or, worse, will suffer harm. Prospective areas of concern that payments for REDD might impact include:

• Weakening of land and resource rights of indigenous and forest dependent communities.
• Equity in opportunities to participate as sellers of carbon.
• Equity in payment levels and terms – vulnerable communities may be subjected to exploitative contracts.
• Local economy impacts, which through effects on food prices and employment can affect both participants and non-participants in PES.

However, this review of PES schemes finds little evidence of long-term adverse effects on equity for the four issues above. If anything, PES schemes have proved to generally yield positive impacts on poor people in the areas where they were implemented.

“The hypothesis that PES tools could lead to inequity and exacerbate poverty is not borne out by the literature review or the four regional case studies. The evidence is that some programmes have made small and modest impacts on livelihoods. Recent work on payments for watershed services also concludes that these mechanisms have not yet directly impacted on poverty reduction to any great extent, although their indirect impacts have significant potential for poverty reduction.” - Extract from Incentives to sustain forest ecosystem services.

Some of the specific findings include:

• PES schemes have not led to weakening of land tenure and in some cases have strengthened it.
• In Southeast Asia, where PES mechanisms are just emerging, the approach of strengthening land rights (Sumberjaya) or enforcing traditional rights (Ulu Masen) do have potential livelihood impacts where local people’s rights too often have been ignored.
• PES mechanisms have a longer history and are being more widely applied in Latin America than elsewhere. Initial assessments showed that the first generation Costa Rica national PES scheme was failing to reach poorer farmers and land users who held no formal land titles and could not afford the associated transaction costs. Subsequent iterations of the programme have developed mechanisms to specifically ensure that they are targeted to poor people and that the barriers to entry are either lowered or removed.
• Small-scale farmers with informal land tenure have been able to participate in some PES schemes, notably the national payment for watershed services scheme in Mexico. One of the measures used in Mexico (and more recently in Costa Rica) to facilitate participation of small-scale farmers and communitiesis ‘collective contracting’, where several small-scale farmers conduct the contracting process together and in this way reduce individual transaction costs.
• In spite of seemingly low levels of payment, PES is popular with farmers. There is an eagerness to enter PES schemes (both Costa Rica’s and Mexico’s schemes are over-subscribed) and sometimes a willingness to negotiate permanent payments after a pilot, as in Pimampiro. This enthusiasm is an indication that PES schemes are perceived as advantageous by those involved.
• There is little evidence of local economy impacts on prices and employment.

Download the Incentives to sustain forest ecosystem services: A review and lessons for REDD report [pdf]…

Meeting: Second World Agroforestry Congress

The World Agroforestry Centre and the United Nations Environment Programme co-hosted the 2nd World Congress of Agroforestry in Nairobi, Kenya from 23-28 August 2009.

The overall theme of the Congress was Agroforestry, the future of global land use. The sub-themes were Food Security and Livelihoods; Conservation and Rehabilitation of Natural Resources; and Policies and Institutions. Researchers, educators, practitioners and policy makers from around the world shared new research ideas and experiences, explored partnership opportunities and strengthened communities of practice.

Some of the presentations relevant to indigenous peoples and REDD are referenced below. Presentation slides or notes have been linked where available.

Session 26: Local Knowledge in agroforestry science (Led by L Joshi)

• Enhancing the ecological and functional roles of shade trees in cocoa farms: participatory tree diversification in Ghana – Richard Asare, Forest and Landscapes Denmark and International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA).
• The gender of trees: Local knowledge systems in a forest fringe community in rural Ghana – Christine Gibb, University of Guelph, Canada. Download ppt slides…
• Participatory Design and Assessment of Swiss Agroforestry Systems – Firesenai Sereke, Research Station ART, Switzerland
• The encounter between local and professional knowledge regarding tree growing in the southwest Amazon – Paulina Campos on behalf of Juan Carlos Montero, Institute of Silviculture, University of Freiburg, Germany. Download ppt slides…
• Local ecological knowledge as key to managing the trade-off between biodiversity and livelihoods in Fouta – Serge Ngendakumana, World Agroforestry Centre, Guinea. Download ppt slides…
• Comparative analysis of farmers’ knowledge about ecosystem services and coffee productivity across Central America – Carlos Cerdan, CATIE-Bangor University. Download ppt slides…
• Local ecological knowledge in the development of reward mechanism for watershed services – Elok Mulyoutami, World Agroforestry Centre, Indonesia
• Leveraging local knowledge systems for combating climate change – lessons from indigenous agroforestry practices in central India – Yogesh Jadhav, Institute of Professional Education and Research, India.

