Vietnam possesses significant potential for blue carbon development, offering opportunities for climate mitigation, biodiversity conservation and sustainable economic growth. This report examines the critical role of carbon pricing mechanisms in unlocking this potential, focusing on both compliance and voluntary carbon markets.
Tag: climate change mitigation
Coffee agroforestry: Training handbook – Most suitable for Training of Trainers
Coffee is Uganda’s most important cash crop and has sustained livelihoods for generations across a range of farming systems. Yet the coffee sector — both in Uganda and internationally — is under the threat from climate change. However, the effective use of agroforestry systems can mitigate these impacts and keep 75% of the current area in play for coffee production. Boosting the uptake of coffee agroforestry is critical for climate resilience.
Coffee agroforestry — also known as shade-grown coffee — is practiced by growing coffee together with other trees and shrubs for environmental, social and economic benefits. Agroforestry is not new: farmers have practised it for thousands of years, and scientists have recognized it since the 1970s as a productive and ecologically sustainable form of agriculture and land use. But agroforestry is now at centre stage: it is promoted as a land-use strategy to support climate change mitigation and adaptation, biodiversity conservation, sustainable agriculture and other goals.
This training handbook supports extensionists, advisors and practitioners working on coffee agroforestry in Uganda. To achieve maximum benefits from agroforestry, farmers need to understand its principles — and their application for coffee cultivation. The resource will help trainers and extension agents support farmers to design, establish and manage coffee agroforestry systems in a range of contexts.
Evaluación de los impactos de REDD+ desde una perspectiva local: Reflexiones sobre el bienestar en la Amazonía peruana
Mensajes clave
- Al ser uno de los principales países que lideran los esfuerzos para reducir las emisiones de gases de efecto invernadero (GEI) asociadas con el cambio del uso del suelo, Perú ha establecido un marco regulatorio para la compensación por la reducción de emisiones a través de los mercados de carbono.
- La compensación de emisiones mediante mecanismos como REDD+ tiene el potencial de generar diversos impactos en las comunidades forestales que participan en estos proyectos, que pueden abarcar aspectos económicos, sociales y de bienestar.
- Para evaluar las implicaciones de REDD+ en el bienestar local, es fundamental entender, en primer lugar, cómo perciben las comunidades locales el concepto de bienestar y los efectos de REDD+ sobre el bienestar local.
- Observamos que, en dos sitios REDD+ de la Amazonía peruana, existe consenso en que el acceso a la educación y el acceso a los servicios de salud son dimensiones fundamentales del bienestar local. La importancia de otras dimensiones de bienestar varía entre los dos sitios, siendo las diferencias socioculturales (comunidades rurales frente a comunidades indígenas) más marcadas que las de género.
- Nuestros hallazgos indican que REDD+ no tuvo un impacto consistente en las dimensiones de bienestar identificadas a nivel local. Sin embargo, se observó un impacto negativo en uno de los dos sitios de estudio, posiblemente atribuido a las percepciones sobre falta de transparencia y al incumplimiento de las expectativas sobre los beneficios prometidos.
¿Cómo puede REDD+ contribuir a mejorar los derechos de las comunidades? Una revisión de la interpretación peruana de los derechos de los Pueblos Indígenas en las salvaguardas de Cancún
Mensajes clave
- Las salvaguardas de Cancún constituyen uno de los principales mecanismos para la prevención de potenciales impactos adversos del mecanismo para la reducción de las emisiones derivadas de la deforestación y la degradación de los bosques (REDD+) y para la promoción de beneficios sociales y ambientales adicionales; sin embargo, las salvaguardas carecen aún de directrices específicas para su implementación (la cual no tiende a estar verificada por terceros) y son interpretadas por los distintos países de acuerdo con sus leyes y prioridades políticas.
- Dos de las salvaguardas de Cancún se relacionan directamente con los Pueblos Indígenas y las comunidades locales: (c) el respeto de sus conocimientos y derechos, y (d) su participación plena y efectiva en el diseño e implementación de REDD+.
- Perú, uno de los países pioneros en REDD+, alberga una de las mayores poblaciones indígenas del mundo en términos relativos. Un a revisión de su interpretación nacional de las salvaguardas de Cancún y de sus marcos jurídicos ofrece lecciones acerca de cómo REDD+ puede brindar un apoyo más amplio al reconocimiento y respeto de los derechos colectivos.
- Si bien los marcos jurídicos de Perú ya respaldan los derechos de los Pueblos Indígenas, para mejorar la situación será necesario desarrollar un mayor esfuerzo en lo que se refiere a los derechos de tenencia de la tierra y los recursos.
- REDD+ representa una oportunidad para expandir el respeto de los derechos colectivos en Perú; para ello, se deben promulgar regulaciones que aborden temas como los derechos al carbono, la distribución equitativa de los beneficios provenientes de REDD+ y un sistema de monitoreo transparente para las salvaguardas.
