Sowing the seeds of sustainable rural livelihoods? An assessment of Participatory Forest Management through REDD+ in Tanzania

Participatory forest management (PFM) initiatives have emerged worldwide for a range of aims including to improve forest governance, enhance resource conservation and to increase rural people’s access to and benefits from forest resources. Some of these initiatives have also received climate finance support to enhance their impact on mitigation. However, their effects on forest governance and livelihoods are complex and remain poorly studied. In this article, we address this gap by analysing governance and livelihood changes in a PFM initiative in Tanzania that has received funding as a REDD+ pilot site. Based on qualitative governance analysis and quantitative livelihood panel data (2011–2014) that compares villages and households within and outside the project, we find that improvements to forest governance are substantial in project villages compared to control villages, while changes in income have been important but statistically insignificant, and driven by a regional sesame cash crop boom unrelated to enhanced forestry revenues. Focusing on whether PFM had enhanced other wealth indicators including household conditions and durable assets, our analysis shows again no significant differences between participant and control villages, although the participant villages do have, on average, a greater level of durable assets. Overall, our findings are positive regarding forest governance improvements but inconclusive regarding livelihood effects, which at least in the short term seem to benefit more from agricultural intensification than forestry activities, whose benefits might become more apparent over a longer time period. In conclusion we emphasize the need for moving towards longer term monitoring efforts, improving understandings of local dynamics of change, particularly at a regional rather than community level, and defining the most appropriate outcome variables and cost-effective systems of data collection or optimization of existing datasets if we are to better capture the complex impacts of PFM initiatives worldwide.     

Learning from the other: Benefit sharing lessons for REDD+ implementation based on CBFM experience in Northern Tanzania

A key challenge facing interventions in forestry sector is how to ensure that benefit-sharing arrangements meet the needs and aspirations of poor rural people. In particular, as interest and effort builds around REDD+, it is important to remember that it, and any other intervention, are likely to be shaped by the history of Tanzania’s forestry sector, especially community based forest management. This paper examines benefit lessons for REDD+ from a well-known Tanzanian Forest Reserve which has begun to participate in selling carbon. The example is particularly important as it is one of the oldest cases of village-based forest management in the country. To explore this case a total of 101 households from two reserve-adjacent villages were randomly interviewed along with key informant interviews, transect walks, participant observation, and focus group discussions. Findings of the study revealed that majority of respondents felt benefits are concentrated on an elite due to weak governance mechanisms. We argue that local governance and central oversight will enhance good benefit sharing under REDD+ and future interventions in the forest sector.     

Learning through practice? Learning from the REDD+ demonstration project,Kalimantan Forests and Climate Partnership (KFCP) in Indonesia

Despite a growing recognition of the importance of social learning in governing and managing land use, the understanding and practice of learning has received limited attention from researchers. In global environmental programs and projects aimed at supporting sustainable land use in developing countries, learning is often promoted but without explicit learning goals. The focus may be on capacity building and community participation, and on testing policy tools, rather than on collaborative social learning. In this study, we looked behind the rhetoric of learning in the Kalimantan Forests and Climate Partnership (KFCP), a large demonstration project for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) in Indonesia. The novelty of such mechanisms, linked to international forest carbon outcomes, means that learning lessons provides a rationale for REDD+ pilot activities. We used a qualitative approach to examine the nature and type of learning that occurred in the KFCP. While the stated project aims were to support policy experimentation and apply learning, the project design was highly technical, and project decision-making did not explicitly encourage joint problem solving. Despite the project’s shortcomings, we identified that learning did occur by the end of the project in ways that were different to the initial goals. Our findings suggest that flexibility and openness in project design and implementation can enable different local actors to define shared learning agendas in ways that are meaningful for them. Designing and implementing environmental projects, and learning goals within them, should attend to the needs and aspirations of those who will have to live with their long-term consequences. Learning should be integrated into international environmental programs and projects at all levels, including for policy and funding bodies, rather than focusing on local capacity building and similar project ‘benefits’. Interviewees’ eagerness to learn suggests that building approaches to social learning into program design has the potential to yield opportunities for learning beyond REDD+ to other forms of policy experimentation and governance innovations.     