Session 27: The role of underutilized crops for agroforestry (Led by P Van Damme & Z Tchoundjeu)

• Indigenous Lac Production Strategies of the Monga-stricken People in Rural Bangladesh: A Study on Agroforestry – Zulfiquar Ali Islam, University of Rajshahi, Bangladesh.

Session 28: Agroforestry-based livelihood strategies for smallholders in the Amazon (Led by R. Porro, J. Ugarte & O. Llanque)

• Contribution of Forest Products and Agroforestry for Livelihoods of Indigenous and Colonist Communities in the Peruvian Amazon – Abel Meza, World Agroforestry Centre, Peru.
• The role of agroforestry-based practices in shaping policies and programs for licit smallholder livelihoods in the Colombian Amazon – Bertha Leonor Ramírez Pava, Universidad de la Amazonia, Colombia.
• Description of homegardens in Araçá Indigenous Land, in the Lavrado (savannas) of Roraima, Brazil – Robert P. Miller, FUNAI, Brazil.

Session 31B: Rewards for the environmental services of agroforestry: Payment for watershed/biodiversity services and cross-cutting issues (Led by Thomas Yatich & Oluyede Ajayi)

• Payments for Watershed Services: Implications and Considerations for Upland Indigenous Groups in Sibuyan Island, Philippines – Presenter: Edgardo Tongson, World Wide Fund for Nature – Philippines.

Visit the website for the 2nd World Congress of Agroforestry…

Guest article: Nuku Alofa Declaration

Pacific Comments on REDD
Special guest article from Fiu Mata’ese Elisara/Executive Director of OLSSI, Samoa

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Introduction

Some 15 participants from Tonga, PNG, Solomon, Vanuatu, Kiribati, Cooks, Samoa, NZ and Australia attended a Pacific workshop on REDD held in Nukualofa USP Centre, Tonga, from 29 to 31 July 2009. Representing indigenous peoples, civil society, and governments, they also discussed related issues such as climate change, forest protection, and role of indigenous peoples and local communities that severely impact our region on a daily basis.

Specific concerns of indigenous peoples raised in the meeting included their rights in line with United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), particularly their rights to free, prior and informed consent, sovereign right to self-determination and rights to lands, territories, environment and natural resources that needed to be upheld and respected.

Participants were deeply alarmed by the accelerating climate devastation brought about by unsustainable development, and experiencing profound and disproportionate adverse impacts on Pacific cultures, human and environmental health, human rights, well-being, traditional livelihoods, food systems and food sovereignty, local infrastructure, economic viability and their very survival as indigenous peoples.

The meeting called consumer nations to adequately address the issue of ecological debt to the global south and not shift liability for their own unsustainable production and consumption to those nations, like the counties in the Pacific, not responsible for the high level of climate emissions.

There was also concern about insufficient capacity building on forests and climate change discussions and negotiations in the communities, the lack of adequate resourcing, funding and representation of indigenous communities at international climate discussions and negotiations, and the failure of governments to adequately and accurately represent the views of indigenous and forest-dependent communities in the region.

The meeting wished to remind governments that Pacific peoples and especially indigenous peoples are on the front line of climate change, whether they are from ‘developed’ nations or not, and do not automatically have access to the benefits of a developed economy.

Call for Action

The meeting, by way of its Tonga Declaration, stated its concern that in its current form REDD is misleading and is a false solution to climate change. It erodes indigenous land rights and fails to account for the long term and ongoing conservation and land management of forested areas by Pacific countries, indigenous peoples, and forest dependent communities. Participants called for all nations in the Pacific to sign on to the UNDRIP and for any agreement on forests to fully and explicitly uphold the rights under UNDRIP, the Convention on Biodiversity (CBD), and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). All rights under UNDRIP must be included into the CBD and UNFCCC, and the customary and territorial land rights of Indigenous Peoples and forest-dependent communities must be recognised and enforced by any international agreement on forest policy.

