THINKING beyond the canopy Land Tenure and REDD+: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly Anne Larson, Maria Brockhaus, William Sunderlin, Amy Duchelle, Andrea Babon, Therese Dokken, IAP Resosudarmo, Galia Selaya and Abdon Awono ISEE, June 18, 2012
THINKING beyond the canopy
Land Tenure and REDD+:The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
Anne Larson, Maria Brockhaus, William Sunderlin, Amy Duchelle, Andrea Babon, Therese Dokken, IAP Resosudarmo, Galia Selaya
and Abdon Awono
ISEE, June 18, 2012
THINKING beyond the canopy
Under what conditions does REDD+ present a threat or opportunity for local land/ forest tenure rights?• Good: opportunity• Bad: communities
marginalized and/or REDD does not work
• Ugly: threat to local rights and livelihoods
Central questions
THINKING beyond the canopy
Overview
Why tenure matters for REDD+ Methods Research results Taking stock Moving forward
THINKING beyond the canopy
Why tenure matters for REDD+
1. The essence of REDD is to reward carbon sequestration and compensate lost opportunities (who will be rewarded?)
2. The reward is conditional on compliance (who will be held accountable?)
3. Unclear or non-formal tenure may lead to forest people’s exclusion, and to land grabbing
4. Certain forest uses will be prohibited (FPIC? Increased hardships?)
THINKING beyond the canopy
Why tenure matters: the ugly“No Rights No REDD” movement
REDD+ has the potential to result in “the biggest land grab of all time… threatening the very survival of indigenous peoples and local communities”
• Still no binding commitment to rights or safeguards• Land tenure insecurity• Govt failure to insure Free prior and informed consent (FPIC)
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Research Methods
CIFOR Global Comparative Study
National- Country profiles- Media analysis- Policy network analysis
Project level- Interviews with 19 project proponents - Village focus groups in 71 project villages
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National level results
Tenure problems and policies table: substantial problems, weak solutions if any But popular topic in stakeholder interviews and
position statements, however… only rhetoric? Media analysis of 500+ articles: largely absent as
main focus of article Policy network analysis: the organizations
concerned with tenure are not influential
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Project level results
Tenure problems and policies table:• substantial problems• substantial local project proponent
initiatives, but… limited by national framework & lack of national-level attention to the problem
• less than half of proponents satisfied with results to date, all agree more to be done
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Table. Land conflict or insecurity
Country
Villages with an area of land in conflict(number & %)
Villages with tenure insecurity over at least a portion of village lands(number & %)
Brazil 7 (44%) 8 (50%)
Cameroon 5 (83%) 6 (100%)
Tanzania 6 (24%) 8 (32%)
Indonesia 11 (55%) 17 (85%)
Vietnam 0 (0%) 0 (0%)
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Taking stock: some interesting developments?
For the first time, tenure is broadly recognized as important for REDD+
New attention given to the issue of local rights Bold statements by Indonesia’s REDD task force
chair and others Tenure seen not just an issue of rights but also REDD
effectiveness -> incentive? REDD is meeting resistance from big deforesters Carbon cowboy scandals (e.g. PNG) are being revealed
and reversed (watchdog organizations)
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Tenure for whom?Tenure issue Opportunity Risk
Lack of clarity on ownership, overlapping claims
Rights clarified and secured for local people
Rights secured to more powerful parties/ elite capture
Customary rights v state ownership
Rights and recognition of traditional land distribution
State asserts its formal rights,controls process,imposes rules
THINKING beyond the canopy
The way forward?
Who will ally with whom? What role for communities?
What role with “the state” play? Who is willing to lead in…• Challenges to business as usual in forests
(deforestation)• Challenges to business as usual in forest
tenure rights