The politics of swidden: A case study from Nghe An and Son La in Vietnam

Swidden cultivation practices have been seen as a major driver of deforestation and forest degradation in Southeast Asia. Using two case studies from Vietnam, this paper examines discourses around swidden practices at multiple levels of governance. Our findings show diverse interpretations of swidden resulting in different policy preferences and policy translations when addressing the issue. At national level, swidden is blamed as a principal driver of deforestation and forest degradation, and as such is a practice to be eliminated. As a result of this national stance, provincial level authorities see the existence of swidden as a failure by which their political performance will be judged. Conversely, swidden communities are seen at district level as an innovative solution to help resource-limited police forces ensure national security in border areas. Local commune and village leaders view swidden as a traditional practice to be respected, so as to maintain harmonious relationships amongst social groups, and avoid ethnic groups protesting against the government. Such differences in discourses and political interests have led to swidden becoming an ‘invisible’ issue, with government authorities failing to collect and report on data. Not recognizing swidden also means that swidden actors are practically ‘forgotten’ in the design and implementation of Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) and Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES). Their omission from forest conservation and management incentive programmes could lead to further social marginalization, and potentially result in deforestation and forest degradation in the area. Our findings suggest that REDD+ policies should take into account diverging political interests on controversial land uses such as swidden cultivation.     

Benefit distribution across scales to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+) in Vietnam

At very high policy levels, efforts to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+) are considered to be innovative and cost-effective ways to make forest more valuable standing than cut. In response to climate change, international funding to support reductions in emissions needs to balance conservation and development. The Government of Vietnam is currently coordinating the design of a comprehensive benefit-distribution system, with the ambition to convert certified net emissions reductions into REDD+ revenue and distribute it to local partners in a transparent, equitable and cost-effective manner. A pilot scheme is underway in Bac Kan province. With forest cover of 56.6% and a poverty rate of 36.6%, Bac Kan is among the most heavily forested and poorest provinces of Vietnam, making it a potential site for pioneering REDD+ schemes in the country.Research questions were how to incorporate international, national and local stakeholders’ investments into any distribution scheme; and how to sustain and manage an efficient, effective and equitable funding scheme for environmental services, including REDD+ revenues. Multiple data collection and analytical methods (including participatory approaches) were used to answer both research questions. Additionally, for the second question, we employed cost-benefit, opportunity cost and economic analyses.Three key concepts formed the research frame for this paper: (1) benefit-distribution systems; (2) reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation plus conservation (REDD+); and (3) the broader concept of payments or rewards for ecosystem services; as well as lessons learned from existing, similar schemes.This results shows that an appropriate benefit-sharing system for REDD+ revenues can be developed in such a way that meets international regulations as well as national and sub-national circumstances, particularly for the environmental services’ providers who directly protect forests. Vietnam's payments for forest environmental services’ and integrated conservation schemes (where conservation and rural development are integrated) serve as a base for the development of a REDD+ benefit-distribution system.We discuss ways of bundling such schemes with REDD+ ‘service’ payments and income streams from forestry and agroforestry ‘goods’ to provide short-term food-security/economic return and long-term environmental benefits. This combination is expected to provide sustainable incentives, but further effort is needed in the use of participatory methods and a ‘bottom-up’ approach to provide a strong base for an effective and equitable REDD+ mechanism at landscape level.Experience drawn from Vietnam, in general, and in Bac Kan, in particular, can be replicated and directly contribute to reducing carbon emissions globally.     