The meeting called for the suspension of all REDD initiatives in indigenous lands and territories until such a time as Indigenous peoples’ rights are fully recognised and promoted, and community consent has been obtained. The linkage of REDD to markets risks allowing Annex-1 countries to avoid responsibility for reducing emissions in their own countries and could even increase net carbon emissions. Carbon offsetting and the inclusion of REDD credits in carbon markets will do nothing to address the underlying causes of climate change, nor will carbon offsetting and market mechanisms provide the predictable and reliable funding required for addressing deforestation.

Participants demanded that forests not be included in carbon trading schemes, and call on all governments to halt deforestation and keep fossil fuels in the ground; not trade one for the other. Forests need to be protected, but they must be protected by strengthening and enforcing forest legislation, not using market mechanisms.

The meeting supported the call for binding emissions reductions targets for Annex 1 countries of at least 45% below 1990 levels by 2020, and at least 95% by 2050 and other elements of the AOSIS positions. Annex 1 countries must therefore deliver on their commitments to making real and effective emission reductions.

Participants were alarmed that some international climate and forest agreements were not legally binding and that there was a disconnection between these international negotiations and inadequate national greenhouse targets and obligations.

It called for real and genuine solutions to climate change, not false solutions like ocean fertilisation, REDD, bio-fuels and monocultures for plantations that erode and violate the rights of Indigenous peoples and forest-dependant communities, and destroy biodiversity.

Participants objected to the current definition of forests under the CBD, UNFCCC and the Food and Agricultural Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) and demanded that any definition of forests must strongly differentiate between plantations and natural forests to incorporate fundamental indigenous understandings of forests and account for the vast differences in carbon storage capacity.

Whilst the participants supported the positions of the Pacific Council of Churches (PCC) and Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) on adaptation responses and emission targets, they nevertheless recognised the non-negotiable positions of some small island nations and their sovereign rights to continue to exist as countries and to fight climate change to the end.

Participants were also gravely concerned about inaccurate carbon accounting, and the vast amounts of money allocated by donor nations for the protection of forests through flawed solutions to climate change, including REDD and called for accurate carbon accounting on forests, and for any funding for REDD, appropriate technology transfer must be prioritised for community based forest management schemes, managed through strengthened mechanisms within the UNFCCC that include impacted communities and in accordance with Indigenous rights under UNDRIP. Donor nations should not fund international financial institutions, like the World Bank to implement projects that support flawed solutions to climate change.

The workshop thanked the Kingdom of Tonga and the University of the South Pacific (USP) in Tonga for their hospitality, and expressed their gratitude to the Global Forest Coalition and the Government of the Netherlands for their coordination and funding of the workshop.

Guest article: The Tuvalu Position on REDD

The Tuvalu Position on REDD deserves strong AOSIS, Pacific, and Indigenous Peoples’ support in the outcome of COP15 of the UNFCCC in Copenhagen
Special guest article from Fiu Mata’ese Elisara/Executive Director of OLSSI – Samoa
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The Different Proposals on REDD in the UNFCCC: REDD proposals will lead to forest protection only if the needs and rights of local communities are being effectively addressed. Unfortunately with the exception of the proposals by Tuvalu and Norway, most do not sufficiently respect local peoples’ rights. With assessments also from FERN and Forest Peoples Program (FPP), the following are pertinent comments relevant to this call for support for the Tuvalu and Norway positions on REDD.

Forest Retention Scheme: Tuvalu has proposed a Forest Retention Scheme to provide incentives to communities for protecting and retaining forests. There are three components to this scheme, which include a Community Forest Retention Trust Account; Forest Retention Certificates and an International Forest Retention Fund to provide funding for communities to set aside forest areas or to manage them in a sustainable manner. Communities could draw on a prescribed percentage of their own trust account, to establish measures to combat and reduce deforestation and degradation.

Community Forest Retention Trust Accounts (CFRT Account) : Communities that wish to establish projects to conserve forest areas or manage them on a sustainable basis would seek funding to establish a CFRT Account. Communities could draw on a prescribed percentage of this account to establish measures to combat emissions from deforestation and forest degradation. The remaining amount would be set aside in the CFRT Account. A community could then draw upon the interest from the Account on an annual basis, based on the concept of being paid an annual ‘rent for environmental services’.

