Lalisa A. Duguma

REDD+ Readiness progress across countries: time for reconsideration

Efforts towards Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation plus conservation, sustainable management of forests and enhancement of carbon stocks (REDD+) have grown in importance in developing countries following negotiations within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). This has favoured investments in processes to prepare countries for REDD+ at the national level (a process referred to as REDD+ Readiness). Yet, little attention has been given to how Readiness can be assessed and potentially improved. This article presents a framework for Readiness assessment and compares progress in REDD+ Readiness across four countries, namely Cameroon, Indonesia, Peru, and Vietnam. The Readiness assessment framework comprises six functions, namely planning and coordination; policy, laws, and institutions; measurement, reporting, verification (MRV), and audits; benefit sharing; financing; and demonstrations and pilots. We found the framework credible and consistent in measuring progress and eliciting insight into Readiness processes at the country level. Country performance for various functions was mixed. Progress was evident on planning and coordination, and demonstration and pilots. However, MRV and audits; financing; benefit sharing; and policies, laws and institutions face major challenges. The results suggest that the way national forest governance has been shaped by historical circumstances (showing path dependency) is a critical factor for progress in Readiness processes. There is need for a rethink of the current REDD+ Readiness infrastructure given the serious gaps observed in addressing drivers of deforestation and forest degradation, linking REDD+ to broader national strategies and systematic capacity building.

Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation in the Land Use Sector: From Complementarity to Synergy

Currently, mitigation and adaptation measures are handled separately, due to differences in priorities for the measures and segregated planning and implementation policies at international and national levels. There is a growing argument that synergistic approaches to adaptation and mitigation could bring substantial benefits at multiple scales in the land use sector. Nonetheless, efforts to implement synergies between adaptation and mitigation measures are rare due to the weak conceptual framing of the approach and constraining policy issues. In this paper, we explore the attributes of synergy and the necessary enabling conditions and discuss, as an example, experience with the Ngitili system in Tanzania that serves both adaptation and mitigation functions. An in-depth look into the current practices suggests that more emphasis is laid on complementarity—i.e., mitigation projects providing adaptation co-benefits and vice versa rather than on synergy. Unlike complementarity, synergy should emphasize functionally sustainable landscape systems in which adaptation and mitigation are optimized as part of multiple functions. We argue that the current practice of seeking co-benefits (complementarity) is a necessary but insufficient step toward addressing synergy. Moving forward from complementarity will require a paradigm shift from current compartmentalization between mitigation and adaptation to systems thinking at landscape scale. However, enabling policy, institutional, and investment conditions need to be developed at global, national, and local levels to achieve synergistic goals.

REDD+ readiness process in Cameroon: an analysis of multi-stakeholder perspectives

Cameroon has been a keen participant in Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation plus conservation, sustainable management of forests and enhancement of carbon stocks (REDD+) negotiations since 2005 and has engaged in activities to enhance the implementation of REDD+. This article reviews progress on REDD+ readiness in Cameroon based on a multiple REDD+ functions framework. Results show that some progress has been made in terms of planning and coordination, institutional development, and the development of some REDD+ projects. Absence of a legal framework, inadequate procedures for stakeholder participation, slow progress in the development of a national strategy, monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV) challenges, and weak financing remain prominent constraints. Despite having one of the slowest REDD Readiness Preparation Proposal (R-PP) processes in the Congo Basin, stakeholders feel strong ownership because the R-PP was done almost entirely by Cameroonian experts. Some opportunities for improving REDD+ can be considered going forward, including the establishment of procedures for a broader participatory process, speeding up the operationalization of the National Observatory on Climate Change, making use of the ongoing forestry law reform, consideration of a carbon concessions concept, tapping from international initiatives to build on MRV, and improving benefit sharing and financing through the development of an appropriate and decentralized mechanism. Enhancing these opportunities is fundamental for successful REDD+ implementation in Cameroon. Policy relevance This article offers a new multidimensional approach to assessing the REDD+ readiness process in Cameroon. This critical assessment, which is done using six key functions, provides an opportunity for enhanced understanding of the process by policy makers, decision makers, and professionals with a view to enabling improvements in the readiness process. Furthermore, the article proffers a series of opportunities that the government and other relevant stakeholders can capitalize on to overcome current hurdles affecting the REDD+ readiness process. It is hoped that policy makers driving the REDD+ process in Cameroon will be able to incorporate the findings of this research into their strategic policy, formulated to advance the REDD+ readiness process. More importantly, it is hoped that the multidimensional framework applied in this study could be useful for assessing REDD+ in similar contexts in the Congo Basin.

