Alain Karsenty

Forest taxation regime for tropical forests: lessons from Central Africa.

SUMMARY Intense debates have taken place on the role of forest taxation in forest management and its potential as a component of public policies. Some reforms, such as the introduction of auctions for allocating concessions in Cameroon, have been controversial and their effects are being assessed in different ways by analysts. Empirical analysis and data suggest that two different aspects have often been confused but should be considered separately: the level of taxes and the structure of the taxation system. The heterogeneity of companies has often been overlooked in economic models. The specific context in which the fiscal reform is planned is critical and a combination of instruments — fiscal and non fiscal, economic and regulatory — should be designed and implemented together to create systemic effects. This is rarely possible through a single reform. The potential of fiscal instruments in fostering SFM should not be over-emphasized, but certain possibilities do exist if taxation is not used alone but as an auxiliary in a coherent set of actions and public policies.

Climate Change Mitigation: Should “Avoided Deforestation” Be Rewarded?

It is hotly debated today whether the reduction of tropical deforestation should be supported by a mechanism within the Convention for Climate Change. This mechanism, known as “avoided deforestation,” would benefit developing countries that voluntarily reduce their deforestation rates, thereby generating at least two positive impacts: (a) an increase in the financial resources available to curb tropical deforestation, with expected positive side effects on biodiversity conservation, the environmental services provided by these forests, and sustainable development as a whole; and (b) a greater effectiveness of the global fight against climate change, because tropical deforestation contributes extensively to world carbon emissions. Several proposals were designed for such a mechanism, yet their implementation poses significant methodological problems: first, sophisticated tools available to measure the reduction of emissions might be ineffective when combined with baselines on a national level; secondly, baselines calculated ex ante lack accuracy because of insufficient knowledge concerning the direct and underlying causes of deforestation; thirdly, baselines calculated ex post lack legitimacy because they only refer to past trends; and fourthly, it is challenging to relate a reduction in deforestation rates to public policy options in the host country.Drawing lessons from our analysis of the methodological problems for the implementation of the mechanism, we recommend not promoting any mechanism based on financial rewards for an assumed voluntary reduction of national tropical deforestation rates. Two reasons justify our perspective: not only would the mechanism probably generate fake reductions (“hot air”), but undesirable side effects—detailed in this paper—would also appear. Instead, we encourage industrialized countries to better use already existing multi- and bilateral instruments, which focus on the correction of governance deficiencies in countries home to tropical forests. It is also necessary to focus on the suppression of “perverse incentives” from public policies in tropical countries.

Can concessions be justified? A multidisciplinary perspective from Africa and beyond

ABSTRACT Forest concessions are currently in a state of flux. Despite mitigated results in some regions, they are still hailed as the path to sustainable forest management on other continents. Using geographical, economic, and political viewpoints, this article offers a multidisciplinary perspective to account for this apparent contradiction. The authors conclude that although political actors continue to support or criticize them by using a range of historical, contextual, and ideological associations, large-scale forest concessions can be theoretically justified from an economic and geographical viewpoint.

Summary of the Proceedings of the International Workshop “The International Regime, Avoided Deforestation and the Evolution of Public and Private Policies Towards Forests in Developing Countries” Held in Paris, 21–23rd November 2007

F Babweteera V K Bahuguna J B Ball (ex offi cio) A Bartlett J P Berg D Bills (ex offi cio) J Bulkan E Chagala M Chipeta S Clark G Kay* H El-Lakany S Fernando E Foli M Golman H Gupta Uganda India UK Australia New Zealand Australia/UK Guyana Kenya Malawi Fiji Australia Canada Sri Lanka Ghana PNG India M Headley J M Hudson M Islam P Lal J-P Lanly P Latham M MacGregor W Musonda D Pouakouyou M Pushparaja S N Rai M Singh P Tesha HC Th ang J Th ornback O Wahab Jamaica UK Bangladesh India France UK Australia/UK Zambia Cameroon Sri Lanka India India Tanzania Malaysia UK Mauritius

FORÊTS TROPICALES : LA QUESTION DU BIEN PUBLIC MONDIAL ET LA QUÊTE D'INSTRUMENTS ÉCONOMIQUES MULTILATÉRAUX POUR UN RÉGIME INTERNATIONAL

Les forets tropicales rendent des services environnementaux a la planete entiere, mais dependent dEtats souverains, qui les utilisent avant tout comme des ressources economiques. Cest pourquoi le qualificatif de Bien public mondial ne peut leur etre applique pleinement, ce qui complique lambition de parvenir a une gestion mondialisee et explique certaines des difficultes pour parvenir a une Convention sur les Forets. Et si un regime international des forets semble bien en cours de constitution, il reste embryonnaire. La mise en place dinstruments economiques multilateraux constituerait un element catalyseur de lemergence dun tel regime. Les discussions et negociations internationales convergent sur une approche visant a remunerer la deforestation evitee, qui pourrait etre mise en oeuvre par differents mecanismes de marche ou schemas de financement. Mais les principes qui sont a la base des mecanismes discutes recelent des difficultes importantes pour parvenir a une formule qui concilierait lefficacite necessaire et les attentes des differents pays du Sud. Un certain nombre dactions et doptions efficaces sont neanmoins envisageables a court terme. (Resume dauteur)

REDD+ and Tenure: A Case Study of Thailand

SUMMARY Against a backdrop of growing concerns over REDD+ implications for tenure of forest-dependent communities, very few scientific studies have attempted to assess the linkages between the two. This paper offers empirical evidences for impacts of REDD+ intervention based on a case study of Thailand, where de jure state property and de facto tenure apparently co-exist. In contrast to the existing literature proposing positive tenure impacts, the findings suggest that REDD+ would not be sufficient to incentivize the government to embark on tenure reforms or any improvement of customary tenure and challenge REDD+ about its incentives for countries to accelerate tenure reforms. The findings also reveal that risks associated with tenure insecurity discouraged REDD+ investment leading to the withdrawal of the fund altogether. The findings enrich the on-going debates on the tenure impacts, tenure reform and competing agendas and provide insights to support the development of future national strategies and frameworks. The paper moreover proposes measures to create enabling conditions for REDD+.