Forest Retention Certificates: Once the CFRT Account is established, communities could apply for Forest Retention Certificates which are based on an estimate of the amount of GHG reduced by the project (based on current emission trends compared with potential actions to reduce these emission trends). At the end of a prescribed period (five years) certificates equivalent to a determined amount of CO₂ avoided would be issued by national governments, which would need to report annually to the COP. A committee would be established under the COP to ensure that there was not an over-issuance of these certificates. At the end of a prescribed period of time (possibly ten years), the area of forest originally set aside or sustainably managed by the community would be independently assessed. An independent auditor would also assess whether the CFRT account was still in operation. If the project and the account are verified, communities could redeem a prescribed percentage of their Certificates. This process would be repeated every ten years.

International Forest Retention Fund: Funding for the redemption of these Certificates would come from a proposed International Forest Retention Fund established under the Convention. Tuvalu has suggested a levy on inter-national aviation and bunker fuels to finance this fund, which could raise in the region of US$24 billion annually. Redemption of the Certificates would be granted ex-post, although communities have had access to interest from the initial CFRT Account. Communities could deposit these redeemed Certificates into their CFRT Account or use the money as the community sees fit. Procedures for assessment and auditing would be kept as simple as possible to minimize transaction costs. The Certificates could only be redeemed to the International Forest Retention Fund. The fundamental component of this scheme is founded on the principle that the certificates cannot be sold, transferred or traded.

Tuvalu does not support forest carbon trading, largely because leakage will inevitably occur so long as the demand for global commodities continues to put pressure on forests. Tuvalu has recently proposed addressing international leakage through demand-side measures. This would mean that importing countries would have to ensure that forest product imports are derived from sustainably managed forest. Ian Fry suggests creating carbon deficit levies (CDLs) for importing countries. Annex I parties would then accumulate CDLs for importing forest products resulting from deforestation activities in developing countries. These would appear as emissions in national GHG inventories and so would in effect be the opposite of certified emissions reductions (CERs), whereby countries would be adding emission increases to their assigned amount.

Norway: Substantial, predictable, results-based and long-term financial flows to developing countries are required for a post-2012 REDD mechanism – and establishing such flows should be the focus of the mechanism, as it is these flows that make REDD different from past forest protection schemes. Therefore a robust, effective and sustainable system for mobilizing financial resources, and a credible results-based mechanism to distribute them, should be the corner-stone of a future REDD mechanism. Biodiversity should be protected through careful policy design, and any regime should ensure the involvement of indigenous peoples and local communities, who should be involved in the construction of mechanisms that compensate them for the forest protection they promote.

The proposal advocates a combination of fund- and market-based mechanisms. Markets are needed to mobilize the private sector, although they are less effective for countries with low rates of deforestation, and less relevant for capacity-building activities. REDD must be additional to deep emissions cuts from Annex 1 countries – so a market-based mechanism will require collective emissions cuts from developed countries of more than 25% – 40%. If a fund-based mechanism is used, it is essential that adequate finances are raised (relying on development aid type donations will not be acceptable). To this end Norway has proposed a system for the auctioning of allowances as a potential source of REDD funding.

The focus should primarily be on REDD, but incentives also need to account for conservation, sustainable forest management, and enhanced carbon stocks to provide incentives for countries with historically low deforestation rates, or those who have stopped deforesting. A broad scope including all forest activities will reduce the risk of leakage. An independent monitoring system will be required (of emission reductions and reference levels) to ensure credibility.

Reference levels in principle should be based on historical emissions data, but due to the lack of incentives that this principle would provide for countries with historically low rates of deforestation, Norway is open to other approaches for setting reference levels. A national approach, eventually leading to monitoring of all forests in the country, is needed to account for intra-national leakage. International leakage must be addressed. In the early stages, when fewer countries are participating, approaches to address international leakage need to be explored, although Norway has no specific suggestions in this proposal.

The proposal also suggests that there should be close coordination and integration of preparations made through the United Nations REDD Initiative, the World Bank’s Forest Carbon Partnership Facility and other initiatives: not as a substitute for REDD under the UNFCCC, but to stimulate early action and capacity building.