Woody Plants Diversity and Possession, and Their Future Prospects in Small-Scale Tree and Shrub Growing in Agricultural Landscapes in Central Highlands of Ethiopia

Woody plants diversity and possession in small-scale tree and shrub growing practices among farmers of central highland Ethiopia were assessed by using a complete census of the trees and shrubs existing on farmers’ lands. The future prospects of diversity and possession of woody plants in the agricultural landscapes were also investigated by using the farmers’ species preferences and seedling demands as indicators. Comparisons were made across wealth classes, proximity clusters to a nearby state forest and land uses. It was found that 27 tree and 21 shrub species exist on lands of the studied households. With increasing wealth status of the households, the tree and shrub species richnesses increased. Tree and shrub species richnesses were highest in boundary plantings and homesteads respectively. Small-scale woodlots had the highest number of tree stems while homesteads contained the highest number of shrub stems. The number of tree stems a household possesses is strongly influenced by distance from the state forest, family size, educational level of the household head and number of iron-roofed houses owned. And, the shrub stems possession is significantly influenced by wealth status, distance from the state forest, land holding size, family size, livestock holding, age of wife and possession of off-farm income sources. The species preference analysis and seedling demand computations indicated that the woody species diversity is less likely to change in the future because there is no difference between the currently existing species and the preferred ones. Nonetheless, the number of tree and shrub stems on the farmers’ holdings could increase if the seedling demands of the preferred woody species are met.

THE COMMUNITY-STATE FOREST INTERACTION IN MENAGESHA SUBA AREA, ETHIOPIA: THE CHALLENGES AND POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS

ABSTRACT This study investigates the interaction between the local community and a state forest in Menagesha Suba area. It explores how the interaction is affecting the forest and what the underlying causes are. The work is based on data collected using a questionnaire survey, participatory rural appraisal and direct measurements. It was found that there is disagreement between the forest managers and the surrounding, community. As a result, illegal interventions like cutting of trees, grazing, and farming in the forest area are expanding, and together are retarding the development and conservation of the state forest. The root of the problem lies on the state forest expansion in 1984 and the limitation of community use right since then. Population growth, poverty and an unconvincing forest management style were identified as the subsidiary factors exacerbating the forest encroachment. Community participation in the forest management process may lessen the problem.

Intensification of cocoa agroforestry systems as a REDD+ strategy in Cameroon: hurdles, motivations, and challenges

Tree planting and the use of inputs within cocoa agroforestry systems are key intensification pathways for enhancing the contribution of these systems to REDD+. However, scholarship on the hurdles, motivations, and challenges pertaining to intensification of these systems remains surprisingly scanty. A questionnaire addressing these knowledge gaps was administered to 461 cocoa farmers randomly selected from 10 communities in the South Region of Cameroon. The lack of technical support was identified as one of the main obstacles to tree planting and the use of inputs. The least motivating factor behind tree planting and the use of inputs was inadequate technical assistance. Limited access to credit facilities was observed as of the most important challenges to tree planting and the use of inputs. Addressing the various hurdles and challenges and promoting the least motivation factor through proper incentive mechanisms could advance REDD+ since intensification pathways within these systems increase agricultural productivity thereby enabling farmers to stay on the same land. This results in less forest being cleared and allows for the recovery of forests degaraded for the creation of these systems. In closing, we proffer incentive mechansims for promoting intensification pathways within these cocoa agroforestry systems.

Forest Carbon Monitoring and Reporting for REDD+: What Future for Africa?

