Linking REDD (Reduction Emission from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) to Tenure Issues

Gamma Galudra and Ujjwal Pradhan

World Agroforestry Centre

Global Climate Change has become one of the top priorities on the global agenda

UNFCCC & Kyoto Protocol• UNFCCC: Convention on Climate Change• Kyoto: Reducing emission by industrial countries (“Annex 1”

Europe, Japan, New Zealand, Canada)– Commitment: reducing emisson by 5 % until

2012 (compared to 1990)– CDM in Non-Annex 1 countries (developing countries)

Annex I

Non-Annex I

Not ratified

Reducing Emission Program (carbon offset projects); e.g. CDM

• Project in developing countries (“Non-Annex 1”) can reduce emission and sell carbon credit to Annex 1 countries

• Avoided deforestation is not included in CDM

Emission target / cap

Actual emissions

Buyer( Annex 1 country / Company)

Carbon Credits

Carbon finance ($)

Seller ( Project in Non-Annex 1 country)

A CDM project reduces emissions

What is REDD ? • REDD is an international mechanism that aim to bring

incentive for developing countries which successfully reducing emission from deforestation and forest degradation

• In June 2009 at Bonn, it has been agreed to expand scope of REDD activities to REDD+

• REDD+ include– Emission reduction from deforestation and forest

degradation– The role of conservation, sustainable management

of forests and enhancement of forest carbon stocks

• .

Time

Emission outside REDD+

C-stocks

t/ha

Fairness: conservation cost

Market efficiency: real impact

Depend on definition

Forest

Conservation Production Conversion

‘NestedBaseline’

CO2 benefits: reducing emis-sions that are due to:

Planned change

Legitimate local actions

‘Illegal’ activities

CO-benefits:

Sustainable livelihood op-tions for the longer term, enhancing buffering of water flows and conser-vation of biodiversity

Actual emissions (or chan-ges in stock) in relation to Reference Emission Level

Additionality: difference with ‘business as usual’ development pathway

Leakage: effects on emissions elsewhere

Permanence: effects on future emissions (~ insu-rance & spreading risk)

certification

Registry and ‘rights to in-

vest’, attribution

Sale and use as off-sets

Local actors (incl

private sector, NGO’s,CBO’s)

Dis- trist & provin-ce govt

Natio-nal

Interna-tional

Independent verification

Rules of the game, eligibility of types of emission reduction

Transac-tion

costs

rights to land

use

Fairness& effi-ciency

What is the connection of REDD to tenure issue?

• Carbon market have brought issues on ‘rights’• Key issues in the REDD debate are:

1. Who has or can claim to ‘sell carbon’?

2. Who has or can claim the right to receive payments for avoided damage?

• These issues demand clarity on resolving land tenure and forest management rights and stakeholder rights

Current Problems on Tenure System (1)

• Unsolved problems on forest management & ownership

(due to decentralization) ‘who rules the land’ impacted on unclear ‘carbon rights’ (Governance issue)– Many institutions could allocate ‘rights’ and ‘access’, creating

overlapping use of land such as in Ex-Mega Rice Area.

• Customary forest is not recognized as an independent entity, part of state forest– The ‘1960 Agrarian Law’ acknowledge the existing customary

rights, but uncertain how to put it in the land law.

• Claims from NGOs: carbon contract can limit the access of these people to forest (fines and fences approaches)

Current Problems on Tenure System (2)

• Unclear resolution for vertical land conflicts

– Migrants to areas with established communities and land tenure system, leading to conflict and misunderstandings over the rules of access to land & exposure to local entrepreneurs who sell non-legitimate claims on land

• Forest policies and regulations interpreted ‘carbon rights’ based on the benefits ‘business as usual’ (empowering status quo but no benefits for local stakeholders)

• A number of legal issues of ownership and rights need to be resolved before one can fully participate in the segment of international market for certified carbon emission reduction

• Uncertain on how to balance ‘fairness’ and ‘efficiency’

Current Problems on Tenure System (3)

• A number of legal issues of ownership and rights need

to be resolved before one can fully participate in the segment of international market for certified carbon emission reduction– Customary rights had not yet been recognized within the

‘national land law’; various stages of government policy and program have left a trail of stakeholders with claims of ‘rights’, without the resolution of previous contestation over rights.

• Uncertain on how to balance ‘fairness’ and ‘efficiency’– Government could not decide which stakeholders could obtain

benefits; fairness (the people who protect ‘carbon’) or efficiency (the people who are the ‘emitter’)

Recommendation for REDD schemes based on Tenure Situation

• Shape REDD schemes to contribute to improved and clarified forest governance

• REDD policies and actions must settle overlapping rights and recognize rights. This will include strengthen customary rights.

• Ensure carbon rights are effectively established in national regulations.

• Develop effective arrangement to channel benefits to local level