Guest Article: Rights and role of indigenous peoples and local communities in the Brazilian Amazon Forest

Leading to an equitable REDD mechanism: Recognizing the rights and role of indigenous peoples and local communities in the Brazilian Amazon Forest

Special guest article from Paula Moreira, Instituto de Pesquisa Amiental da Amazônia (IPAM). For further information, please contact Paula Moreira (paulamoreira[at]@ipam.org.br), Flávia Gabriela Oyo França (flaviagabriela[at]ipam.org.br) or Paulo Moutinho, (moutinho[at]ipam.org.br)

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The majority of indigenous peoples and traditional communities (IPLC) living in Amazon forests are the primary stakeholders responsible for the protection, and consequently the conservation and preservation of forested areas. In the Brazilian Amazon, protected areas inhabited by forest peoples total 109.8 million hectares, corresponding to 60% of the protected areas and preserving a forest carbon stock of about 15 billion tons of carbon (32% of total carbon stocked in the Amazon forest) (Figure 1) (note 1).

Figure 1. The following map, as of 2008, shows the deforestation (in yellow) and the preserved indigenous territories (dark blue) and traditional communities reserves (orange) avoiding the advance of deforestation in those areas. Source: IPAM, unpublished data.

These large protected areas act as major obstacles to the advance of deforestation, as they have regional inhibiting effect, which means that they contribute to the reduction of deforestation outside its boundaries, especially when considering distances up to 10 km. As a result, they avoid the significant potential emissions associated with greenhouse gases. Through simulations aimed at predicting the future deforestation, it was possible to calculate the potential emissions of indigenous lands and extractive reserves from 2008 to 2050. If these areas were not protected, 5 billion tons of carbon would be emitted into the atmosphere by the year 2050 (note 2). This volume represents approximately 2.5 times the effort to reduce emissions of the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol, considering its effective implementation.

Despite the high rate of deforestation (> 1 million ha/year) in the Brazilian Amazon, the deforestation inside the Brazilian Amazon protected areas (that includes indigenous territories and local communities (IPLC) reserves) as a whole is very small (< 3% of its total area).

Therefore, it is essential that any discussion focused on the benefits and compensations that should be attributed to the efforts in reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD), as well as the protection of forests, recognize the important role that IPLC have been playing, and respond to their demands in order to promote the improvement of livelihoods conditions in their territories. Such improvements or benefits could be promoted, for example, in form of subsidies for the production of non-timber products and provision of basic needs to these populations. Regarding the right of demarcation of IPLC’s territories, REDD policies should be established in a manner that requires that the Party implementing this mechanism must demonstrate that it recognizes and enforces the rights of indigenous peoples and traditional communities.

As established by the Bali Road Map in COP 13, the needs of indigenous peoples and local communities should be met, when adopting measures for REDD in developing countries. Then, later in COP 14, following the advice by the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues and other movements, the Parties recognized “the need to promote the full and effective participation of indigenous people and local communities (IPLC) (note 3), taking into account national circumstances and noting relevant international agreements,” in relation to REDD.

Despite the fact that UNFCCC Parties have recognized the need to promote the full and effective participation of IPLC, recognition and enforcement of fundamental rights in regarding to REDD framing is extremely important, in accordance with Convention 169 of the International Labor Organization (ILO), Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Convention on Biological Diversity, and United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). We describe below the four fundamental rights that become more important regarding REDD, which must be observed when constructing and implementing a REDD policy at the international, national and/or local level:

1. The right to land, territory, and in particular natural resources (note 4) and the right to fully use its resources in particular the forest resources;
2. Right of Autonomy and Self-determination (note 5). This means that the IPLC´s have autonomy on managing their territories, legal capacity to deal and negotiate, if desired, patrimonial rights independently and consequently making decision in the processes of development such as the REDD policy or projects.In addition, article 23 of UNDRIP clearly rules: “Indigenous peoples have the right to determine and develop priorities and strategies for exercising their right to development. In particular, indigenous peoples have the right to be actively involved in developing and determining health, housing and other economic and social programs affecting them and, as far as possible, to administer such programs through their own institutions.”
3. The right of culture and identity, including the right to development with identity;
4. The right to free prior informed consent (FPIC) (note 6).

Thus, it is clear that indigenous peoples have a guaranteed right to participate effectively in the formulation, development and determination of any REDD policy based within their lands and territories. Moreover, any REDD policy must respect their traditional lifestyles, their right to occupy their traditional territories, and their chosen methods of developing economic, social and cultural sustenance and well-being.

