From Carbon Projects to Better Land-Use Planning: Three Latin American Initiatives

Abstract

ABSTRACT. I start with a discussion of the limits of the United Nations' Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation and cobenefits (REDD+) program and the need to embed forest carbon within integrated ecosystem services on a landscape scale. By comparing a REDD+ project with two non-REDD+ projects, I show that there are diverse ways of applying the Earth system governance lens to address the continuing deterioration of goods and services provided by ecological systems. I then compare the valuation of ecosystem services and the governance of their provision in the three projects under review: Bolsa Floresta in the state of Amazonas, Brazil; Araçuaí Sustentável in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil; and the Yasuní-Ishpingo Tambococha Tiputini Initiative in Ecuador. I show how each project has given birth to innovative mixed policies based on citizen mobilization. These dynamic hybrid policies are uniquely fitted to the particular ecological, historical, sociocultural, and political contexts in which they took root, contexts they help to transform. I conclude that result-based payment systems such as those envisaged for REDD+ have the potential to increase the production of additional carbon absorption capacity. However, they are not always appropriate or cost effective, nor do they substitute for command-and-control instruments, or for popular mobilization.

New Trends Confronting Old Structures or Old Threats Frustrating New Hopes? ECLAC's Compacts for Equality

“…O'Neill, ), or the need for a complete rethink of territorial solidarities and urban–rural linkages (e.g. Rival, ).…”

Drivers of deforestation and REDD+ benefit-sharing: A meta-analysis of the (missing) link

“…Second, and related to the above, our analysis also reveals that REDD+ benefit-sharing mechanisms are also going beyond ICDP approaches to target drivers operating at regional and national levels, by providing direct payments via PES schemes and by attempting to reform policies in relation to improved land tenure and land-use planning. Although such interventions, especially land tenure reform and the beneficiaries thereof, remain much debated and contested (Rival, 2013;Resosudarmo et al, 2013;Larson et al, 2013;Naughton-Treves and Wendland, 2014), they do signal an attempt within REDD+ projects to target drivers operating beyond the local level in certain instances.…”

Aiming for Sustainability and Scalability: Community Engagement in Forest Payment Schemes

“…Importance has been and should continue to be placed on community engagement in a way that promotes legitimacy, the program's resilience and adaptive capacity in the long run [10,46,47], and the transformation of power relations over time [48]. It is, therefore, important that external actors understand and engage with the priorities of local communities [49][50][51].…”