By Crissy Guerrero, NTFP-EP
NTFP-EP has focused the last decade on promoting sustainable forest-based livelihoods and enterprises with local communities. Though successes in community-based NTFP enterprises are seen in different parts of Asia, the lure of revenues and promises of employment from large-scale industries, however, often make such initiatives less attractive to cash-strapped forest peoples.
Given this reality, the network is exploring other income streams for communities from sustainable ventures that would lessen impacts on forests. Thus, the network is exploring such approaches as payment for ecosystem services (PES) which would compensate communities actively conserving forests for the benefits that others derive from these ecosystems.
Climate Change, Forest Carbon & the Kyoto Protocol
With the climate change phenomenon escalating and efforts to mitigate CO2 emissions growing, more attention is being placed on the role of forests in providing the ecosystem service of carbon sequestration. The financial opportunities of forests as carbon sinks grows as carbon markets are expanding and as there is a growing understanding and appreciation of the value of carbon sequestration from natural forests.
Under the Kyoto protocol, only carbon sequestration through afforestation and reforestation are recognized methods for industrialized countries to gain credits from emission reductions. An emerging concept gaining ground, and with pilots in several developing countries[1], is that of reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation or REDD. REDD is being proposed as a measure to provide positive incentives to developing countries to slow down their rates of deforestation and forest degradation to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. It has been estimated that approximately 20% of current greenhouse gases is due to land use change mostly deforestation in developing countries.[2]
Industrial nations are seeing REDD as a potential opportunity to meet emission targets through financial payments to developing countries by conserving natural forests/standing forests. The interest to support REDD projects in developing countries would heighten if a positive decision is taken to recognize REDD methods in the post-Kyoto (2012) term. Such a decision for the recognition of REDD is expected in the next meeting of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)[3] in December 2009.
REDD Hot Debates
REDD brings with it a bundle of issues which are heavily being debated across the globe. Many organisations state that recognizing REDD towards emission targets would provide perverse incentives to industrialized nations to forego their targets to reduce emissions on home-ground. Environmental organisations insist as well that market-based mechanisms are unstable and could lead to the sale of cheap emission credits which would significantly undervalue forests in REDD programs.
Methodological concerns also dominate the REDD, including unresolved issues on estimation and monitoring of carbon stock as well as baseline reference levels of rates of deforestation. The question of permanence of forests is also challenging in countries where forest governance is already very weak and where land tenure systems are still undefined, or skewed in favor of forest concession holders, plantation companies, rather than local community stewards.
The NTFP-EP REDD Project
NTFP-EP joins this discourse with the aim of further understanding the potentials and pitfalls of REDD for forest-based communities. Along with the environmental lawyers group Upholding Life And Nature and the local community forestry organisation Kalahan Educational Foundation, NTFP-EP are embarking on a project on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation, primarily for the Philippines but also involving other countries in Southeast Asia.
This 18-month project seeks to explore the hurdles to effective implementation of a pro-community REDD in the Philippine context and to consolidate recommendations for REDD policy definition within the UNFCCC framework. The project aims to identify geographic areas suitable for possible REDD application in the Philippines as well as build capacities of local forest peoples (especially indigenous peoples), and grassroots NGOs in carbon measurement and monitoring.
The REDD project is supported by the Natureandpoverty.net which is coordinated by IUCN-NL. The overall goal of Natureandpoverty.net is, through knowledge exchange and mutual learning, to enhance the effectiveness, efficiency, impact and sustainability of project interventions and of participating organisations.
[1] REDD pilots are being implemented in Aceh, Kalimantan and Papua in Indonesia.
[2] Stern report in 2006 commissioned by the British government.
[3] A policy directive was already agreed upon in the Bali conference of parties of the UNFCCC (2007) to consider policy approaches and positive incentives on issues relating to REDD, role of conservation, sustainable management of forests and enhancement of forest carbon stocks in developing countries.