In conclusion, it should be a condition for participation in any REDD policy or program that the Party implementing this mechanism recognizes and enforces the rights of indigenous peoples and traditional communities, herein mentioned. As a consequence, recognizing these rights and the role of IPLC in conserving the forest and avoiding deforestation, the benefits of REDD resources should be channeled in a way to help to fulfill the basics needs and rights such as right to access to health, food, to proper education in their own language and culture and improve their livelihoods. This outcome will obviously depend on the capacity of IPLC to evaluate the benefits and risks of REDD, build consensus and design their own proposals on how to channel/use these coming resources.

Footnotes:
(1) IPAM, 2009; “Perguntas e Respostas sobre Aquecimento Global“. Unpublished data. Numbers were generated through Dinamica (EGO software) platform for SimAmazonia-2.
(2) According to http://unfccc.int/resource/docs/2007/cop13/spa/06a01s.pdf#page=10
(3) Decision number FCCC/SBSTA/2008/L.23, Annex, 1(c) in COP 14, Poznan
(4) Article 26, United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP): “Indigenous peoples have the right to the lands, territories and resources which they have traditionally owned, occupied or otherwise used or acquired.“
(5) Article 3, ibid: “Indigenous peoples have the right to self-determination. By virtue of that right they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development.“
(6) Articles 10, 19, 28, 29, and 32, ibid.

The REDD Site is back

The REDD Site is part of a pilot project on promoting the effective participation of indigenous peoples in REDD processes that was initiated in July 2008 by the Traditional Knowledge Initiative of the United Nations University – Institute of Advanced Studies. The overall aim of this project is to assist with current efforts to raise awareness about REDD issues amongst indigenous people. A secondary aim of the project is to assist indigenous peoples to develop long term strategy to empower themselves and support the development of a strong voice and platform for their views in the development of REDD activities.

This website has a specific focus on the ongoing development of an international REDD mechanism and its implications for indigenous peoples, as well as highlighting REDD projects and resources relevant to their particular needs. Following a successful 6-month pilot period from July-December 2008, and several requests from stakeholders, we are resuming this initiative to assist in the lead up to the Copenhagen discussions in December 2009. Major publications from the past 6 months have been reviewed and added to the site, and several special contributors have been appointed to provide original material in the form of on-the-ground reports from regions around the world over the next few months.

As always, your feedback about the resource, suggestions for improvement, or requests to participate in the initiative are warmly welcomed. Please contact the Traditional Knowledge Initiative with any proposals.

–Kirsty Galloway McLean, Editor

IIED Report: Novel approach to improving forest governance

Evaluation of the work of the Forest Governance Learning Group 2005 – 2009 Tom Blomly, International Institute for Environment and Development, August 2009

Researchers working with forest community groups and policy makers in ten countries in Africa and Asia have developed a novel way to improve the flow of social and environmental benefits from tropical forests, according to an independent evaluation of an International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) project published today.

In each country, IIED and partners set up FGLG teams to bring together representatives of communities, governments, civil society organisations and businesses to explore the drivers of poor forest governance and to influence national and sub-national policymaking.

“With forests set to take centre stage in a new global deal to tackle climate change, there is a desperate search underway for proven ways to improve governance to ensure that forest resources are managed for the public good… That search should look at what’s been achieved by the Forest Governance Learning Group (FGLG). Its experience shows how to improve governance in ways that lead to tangible changes in policy with positive impacts on people who depend on forests.” - James Mayers, project leader and head of IIED’s Natural Resources Group

Through stimulating, for example, improved parliamentary debate, enhanced civil society action and more informed journalism, the project has achieved various impacts, including increased access rights to collect and manage non-timber forest products in state forest land for Indigenous community groups in Orissa state, India, and more secure livelihoods after action which successfully reversed a government decision to degazette the forest and convert it to sugar plantations for forest-dependent households living around Mabira forest in Uganda.

The independent evaluation, commissioned by IIED, provides an overview of the progress, achievements and impact of the Forest Governance Learning Group initiative to date and concludes with a range of recommendations for consideration with regard to future support.

