The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), under Article 12 of the Kyoto Protocol, is one of three ‘flexibility mechanisms’ available to industrialised countries (Annex 1 countries) to meet their emission reduction targets and also contribute to sustainable development of non-Annex 1 countries.A pilot phase called ‘Activities Implemented Jointly’ (AIJ) was initiated to explore ways of implementing CDM-like projects and institutionalising, in the future, the provision for working jointly to achieve emissions reductions objectives. Drawing on experiences from the AIJ pilot phase, it is possible to begin assessing whether or not land use, land-use change and forestry (LULUCF) projects have the potential to protect carbon and biodiversity, and simultaneously contribute to long-term sustainable rural development. This study assesses the actual and potential livelihood impacts of PROFAFOR, a carbon sequestration project in Ecuador, in the knowledge that the AIJ phase projects did not have a sustainable development requirement, but that this was an opportunity to explore the livelihood opportunities and risks of LULUCF projects. For PROFAFOR, addressing the livelihood needs of contracted communities will help to increase the duration of the carbon sequestered.
Tag: local communities
Restoring lives and landscapes: how a partnership between local communities and the state is saving forests and improving livelihoods in Guinea
This booklet tells the story of a project that has had a profound influence on the management of four large forest areas in Guinea. The Landscape Management for mproved Livelihoods (LAM L) project has also done much to improve the welfare of local people. ndeed, the two – better forest management and improved livelihoods – are inextricably linked. The World Agroforestry Centre, the Center for nternational Forestry Research (C FOR) and their partners in the LAM L project have developed a system of co-management, involving local communities and government agencies, which is generating considerable interest in Guinea and throughout the region. Not long ago, these forests were managed by government agencies. Local people were forbidden from using them. As a result, the forests were widely abused, and the authorities were able to do little to stem the tide of illegal logging, poaching and land clearance. Under co-management, in contrast, local people derive real benefits from the forests, and in return they have shown their willingness, and ability, to manage them sustainably.
A Glance of Buol: inducing change for sustainable environmental services provisioning
After three years of partnership with the local communities and government, the Smart Tree Invest ends its activities in March 2017. The research activities undertaken by the project in the first year were continued with the activities of tree-farming learning groups and participatory watershed monitoring in Buol watershed and coastal area.The Smart Tree-Invest project activities stimulate changes to the communities in the project site, in particular their awareness, knowledge and skills in tree-farming management and in monitoring the environmental quality. These changes have brought hopes to the communities for better livelihood as well as awareness and knowledge to better managed their landscape.The featured photos and stories here are excerpts of the hopes, passions, and ideals shared by the local communities in the Smart Tree Invest project site in Buol. Expectations and aspirations to improve their welfare that increase along with the improvement of their knowledge on tree-farming and environmental management in their area.
Evaluating fire severity in Sudanian ecosystems of Burkina Faso using Landsat 8 satellite images
The fire severity of the 2013–2014 fire season within Sudanian ecosystems in Burkina Faso was evaluated from Landsat 8 images using derivatives of the Normalized Burn Ratio algorithm (NBR). The relationship between the image-derived severity and the field observed severity i.e. Composite Burn Index (CBI) was best described by a nonlinear model of the form y = a + b*EXP(CBI *c) (R2 = 0.66). Classification of the image-derived burned area into burn severity classes achieved a classification Kappa accuracy statistic of 0.56. Highly severely burned areas were mapped with the highest accuracy (user’s accuracy 77%, producer’s accuracy 86%). The severity of the burn varied across phyto-geographical zones, protected status, land cover regimes, and forest management practices. The south Sudanian zone burned with a higher severity (low = 7%, moderate = 16% and high = 13%) than the north Sudanian zone (low = 5%, moderate = 10% and high = 5%). The mean of the highly severely burned areas differed significantly among the forest management practices (P = 0.005). A pair-wise comparison of the severity mean area indicated that the highly burned areas within forests managed for wildlife purposes differed significantly with that of both forests under the joint management (P = 0.006) and those under no management (P = 0.024). Among the management practices, forests jointly managed by the local communities and the government had the highest unburned area and the least highly severely burned areas reflecting the impacts of bottom-up forestry management where the local communities are actively involved in the management. © 2016 Elsevier Ltd
Land-use Decisions in Complex Commons: Engaging Multiple Stakeholders through Foresight and Scenario Building in Indonesia
In the midst of global change uncertainties, Indonesian spatial planning authorities are developing 20-year strategies. However, the lack of collaborative engagement of stakeholders and unclear methodology around using futures studies in addressing land management undermine such plans and affect environmental governance. A crucial question is how to link a future-oriented process with governance transformation processes, particularly related to land-use planning and management. To address this issue, we used a co-elaborative scenario-building approach, referred to as participatory prospective analysis (PPA), to facilitate the creation of local multistakeholder platforms considering future-oriented perspectives. The PPA design combines equally the knowledge of local communities, technical experts and decision-makers, and was applied in a series of sequential multistakeholder workshops in two regencies in Indonesia, followed by public consultations on the main results. In both regencies, participants agreed on a common topic related to spatial planning in their jurisdiction to be explored with a 20-year time horizon. They reached consensus on relevant variables, analyzed their dependence/influence, and developed several plausible yet contrasting scenarios for land management and road maps with guidelines for the implementation of desired outcomes. The PPA approach stimulated stakeholder engagement and ensured that more local voices were not only heard but also duly included in the process. It allowed participants to consider strategies that would otherwise have been less readily accepted by their respective organizations. It showed that it is possible to improve existing spatial planning processes in Indonesia by integrating tools for a more inclusive and long-term future-oriented collaborative approach.
