Amy E. Duchelle

Learning from REDD+: a response to Fletcher et al.

Although REDD+ is approaching its 10th anniversary, major impacts in terms of reduced forest loss are hard to document. Conservation practitioners and scholars are therefore increasingly asking why REDD+ has not delivered more tangible results. A recent Comment in Conservation Biology by Fletcher et al. (2016) addresses this question. We agree with Fletcher et al. that REDD+ has been hyped in some circles, which has created unrealistic expectations among policy makers and forest dwellers alike. Yet, we argue that Fletcher et al. put forward an incomplete interpretation of the evolving REDD+ concept and practice and wrongly place the responsibility for lack of progress on the principles of payment for environmental services (PES) and on reliance on market-based instruments (MBIs), in part based on their misunderstanding of the PES concept.Potential answers to the question of why REDD+ has not delivered more tangible results fall into 4 categories: REDD+ has not yet been implemented at the scale needed to make a difference, REDD+ has evolved from the initial PES vision to a modified version of previous and largely ineffective conservation efforts, REDD+ has been blocked by powerful actors interested in maintaining the status quo, and REDD+ is conceptually flawed in its design as a PES and MBI scheme. Fletcher et al. fail to fully appreciate the first 3 problems, overemphasize the presumed flaws in REDD+ as a PES design, and prepare the ground for the rise and fall of the next conservation fad (Redford et al. 2013). We believe that REDD+, although troubled, is not dead.

Balancing carrots and sticks in REDD+: implications for social safeguards

Reducing carbon emissions through avoided deforestation and forest degradation and enhancement of carbon stocks (REDD+) is key to mitigating global climate change. The aim of REDD+ social safeguards is to ensure that REDD+ does not harm, and actually benefits, local people. To be eligible for results-based compensation through REDD+, countries should develop national-level safeguard information systems to monitor and report on the impacts of REDD+. Although safeguards represent a key step for promoting social responsibility in REDD+, they are challenging to operationalize and monitor. We analyzed the impacts of different types of REDD+ interventions (incentives vs. disincentives) on key safeguard-relevant indicators, i.e., tenure security, participation, and subjective well-being, as well as on reported forest clearing. We used household-level data collected in Brazil, Peru, Cameroon, Tanzania, Indonesia, and Vietnam from approximately 4000 households in 130 villages at two points in time (2010-2012 and 2013-2014). Our findings highlight a decrease in perceived tenure security and overall perceived well-being over time for households exposed to disincentives alone, with the addition of incentives helping to alleviate negative effects on well-being. In Brazil, although disincentives were associated with reduced reported forest clearing by smallholders, they were the intervention that most negatively affected perceived well-being, highlighting a clear trade-off between carbon and noncarbon benefits. Globally, although households exposed to REDD+ interventions were generally aware of local REDD+ initiatives, meaningful participation in initiative design and implementation lagged behind. Our analysis contributes to a relatively small literature that seeks to operationalize REDD+ social safeguards empirically and to evaluate the impacts of REDD+ interventions on local people and forests.

Revisiting the ‘cornerstone of Amazonian conservation’: a socioecological assessment of Brazil nut exploitation

The Brazil nut (the seeds of the rainforest tree Bertholletia excelsa) is the only globally traded seed collected from the wild by forest-based harvesters across the Amazon basin. The large geographic scale of Brazil nut exploitation and the significant contributions to local livelihoods, national economies, and forest-based development over the last decades, merit a review of the “conservation-through-use” paradigm. We use Elinor Ostrom’s framework for assessing sustainability in socioecological systems: (1) resource unit, (2) users, (3) governance system, and (4) resource system, to determine how different contexts and external developments generate specific conservation and development outcomes. We find that the resource unit reacts robustly to the type and level of extraction currently practiced; that resource users have built on a self-organized system that had defined boundaries and access to the resource; that linked production chains, market networks and informal financing work to supply global markets; and that local harvesters have used supporting alliances with NGOs and conservationists to formalize and secure their endogenous governance system and make it more equitable. As a result, the Brazil nut model represents a socioecological system that may not require major changes to sustain productivity. Yet since long-term Brazil nut production seems inextricably tied to a continuous forest cover, and because planted Brazil nut trees currently provide a minimal contribution to total nut production basin-wide, we call to preserve, diversify and intensify production in Brazil nut-rich forests that will inevitably become ever more integrated within human-modified landscapes over time.