Download the Evaluation of the work of the Forest Governance Learning Group 2005 – 2009 report [pdf]…

Focali Report: Assessment of carbon sinks in forest ecosystems

No 373: Assessment of existing global financial initiatives and monitoring aspects of carbon sinks in forest ecosystems – The issue of REDD
Working Papers in Economics, No: 373. Lisa Westholm, Sabine Henders, Madelene Ostwald and Eskil Mattsson, 19 August 2009

The objective of this report is to explore the topic of carbon sinks in forest ecosystems, focusing on the issue of REDD. It covers different angles: i) an overview of existing financial and methodological initiatives that currently invest in preparation and capacity building of potential REDD host countries, but also in REDD pilot projects, ii) the preparedness of potential host countries (Bolivia, Cameroon, Costa Rica and Sri Lanka) to establish baselines and implement a REDD system that contributes to sustainable development, and iii) the funding structure and channels of a major investor country (Norway).

The focus of the analysis lies on two REDD-related issues; baseline establishment and sustainable development. In assessing readiness for sustainable development, “existing data and monitoring of indigenous peoples and forest dwellers’ dependence on forests” is a key indicator. The report includes 4 case studies assessing “readiness for REDD”: Cameroon, Bolivia, Costa Rica and Sri Lanka: the most positive example provided is Bolivia, where there is a law in place for recognising indigenous peoples’ land rights and right to collective ownership.

Download the Assessment of existing global financial initiatives and monitoring aspects of carbon sinks in forest ecosystems – The issue of REDD discussion paper [pdf]…

New tool: Comparing REDD mechanism design options with an open source economic model

Comparing REDD mechanism design options with an open source economic model Jonah Busch, Bernardo Strassburg, Andrea Cattaneo, Ruben Lubowski, Frederick Boltz, Ralph Ashton, Aaron Bruner, Richard Rice (review manuscript)

The Open Source Impacts of REDD Incentives Spreadsheet (OSIRIS) is a free, transparent, accessible and open source decision support tool designed by the Collaborative Modeling Initiative on REDD Economics to support UNFCCC negotiations on REDD. OSIRIS enables a click-of-a-button comparison of global, regional, and country-by-country emissions reduction, deforestation, and revenue impacts of alternative approaches to providing positive economic incentives for REDD.

This manuscript-in-review contains a full description of the OSIRIS model and research comparing a broad range of REDD reference level design options. This research finds that:

• REDD can be an effective and efficient source of emissions reductions;

• Extending REDD incentives to countries with historically low deforestation rates through higher-than-historical reference levels can prevent leakage to those countries, making the REDD mechanism more effective overall. This research is a product of the Collaborative Modeling Initiative on REDD Economics, a collaboration between Conservation International, the Environmental Defense Fund, the Woods Hole Research Center, the Terrestrial Carbon Group, and the University of East Anglia.

Download the review manuscript [pdf]…

News: FCPF approves R-Plans for Guyana and Panama

With the approval of the readiness plans for Guyana and Panama, the World Bank moves its Forest Carbon Partnership Facility forward despite civil society protests World Bank Information Center, 29 June 2009

The third meeting of the Participants Committee (PC) of the World Bank’s Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) was held in Montreaux, Switzerland, from 15-18 June 2009. On the agenda for this meeting were readiness plans (R-Plans) from three countries: Guyana, Panama and Indonesia. While there was significant debate within the PC around weaknesses in all three R-plans, the political pressure to move the process forward won the day, with approval of the Guyana and Panama plans, and approval pending for Indonesia.

The TAP reports for Guyana, Panama and Indonesia all noted significant weaknesses in the R-Plans, one of the main complaints being that their analysis of the drivers of deforestation was incomplete and poorly aligned with their proposed strategies. Another big issue is the weak governance of forests in the majority of REDD countries, Guyana and Panama being among those with relatively strong institutional frameworks. Because many of the last remaining areas of forest in the world are home to indigenous peoples who are, in many cases, responsible for their preservation, states must finally recognize the land and natural resource rights of their indigenous peoples. Such recognition must be accompanied by demarcation, land titling and effective protections against encroachment by miners, loggers and settlers. This requires political will at the top level of government, and entails some degree of confrontation with powerful economic interests who are currently profiting from deforestation.

The approval of the R-Plans also places the spotlight on the governments of Guyana, Panama and Indonesia, who, as the first countries to formally begin REDD readiness under the auspices of the World Bank, will be carefully scrutinized. The experiences of these pilot countries will be used to assess whether the FCPF process is capable of facilitating sustained and effective engagement with civil society and indigenous peoples, and of producing high quality plans for reducing deforestation that are credible both nationally and internationally.

Read the World Bank article [html]…