Forest Tenure, Carbon and REDD | Rights and Resources Institute
From "The End of the Hinterland: Forests, Conflict and Climate Change," published by the Rights and Resources Institute, a global coalition of organizations, based in Washington D.C.:
Without understanding the way in which forests are owned and managed, the world risks more failed attempts to slow deforestation and promote rural development. Today, governments claim to own about 75% of the world’s forests, and just a little more than 9% are legally owned by communities and Indigenous Peoples (See: Tropical Forest Tenure Assessment). ...
As the dust settles from the chaos in Copenhagen, it is clear that REDD (the UN program on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation) is going forward with at least US$3.5 billion more behind it—more than doubling ODA (Official Development Assistance) for forests—but without the framework or standards to guide it responsibly. ... The current lack of a comprehensive architecture for REDD means that the carbon market and funding will be global, but that justice and legal redress will have to be meted out locally. ...
A Carbon Index map for investors now weights forested landscapes around the world by their feasibility and profitability as carbon sinks. A global partnership of 80 governments and 56 organizations is gathering comprehensive standards and data on a Forest Carbon Tracking Portal to support the monitoring, reporting, and verification information required by future climate regulatory frameworks. ...
These new technologies and tools present great opportunities for forest-dependent communities eager to document their stewardship of forest lands. Yet there is also risk in having communities’ lands and resources visible to anyone, anywhere. ... Complex agroforestry and silvo-pastoral systems are easily misclassified as forest degradation when they are legitimate and environmentally sound cyclical patterns of land and resource use. ...
The work to strengthen local rights, local organizations, and governance is more relevant, and urgent, than ever.