Considering context in participatory forest landscape initiatives
Why do some participatory processes help level the playing field in conservation and development projects while others reinforce unequal power relationships among participants? Complex problems, such as those related to land use and climate change, involve many people —government officials, non-profit conservation groups, private enterprises, local communities and funders.
Understanding and protecting our forest tenure rights and privileges: A guide to training of local community leaders in Uganda
This guide is designed to be used primarily by local community leaders to train the communities they lead. These leaders include district and lower Local Government officials, local council members, civil society staff working at community level, and executive committee members of community institutions, among others. The guide responds to a need for the active participation of local communities in securing and guarding their forest tenure rights through pro-active and innovative actions of empowered and well-informed local community members. The need was identified in the Global Comparative Study on Securing Tenure Rights for Forest Dependent Communities carried out by the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) over a period of 4 years (2015–2018). An empowered and well-informed local community would be confident about the rights they have under the law, and be prepared to defend them. And building this confidence with respect to their forest tenure rights involves equipping them with relevant knowledge. This guide is designed to provide the training needed to build this confidence.
Learning from Community-Based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM) in Ghana and Zambia: Lessons for integrated landscape approaches
Land use in much of sub-Saharan Africa is dominated by legislative frameworks based on a strong colonial legacy, focusing strongly on state control and minimal devolution of management responsibilities to local communities. However, attempts to reconcile conservation and socio-economic development by increasing stakeholder engagement in community-based natural resource management (CBNRM) have been undertaken since the late 1980s. Based on a review of published literature on historical land-use trajectories, the evolution of CBNRM, and key respondent interviews with NRM experts in Ghana and Zambia, this paper asks: What lessons can be learned from CBNRM to inform integrated landscape approaches for more equitable social and ecological outcomes? The paper discusses the positive characteristics and persistent challenges arising from CBNRM initiatives in both countries. The former being, improved rights and resource access, an established institutional structure at the local level, and a conservation approach tailored to the local context. The latter include the absence of multi-scale collaboration, inadequate inclusive and equitable local participation, and limited sustainability of CBNRM initiatives beyond short-term project funding timelines. The paper argues that integrated landscape approaches can address these challenges and improve natural resource management in Ghana and Zambia. We urge landscape practitioners to consider how the lessons learned from CBNRM are being addressed in practice, as they represent both challenges and opportunities for landscape approaches to improve natural resource management.
Using the options by context approach to support local agroecological innovation
Innovation by large numbers of smallholder farmers will need to accelerate if global commitments to end hunger are to be achieved in the face of climate change and other global changes that are caused by and impact agriculture.
Local communities’ and indigenous peoples’ land and forestry rights: Assessing the law and practice on tenure security in Kenya
This study aimed to understand whether, and to what extent, Kenyan legal provisions are sufficient to secure community land rights, particularly those of indigenous peoples and local communities. It assesses the adequacy of Kenya’s legal framework for protecting and promoting tenure rights of forest communities, including over protected areas. There is an enduring problem pertaining to historical land injustices, where certain indigenous peoples and local communities have sought formal recognition of their land rights over areas classified as public land, which are managed mainly as public forests or national wildlife reserves.
The analysis uses three indicators to evaluate the levels of protection and securing of community land and forest tenure rights: the scope and security of tenure; the legal status and protection of indigenous peoples’ (forest peoples’) tenure rights; and community participation in management of public forests.
It demonstrates that there are improvements in legal protection for indigenous communities. Nonetheless, a legal conundrum results from how Kenyan courts have interpreted the law concerning claims by certain indigenous communities over land falling under article 63(2)(d)(i) of the Constitution, mainly classified as public land or forests. For example, whereas the African court recognized the Ogiek rights over Mau Forest, the Kenyan courts have declined to do so. Also, despite its finding, the African Court did not prescribe how those land rights can be actualized; and the courts in Kenya have advised the communities to utilize the resolution of historical land injustices procedures prescribed in law. This Occasional Paper explores this case and others.