Effectiveness of a REDD+ Project in Reducing Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon

Abstract We estimate the early effects of the pilot project to Reduce Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD+) in the Brazilian Amazon. This project offers a mix of interventions, including conditional payments, to reduce deforestation by smallholders who depend on swidden agriculture and extensive cattle ranching. We collected original data from 181 individual farmers. We use difference‐in‐difference (DID) and DID‐matching approaches and find evidence that supports our identification strategy. We estimate that an average of 4 ha of forest were saved on each participating farm in 2014, and that this conservation came at the expense of pastures rather than croplands. This amounts to a decrease in the deforestation rate of about 50%. We find no evidence of within‐community spillovers.

Monitoring REDD+ Impacts: Cross Scale Coordination And Interdisciplinary Integration

Results-based compensation for reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation and enhancing carbon stocks (REDD+) is one promising way to help mitigate global climate change. Since the climate impact from reduced emissions (and increased removals) is the centerpiece of REDD+, countries are asked to set up systems to monitor changes in forest carbon stocks for reporting at the international level (Herold and Skutsch, 2011; Romijn et al., 2013). Yet, REDD+ monitoring goes beyond carbon for at least three reasons. First, REDD+ activities can promote a host of social and environmental co-benefits or entail risks that should be considered in their design and implementation. Second, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Cancun Agreement articulates seven safeguards (Decision 1/CP.16) for REDD+ programs to: 1) complement national forest programs and international conventions and agreements; 2) maintain transparent governance; 3) respect knowledge and rights of indigenous people and local communities; 4) obtain effective participation in REDD+ design and implementation; 5) promote forest conservation and other environmental and social co-benefits; 6) address risks of reversals; and 7) reduce leakage (UNFCCC, 2011a). Countries must set up Safeguard Information Systems to be eligible for results-based payments (UNFCCC, 2014). Also, jurisdictions and projects engaged with multiand bilateral donors and third-party certifiers may need to consider additional standards and/or guidance for demonstrating high social and environmental performance, such as those of the World Bank Forest Carbon Partnership Fund (FCPF, 2013), the UN-REDD Programme (UN-REDD, 2012), the Climate Community and Biodiversity Alliance (CCBA, 2013) and REDD+ Social and Environmental Standards Initiative (REDD+ SES, 2013). Third, forest monitoring is becoming an important national policy tool for countries to assess and understand drivers of forest change, underpin REDD+ and related climate-friendly land use strategies, track implementation, and form the basis for the distribution of benefits generated through climate finance (De Sy et al., 2012; Kissinger et al., 2012). The multidimensionality of REDD+ poses great challenges to identifying efficient trade-offs between in-depth, fully comprehensive monitoring and increasing complexity and costs, which is a serious problem given the limited funds available for REDD+ monitoring. Monitoring both the carbon and non-carbon impacts of REDD+ requires development of systems that are scientifically sound, yet simple enough to be implemented effectively (Gardner et al., 2012). Resolving this challenge is critical to operationalizing REDD+.

Economically important species dominate aboveground carbon storage in forests of southwestern Amazonia

Tree species in tropical forests provide economically important goods and ecosystem services. In submontane forests of southwestern Amazonia, we investigated the degree to which tree species important for subsistence and trade contribute to aboveground carbon storage (AGC). We used 41 1-hectare plots to determine the species abundance, basal area, and AGC of stems > 10 cm diameter at breast height (dbh). Economically important taxa were classified using ethnobotanical studies and according to their stem density. These taxa (n = 263) accounted for 45% of total stems, 53% of total basal area, and 56% of total AGC, significantly more than taxa with minor or unknown uses (Welch test at p 40 cm and few stems in regeneration classes of dbh < 10 to 20 cm (e.g., Bertholletia excelsa, Cariniana spp., Cedrelinga spp., Ceiba spp., Dipteryx spp.), whereas dominant Tetragastris spp., and Pseudolmedia spp. had most stems in low diameter classes and a median diameter of < 30 cm. Bertholletia excelsa, with 1.5 stems per hectare, showed the highest basal area of any species and accounted for 9% of AGC (11 Mg/ha), twice that of the second-ranking species. Our study shows that economic importance and carbon stocks in trees are closely linked in southwestern Amazonia. Unplanned harvests can disrupt synergistic dual roles altering carbon stocks temporally or permanently. Precautionary measures based on species ecology, demography, and regeneration traits should be at the forefront of REDD+ to reconcile maximum harvesting limits, biodiversity conservation, and sustainable forest management.