A climate change mitigation mechanism for emissions reduction from reduced deforestation and forest degradation, plus forest conservation, sustainable management of forest, and enhancement of carbon stocks (REDD+), has received an international political support in the climate change negotiations. The mechanism will require, among others, an unprecedented technical capacity for monitoring, reporting and verification of carbon emissions from the forest sector. A functional monitoring, reporting and verification requires inventories of forest area, carbon stock and changes, both for the construction of forest reference emissions level and compiling the report on the actual emissions, which are essentially lacking in developing countries, particularly in Africa. The purpose of this essay is to contribute to a better understanding of the state and prospects of forest monitoring and reporting in the context of REDD+ in Africa. We argue that monitoring and reporting capacities in Africa fall short of the stringent requirements of the methodological guidance for monitoring, reporting and verification for REDD+, and this may weaken the prospects for successfully implementing REDD+ in the continent. We presented the challenges and prospects in the national forest inventory, remote sensing and reporting infrastructures. A North–South, South–South collaboration as well as governments own investments in monitoring, reporting and verification system could help Africa leapfrog in monitoring and reporting. These could be delivered through negotiations for the transfer of technology, technical capacities, and experiences that exist among developed countries that traditionally compile forest carbon reports in the context of the Kyoto protocol.

Consumption and species preference for house construction wood in central highlands of Ethiopia - implications for enhancing tree growing.

A study was conducted in central Ethiopian highland in 2008 to investigate the consumption of house construction wood, the tree species preference for construction wood and the forthcoming conditions of this forest product and possible strategies for future availability. Twenty-four iron-roofed houses and twenty-eight thatch-roofed houses belonging to thirty-six farm households were investigated for types, volumes and sources of construction wood used. It was found that an average farmhouse with a floor space of 57 m2 consumed about 13.7 m3 of wood. Both floor space and wood consumptions vary with house types. An average iron-roofed house with floor space of 51.9 m2 consumed 16.8 m3 of wood and an average thatch-roofed house with mean floor space of 28.6 m3 consumed 3.2 m3 of wood. Family size and floor space were the major factors influencing construction wood consumption. An average living house was composed of woods of 39.3% Juniperus procera, 5.6% Cupressus lusitanica, 29.2% Eucalyptus globulus and 26% Eucalyptus camaldulensis. The wood volume from the first two species and half that of the third species were obtained from state forest which is currently banned from any construction wood extraction and hence there is a shortage of around 59.5% of woods. We suggest the promotion of various tree planting approaches to increase the wood supply and the use of alternative local materials like soil bricks for house construction.

REDD+ in Africa: contexts and challenges

REDD+, a climate change mitigation mechanism that values carbon in tropical forests, is expected to provide Africa with a range of environmental and socio-economic benefits. Drawing on a vast array of literature and personal experiences, this review analyzed particular features and challenges that REDD+ implementation has faced on the continent. The distinct contexts and major challenges regarding governance, finance and technical capacities are discussed, and mechanisms to fill these gaps are suggested. Radical land tenure reform and a perfect safeguard mechanism that transfers forest land and carbon to the communities are unlikely. REDD+ should rather look for systems that respect local institutional arrangements, and allow forest-based communities to participate in decision-making and benefit sharing, particularly benefits from emerging REDD+. Finances for REDD+ infrastructure and the results-based payment are in short supply. While negotiating for potential external sources in the short term, Africa should generate domestic financial resources and look for additional payments for ecosystem services. Africa should also negotiate for forest monitoring capacity building, while strengthening local community forest monitoring. This review contributes to an improved understanding of the contexts and challenges to consider in the capacity and policy development for REDD+ implementation.

The financial return of cereal farming for smallholder farmers in the central highlands of Ethiopia.

A study was conducted in Suba area, central highlands of Ethiopia, to assess the net return, land and labour productivity, and the return to scale of cereal farming practice. Seventy-five farmers belonging to three local wealth classes (poor, medium and rich) were randomly selected and interviewed about inputs and outputs related to cereal farming for the production year 2007/2008. Farm soil properties were investigated to check the variability in soil quality among the wealth classes. Benefit:cost ratio (BCR), net returns and annual profit were used to indicate the worthiness of the cereal farming activity. The return to scale was estimated by using the Cobb–Douglas production function. The results show that cereal farming is a rewarding practice, with the rich households gaining more profit than the poor. Farm size was the most important variable that affects the net return. There is an increasing return to scale. However, it is unlikely that farmers will have more land than they own at present because of the land shortage problem in the country caused by the increasing human population. Thus, attention should be given to minimizing the costs of production through proper regulation of domestic fertilizer costs and increasing labour productivity especially for the poor and medium households. The use of manure and compost as an additional fertilizer should also be promoted.