From promises to practice: Persistent challenges in safeguarding local rights in forest carbon market initiatives
In recent years, a strong push has been underway to expand the scope and number of forest carbon market initiatives (FCMIs) to meet climate change mitigation goals set by the United Nations Framework Convention for Climate Change (UNFCCC). The Cancun Safeguards of 2010 established an international policy commitment to assure that FCMIs would align with social safeguards (among other goals) to protect the rights and well-being of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IP&LCs). Despite the rapid growth of FCMIs in recent years, several studies have raised concerns about their implementation and the rights and well-being of local communities. In response to anecdotal reports of rights violations, we conducted a literature review, drawing on 94 sources, to understand the reality on the ground. An eight-principle framework was proposed for evaluating FCMIs’ impacts on the rights and well-being of IP&LCs, providing a structured approach to assess equity and effectiveness. There are two main findings. First, there have been significant violations of the rights of IP&LCs in recent years. Second, there is a widespread lack of empirical evidence on the implementation of safeguards to protect local rights. Measures are necessary to strengthen protections and transparent monitoring, reporting, and verification of the implementation of safeguarding the rights of IP&LCs. This review contributes actionable insights and a framework to inform the design and implementation of more effective and equitable FCMIs.
Shifting discourse, shifting power: how is climate change mitigation and justice negotiated in Indonesia?
Quantifying tree biomass carbon stocks and fluxes in agricultural landscapes
This chapter presents methods to quantify carbon stocks and carbon stock changes in biomass of trees in agricultural landscapes. Specifically it assesses approaches for their applicability to smallholder farms and other tree enterprises in agricultural landscapes. Measurement techniques are evaluated across three criteria: accuracy, cost, and scale. We then recommend techniques appropriate for users looking to quantify carbon in tree biomass at the whole-farm and landscape scales. A basic understanding of the carbon cycle and the concepts of biomass assessment is assumed.
Carbon balance of rubber (Hevea brasiliensis) plantations: A review of uncertainties at plot, landscape and production level. Agriculture
Rapid expansion of natural rubber plantations in South-East Asia and other regions has greatly altered ecosystem based carbon (C) stocks with potential impacts on climate change mitigation and future C trading opportunities. Therefore reliable estimations of carbon sequestration and emission at the landscape level after land cover transition from forest swidden agriculture and other land use types are needed. We reviewed studies on C stocks and dynamics in rubber plantations considering the contribution of aboveground and belowground biomass soil organic matter collected latex and other minor components. C sequestration occurred after conversion of arable land to rubber plantations while C losses usually prevailed if forest was converted to rubber. These general trends strongly depended on local climate conditions and soil properties as well as on topography. Non-traditional planting of rubber under subtropical conditions with a dryer climate and at high elevations (300–1000 m above sea level) decreased the C sequestration potential of rubber. We show how rotation length rubber clone and management strategies like tapping frequency or planting density affect C stocks discuss the uncertainties in C stock estimation and highlight improved approaches. An important conclusion is that upscaling of C stocks and dynamics under different climate scenarios and rotation lengths to a regional level requires the use of time averaged C stocks. Enhanced remote sensing techniques can greatly improve C stock estimates at the regional level allowing for an accounting of the variability caused by terrain and plantation properties. A partial life cycle assessment of rubber production revealed greenhouse gas emissions as a minor contribution when compared to land use change effects on plant and soil C stocks and C accumulation in latex wood products and seed oil. The review highlights scantily explored topics and proposes directions for future studies which should decrease uncertainties in C estimates in rubber dominated landscapes.
Opportunities for implementing improved tree seed sourcing for forest landscape restoration, agroforestry and wider tree planting at the project design stage: Findings of a survey of planters, researchers and funders
Current tree-planting initiatives are not always successful in achieving their stated targets of biodiversity conservation, climate change mitigation and human livelihood improvement. This is in part due to a lack of attention to the proper sourcing of the tree seeds and seedlings that are used. In this working paper, we explore these sourcing issues by reporting on an online survey undertaken in 2021 with tree planters, researchers and funders. The aim of this working paper is to assess the feasibility of redesigning the design templates of planting project proposals to include tree seed sourcing information, with the outcome of increasing support for improved sourcing practices. The survey results for 173 respondents (comprising 90 planters, 69 researchers and 14 funders collectively working globally, embracing the Global South and Global North) suggested that there is scope at the project design stage to require (potential) tree planters – who are applying for financial support to carry out tree planting – to explain how they will source tree seed. The majority of funders were willing to adopt such an approach, and most survey participants overall considered that it is important for tree planters to explain how they will undertake tree-seed sourcing
Biodiversity and Agriculture: Rapid Evidence Review
Agriculture is the largest single source of environmental degradation, responsible for over 30% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, 70% of freshwater use and 80% of land conversion: it is the single largest driver of biodiversity loss (Foley et al. 2011, 2005; IPBES 2019; Willett et al. 2019). Agriculture also underpins poor human health, contributing to 11 million premature deaths annually. While too many still struggle from acute hunger, a growing number of individuals, including in low and middle-income countries (LMICs), struggle to access healthy foods. Greater consideration for, and integration of, biodiversity in agriculture is a key solution space for improving health, eliminating hunger and achieving nature-positive development objectives.