Maureen Tehan

REDD+: climate justice and indigenous and local community rights in an era of climate disruption

In the context of the International Bar Association report, Achieving Justice and Human Rights in an Era of Climate Disruption, this commentary highlights the challenges in adopting a human rights framework for the REDD+ programme which is designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It identifies the potential inequities involved in mitigation efforts directed toward reducing emissions from avoided deforestation, forest degradation and associated forestry activities in terms of the potential impacts upon indigenous peoples and local forest-dependent communities. The potential impacts upon these communities are now well recognised, and issues of climate justice have been raised. The introduction of safeguards under the REDD+ model, is an important step towards incorporating human rights into the REDD+ framework. Yet even given the emphasis on securing tenure and participatory rights, such as free, prior and informed consent, REDD+ may still entrench inequalities for some indigenous and local communities, in areas such as the utilisation of traditional knowledge in fire management.

Carbon projects and Indigenous land in northern Australia

Land activities contribute ~18% of total greenhouse gas emissions produced in Australia. To help reduce these emissions, the Carbon Farming Initiative (CFI) was implemented in 2011 to encourage land projects, which reduce the production of greenhouse gases and/or sequester carbon in the land. Prospective projects include savanna fire management and rangelands management, which have high relevance in northern Australia where Indigenous landholding is strong. This paper explores the land-tenure requirements necessary for these kinds of carbon projects to be approved by the Clean Energy Regulator. It provides an introduction to the CFI before discussing the land tenure requirements in the states of Queensland, the Northern Territory and Western Australia with respect to both emissions reduction and carbon sequestration projects. Potential issues with the current framework are highlighted, especially in relation to native title.

The Impact of Climate Change Mitigation on Indigenous and Forest Communities: International, National and Local Law Perspectives on REDD+

The Impact of Climate Change Mitigation on Indigenous and Forest Communities is a rich and much-needed new contribution to contemporary understanding of this topic.