REDD+ on the ground: Unintended consequences in a ‘microcosm of the Amazon’

The success of a REDD+ project in one Amazonian municipality had unintended consequences: Although deforestation there fell overall, it increased in areas covered by the project thanks to a perverse and unforeseen incentive, a study found.

• UNFINISHED BUSINESS: Funding wanes, then enthusiasm, for REDD+ project in Tanzania.
• NEW BOOK: A compendium of CIFOR research of REDD+ subnational initiatives around the globe.

Although the private sector has enormous influence over national REDD+ policies, it is barely visible in the arenas where stakeholders shape REDD+ design, according to a comparative study of policy networks in seven countries.

The Lima talks kicked off as REDD+ found itself at a crossroads, facing crucial challenges related to financing and tenure. “We continue to live in a world where those that have interests in converting forests to non-forest uses have the upper hand in land use decisions—and in the age of dangerous climate change we can no longer afford this,” warns CIFOR expert William Sunderlin.

• CIFOR IN LIMA: Click here for research and analysis related to the UN climate talks.

Climate change affects men and women differently, said scientists and indigenous leaders at a gender session at the Global Landscapes Forum on the sidelines of the climate talks in Lima. The panel stressed the need to incorporate gender into studies of both mitigation and adaptation.

• WOMEN ABSENT: Gender imbalance stretches from fields to forums—expert.
• GENDER BACKLASH: Nicaragua study offers hard lessons for inclusion of women.

Experts came to Lima debating how to safeguard the rights of local communities in global forest-carbon initiatives. Half a world away, a new study has drawn lessons from such initiatives on the ground in Indonesia—and are painting a more nuanced picture of the conditions for enabling local people to help carry out, and benefit from, REDD+.

• REDD+ ETHICS: PhD student’s survey highlights REDD+ controversies over community monitoring.
• CARBON 101: Faced with teaching a complex topic to rural people, scientists have to get creative.

 

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Forests at risk even in “protected” areas, study finds

More than half of the estimated 86 billion metric tons of carbon stored in Amazonian vegetation is in indigenous territories and parks, but although generally considered safe from deforestation, even those areas are at risk, according to a new study. Encroaching infrastructure and development projects could jeopardize an area larger than Peru, Ecuador and Colombia combined.