Proximity analysis of inefficient practices and socio-spatial negligence: Evidence,evaluations and recommendations drawn from the construction of Chotiari reservoir in Pakistan

In this study, we have used qualitative data from land-use conflicts for a development-related infrastructure project based on the case of Chotiari reservoir in Pakistan. Our results primarily highlight the networks of stakeholders involved in making the decisions for this project and their opposition to the desires of the local population, leading to significant tensions and conflicts due to the superposition of land-use expectations in the project area. Through this research, we have identified the key groups of actors and their logics, links and behaviors in terms of multi-level governance (from community level to international level) and territorial governance, thus revealing the positions of stakeholders and their relative social power. We show how public authorities have disregarded international rules and laws in undertaking a development project, and caused great damage to local populations and environmental resources. This article aims to provide useful information and insights for recommendations to help prevent and resolve land-use conflicts, principally on the basis of an analysis of proximity relations.     

Limits to Ecological Modernisation as a framework for sustainable fresh water governance

An important point of debate in contemporary environmental governance literature is the design of institutional arrangements for natural resource governance in Western democracies in the face of long-term ecological challenges. Informed by this debate, we ask in this paper to what extent does Ecological Modernisation precepts provide a governance framework for resolving freshwater management conflicts in the context of New Zealand's political economy? The paper draws on the region of Canterbury whose water resources have become the site of intense political conflict due to the rapid growth of dairy farming. We firstly argue how the precepts of Ecological Modernisation are promoted in natural resource governance through the discourses of a variety of stakeholders at both the national and regional level and secondly, demonstrate how the adoption of these precepts in institutional design reflect a broadly techno-corporatist interpretation of Ecological Modernisation theory which struggles to sustain ecological carrying capacity of freshwater resources.     

Heterogeneous governance capabilities,reference emission levels and emissions from deforestation and degradation: A signaling model approach

Heterogeneous governance capabilities of developing countries are one of the major challenges to the effectiveness of REDD+ projects. Consequently, the effects of heterogeneous governance capability, and reference emission levels on emissions from deforestation and degradation under information asymmetry, are both theoretically and empirically analyzed by using two signaling models to interrogate the panel data during the period 2011–2015 from 13 partner developing countries involved in the UN-REDD Programme. Empirical results confirm that compensation payments based on heterogeneous governance capability can improve the incentive effectiveness of such compensation payments in REDD+ projects, thereby making developing countries more willing to reduce their emissions from deforestation and degradation. Furthermore, higher baseline targets for reducing emissions can lead to greater efforts to reduce emissions. Therefore, the heterogeneous governance capabilities of developing countries should be considered in calculating the level of compensation payment for future REDD+ projects. Instead of a uniform compensation payment for all developing countries, compensation payments should be distributed according to the heterogeneous governance capabilities of each of those developing countries.     

Perceived importance of ecosystem services in the Białowieża Forest for local communities – Does proximity matter?

Effective protection of biodiversity in areas of high conservation value requires trade-offs between local use of natural resources and conservation restrictions. The compromise is often difficult to reach, which causes conflicts over the management priorities of existing and potential protected areas. Ecosystem services (ES) perspective offers a promising avenue for diagnosing and reconciling contrasting interests concerning the use of benefits from ecosystems. We examined how the spatial proximity to the Białowieża Forest (BF), a European biodiversity hotspot, affects the perceived use of ES by local communities. We performed a survey among 719 respondents from 35 villages situated within BF and in its vicinity. We found that both the declared use of ES and the perceived influence of ES on household’s economy was declining with the distance from BF with particularly high differences between areas not further than 3 km from BF and areas located 3-15 km from BF. Different zones varied in terms of benefits from tourism and costs connected with a potential limited access to ES due to conservation. Broadening the perspective, we argue that the trade-offs linked to ES may vary depending on the location in relation to the protected area and that local communities should not be treated as a homogenous group when considering benefits from the forest. Awareness of common patterns of ES use over space and local specificity may enhance effective management of even highly contested conservation areas.     

How does ‘Free,Prior and Informed Consent’ (FPIC) impact social equity? Lessons from mining and forestry and their implications for REDD+

The principle of “Free, Prior and Informed Consent” (FPIC) is promoted through international agreements and safeguards in order to strengthen social equity in resource management by requiring consent from indigenous and/or local communities prior to actions that affect their land and resource rights. Based on early experiences with implementing FPIC standards in mining and forestry, we examine how FPIC has impacted social equity and why. In both sectors FPIC was first operationalized through non-governmental standards that revealed ambiguities surrounding its definition and implementation. In mining, FPIC was first codified in the standards of financial investors, while in forestry FPIC emerged within competing market-based certification schemes, resulting in contrasting definitions. In both sectors, contextual factors such as government laws and policies, the socio-political environment and the overall distribution of rights and resources strongly shape the impacts of FPIC on equity particularly for actors without strong legal rights. These findings are significant for emerging arenas such as REDD+, where there is much debate around the role of governments, financial institutions and market-based actors in applying FPIC for social equity outcomes.     

The evolution of forest producer associations and their current role in REDD+: case studies from Quintana Roo,Mexico

Forest associations (secondary-level institutions that support and represent groups of forest producer communities) play an important and understudied role in promoting community forestry in a multi-level forest governance context in many countries. This role continually evolves to meet new demands from their constituents, with associations diversifying into activities that bring new governance issues, interests, organizational logics and capacity needs. As community forestry in many countries is being integrated into REDD+ national strategies, questions arise regarding new roles for these associations. Through a case study of two forest associations in Quintana Roo, Mexico, this study traces the history and evolution of these associations as they react and adapt to a changing forest sector, uses forest stakeholders’ opinions to assess the associations’ current status and perceived importance of their involvement in the forest sector, and examines how current opinions and historical legacy have shaped their role in REDD+ in Mexico. Results show that association members and outsiders (mostly government stakeholders) hold divergent views of the utility of these organizations. Outsiders’ negative perceptions, as well as the niche that the associations are currently in, is largely determining their limited participation in REDD+ consultation and implementation to date. This is a missed opportunity to engage important allies who still hold high legitimacy in the eyes of the communities that will be the ultimate implementers of REDD+.     

Narratives of global convergence and the power of choosing a measure

ABSTRACT

Research into the use of indicators in global governance emphasises the importance of which types of quantitative measurements of social phenomena are chosen, how they are chosen, and by whom. I contribute to this literature by applying these concepts to inequality measurements in the context of global income distribution. Any discussion of inequality includes an implicit normative comparison of distributions and the choice of measure will affect these comparisons. I argue that these seemingly technical methodological choices are actually value-laden, and may have effects on public perceptions and even policy outcomes. In particular, I focus on some influential research results concerning global income distribution and illustrate how a change in measurement choice can put these familiar findings in a new light. I also make a contribution by applying the concepts used to evaluate pro-poor growth – usually reserved for within country studies – to the question of global between-country convergence.     

To reallocate or not: Reconsidering the dilemma in China's agricultural land tenure policy

In China, rural land is collectively owned at the village level. Village officials usually have the power to reallocate land property across families on an ongoing basis due to demographic changes in the village. Realizing that frequent land reallocation and abusive land requisition will undermine economic productivity as well as social stability, the “Rural Land Contract Law” passed in 2002 explicitly reads that farmland tenure security must be maintained for at least 30 years since the last nationwide reallocation in 1998. The frequency and magnitude of land reallocation in Chinese villages have decreased as a result. However, failure to allocate land to the newly increased population often induced conflicts among village members if the security of land tenure for 30 years was strictly implemented. Administrative land reallocations then still continued in some villages to accommodate demographic changes in these places. Based on an almost nationally representative rural dataset collected in 119 villages of 6 provinces across China in 2008, this paper lays out some stylized facts about the administrative land reallocation after 1998. By analyzing the opinions of over 2200 farmers on the central policy of maintaining farmland tenure security, we are able to rationalize why some farmers support the policy while others oppose it. This analysis helps us to better understand the dilemma between efficiency and equity embedded in the current agricultural land system in China. It is further shown that social conflicts among village members may easily arise either due to administrative land reallocation or due to lack of it. We argue that this dilemma cannot be resolved effectively without coordinated reforms in household registration system which can help hundreds of millions of Chinese rural migrant workers to permanently settle in cities and release their farmland to those who stay in the countryside.     

Reconfiguration of land politics in community resource management areas in Ghana: Insights from the Avu Lagoon CREMA

This study explores the reconfiguration of land politics in a poor rural area of Ghana following the development of a community-based resource management and market-based conservation initiative. In particular we focus on an eco-tourism site that was developed through the Avu Lagoon Community Resource Management Area (CREMA) in Ghana. We adopt a political ecology approach that combines qualitative and quantitative information from multiple sources to explain the nature, drivers and outcomes of this reconfiguration of land politics. In particular we track how different environmental and socioeconomic narratives were mobilized and utilised to justify the establishment of the Avu Lagoon CREMA, and how this gave rise to a series of unmet expectations. The restriction of access to fertile land fit for sugarcane production (a key livelihood activity in the area), combined with the underperformance of the ecotourism project, led to different land contestations, including illicit land transfers and silent repossession through encroachment. We synthesize the main findings through the theory of access and argue that these dynamics follow the reconfiguration of land access, and are reflections of the weak enforcement of CREMA regulations, elite capture of the process, and a lack of proper benefit-sharing mechanisms. From a policy perspective, it is important to give due attention to community participation, payment of compensation, proper benefit-sharing mechanisms and the balance of power between local elites, external organisations and the local communities. Only then would CREMA processes be able to deliver their dual objectives of biodiversity conservation and socioeconomic development.     

Of mice and men: Why the unintended consequences of carbon markets matter

Land tenure remains one of the most critical factors determining equity under REDD+, as we demonstrated through our previous article, ‘Roots of inequity: how the implementation of REDD+ reinforces past injustices”. Githiru responded to this paper, with some apparent challenges to both the empirical basis and theoretical arguments, that we had put forward. In this rebuttal, we demonstrate that there were no empirical differences between our original paper and Githiru’s response that had bearing on our findings, but that there are substantial differences in our interpretations of legality and equity, and consequently divergence about who can expect to benefit from REDD+. In a context where land ownership has historically and presently involved processes of dispossession, marginalization and even evictions, this rebuttal illustrates the complexity of the dominant discourse on land tenure and benefits under REDD+ and shows how social safeguards will need to take historical context and people’s current entitlements and agency into account, if equitable outcomes are to be defined and realized.     

Analysing foregone costs of communities and carbon benefits in small scale community based forestry practice in Nepal

Reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, conservation and sustainable management of forests and enhancement of forest carbon (REDD+) are considered to be important cost effective approaches for global climate change mitigation; therefore, such practices are evolving as the REDD+ payment mechanism in developing countries. Using six years (2006–2012) data, this paper analyses trade-offs between carbon stock gains and the costs incurred by communities in generating additional carbon in 105 REDD+ pilot community forests in Nepal. It estimates foregone benefits for communities engaged in increasing carbon stocks in various dominant vegetation types. At recent carbon and commodity prices, communities receive on average US$ 0.47/ha/year of carbon benefits with the additional cost of US$ 67.30/ha/year. One dollar’s worth of community cost resulted 0.23 Mg of carbon sequestration. Therefore, carbon payment alone may not be an attractive incentive within small-scale community forestry and should link with payments for ecosystem services. Moreover, the study found highest community sacrificed benefits in Shorea mixed broadleaf forests and lowest in Schima-Castanopsis forests, while carbon benefits were highest in Pine forests followed by Schima-Castanopsis forests and lowest in Rhododendron-Quercus forests. This indicates that costs and benefits may vary by vegetation type. A policy should consider payment for other environmental services, carbon gains, co-benefits and trade off while designing the REDD+ mechanism in community based forest land use practice with equitable community outcomes. The learning from this study will help in the formulation of an appropriate REDD+ policy for community forestry.     

An alternative to ‘alternative development’?: Buen vivir and human development in Andean countries

In Bolivia and Ecuador the concept of Buen vivir, based on indigenous cosmologies, has been formulated by indigenous organisations as an alternative paradigm to mainstream development theory. It has also inspired environmentalist movements in their struggle for a different environmental governance beyond extractivism, and it has been appropriated by national governments to justify economic and social policies and their political agendas. In Peru, Buen vivir is emerging as a political project to express ecological concerns, as well as self-determination, territoriality and cultural rights of indigenous peoples. In these experiences the formulation and implementation of Buen vivir is a complex and contentious process which expresses the tensions and dynamics between indigenous politics and the political economy of extraction. This article explores the different meanings of Buen vivir in Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru and the struggle of indigenous peoples to re-appropriate the concept which has been co-opted by the state using conventional views of development. We argue that Buen vivir serves as a political platform on the basis of which different social movements articulate social and ecological demands based on indigenous principles, in order to challenge the economic and political fundamentals of the state and the current theory, politics and policy-making of development.     

MANAGEMENT AGREEMENTS: A TOOL FOR CONSERVATION

Multiple land use management for agriculture, conservation and other objectives is a generally accepted goal. Where land use change is economically beneficial to the landowner and damages conservation values, conflicts arise. Management agreements are one means of resolving such conflicts but they must be set within a better development, policy, information and management framework. Land acquisition by conservation bodies and tax exemptions are alternative means of achieving the same objectives. Few management agreements have yet been negotiated but the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 gives them a central place in resolving such conflicts in the future. Devising equitable methods of financial compensation will be the key to the success of management agreements in resolving land use conflicts.     

The political economy of wine: How terroir and intra-sector dynamics affect land use in Spain

This paper provides a constructive critique of Corrine Cash's paper “Good governance and strong political will: Are they enough for transformation?”, published in volume 58 of Land Use Policy in 2016. By focusing on how intra-sector dynamics influence land use policies in conflicts revolving around urban sprawl, this paper aims to complement and, to some extent, widen the analytic lens deployed by Cash. The examination of the Spanish wine sector and its lack of zoning policies confirms Cash's argument about the need to go beyond discourses of ‘good governance’ and ‘strong political will’ to understand the dynamics underpinning real spatial processes. However, this exploration underscores the need to add layers of complexity to land use analyses, showing the relevance of intra-sector conflict and logics. In complicating any simplistic reduction of urban sprawl conflicts to rural–urban oppositions, the paper ultimately calls for a more dynamic and multiscalar planning theory to address complex governance issues.     

This land is your land,maybe: A historical institutionalist analysis for contextualizing split estate conflicts in U.S. unconventional oil and gas development

In the 21st century, the U.S. has experienced a boom in unconventional oil and gas development (UOGD). In part due to advances in technology, this rapid increase in UOGD has moved extraction practices into geographic areas that have previously seen little or no oil and gas development. As a result, conflicts over property rights have erupted—particularly in relation to split estate situations. To understand this controversy, we must situate it in the conditions which have shaped land use and mineral rights. We argue that past federal and state level governance decisions have created the conditions for UOGD conflicts today. Here, we utilize historical institutionalism (HI) to review the historical actors, processes, and institutions that have shaped how mineral rights have developed in the context of split estates in the U.S. We suggest that tracing this legislative and judicial history through HI is an essential foundation for exploring issues related to UOGD. Most importantly, we highlight these processes of governance as a bedrock for understanding spatial inequality inherent in current split estate law that grants the mineral estate dominance over the surface estate. We suggest that this codification of spatial inequality is problematic both in and beyond the context of split estates in UOGD.