What should REDD+ achieve?
Sustainable communities andgood forest governanceHenry Scheyvens, Institute for Global Environmental
Strategies

Presented at International Technical Seminar Toward
Development a Framework of Global REDD+ - Scaling up
demonstration activities and integrating players’ roles
Feb. 7-8 2012, Tokyo

Outline
Basic argument/hypothesis
Why focus on communities?
Why focus on governance?
Papua New Guinea case study

1.
2.

3.
4.
1.

2.
3.

4.

Community in PNG
Forest governance in PNG
Dominant forestry development paradigm and its consequences
How can REDD+ contribute to sustainable communities andforest governance1. Basic argument/hypothesis
REDD+ must be informed by a vision of communities
that live in harmony with the natural environment
and are able to meet their developmental aspirations, Without this vision, REDD+ policies could denycommunities the opportunity to participate in SFM,
leading to unsustainable conservation anddevelopment outcomes This will only happen through reform of forest
governance to support more participatory forms offorest management and rural development
2. Why focus on communities?
Forest important for local livelihoods and act as a safety
net in times of hardshipLivelihoods for 1.6 billion people
Home for 60 million mostly indigenous people (UNFF 2009)

Research shows communities can manage forests wellwhen they can decide their own governancearrangements, and when benefits are greater than costs(Ostrom 1990; Dietz et al. 2003; Chhatre and Agrawal
2008; Ostrom 2009).

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Learning from past mistakes, many governments now support
community-based forest management

Total forest land
Area under Community Forest
Management

Community Forest Management
programme

Cambodia

Indonesia

Philippines

VietnamIndiacNepale10,500,000

135,900,000

15,880,000

19,000,000

77,470,000

5,500,000

720,000

590,000

5,900,000

2,350,000

22,000,000d

1,653,000

7%

0.43%

37%

12%

28%

30%

CommunityForestManagement(CFM)

Community Forest
Community(HutanForest
Kemasyarakatan, Community ManagementHKm) Based Forest (CFM, pilot
Village Forest Management phase)(Hutan Desa, HD)(CBFM)

Joint Forest
Management
Community Forest(JFM) User Groups (CFUGs)

3. Why focus on governance

80% of countries preparing for REDD+ selected by FCPF & UN-REDD rank inbottom half of World Bank survey of governance in 212 countries (indicators on"control of corruption" and "voice and accountability“)

Source: Rozalinde Reeve

Financialmismanagement

Denial of access toforests and forest
resources = poverty
and vulnerability

Capture of benefits
by elites

Risks when
REDD+ isimplemented
through weak
governance

Manipulation of
weaker forest
stakeholders“poisoned the mindsof the people”

Circumvention of
stakeholder
consultation
processes

4. Papua New Guinea Case Study Communities in PNG
 Forest governance in PNG
 Dominant forestry paradigm and its

consequences Weak governance + dominant forestry paradigm=(1) Unsustainable logging
 (2) Large-scale conversion for commercial agriculture How can REDD+ contribute to sustainablecommunities?

Communities in PNG
97% of the land is held under systems ofcustomary tenure, involving clans or kinshipgroups Customary rights recognised by the Constitution
include rights to all natural resources, with the
exception of minerals, petroleum, water andgenetic resources
 Communities depend upon forests for for theirnutrition (especially protein), construction
materials, fuel, materials for cultural activities,traditional medicines, and broader environmentalservices, such as drinking waterProblems of forest governance in PNG
There is a problem with the compliance of the government itself withthe laws of PNG when deciding to designate a forested area for
logging purposes; negotiating the agreement with landowners;
managing, monitoring and enforcing the agreement; and whenextending current agreements.
It is believed that the narrow focus of the PNGFA on exploitation of
the forest resource for the primary financial benefit of the national
government presents a conflict of interest which colors decisions
made by the government at all levels.

Source: Achieving the ITTO Objective 2000 and Sustainable Forest Management in Papua New Guinea, Report of the DiagnosticMission, ITTC, 2007

Dominant forestry development
paradigm
Development is something politicians and agencies
bring to communities (exogenous); it is not
something that communities do for themselves
 Government acquires the rights for developmentfrom communities and gives these to the “developers Communities receive benefitsNo government support for local communities to manage
their forests; no community-based forest managementpolicy

Weak governance + dominant development
paradigm = (1)Unsustainable logging
Few sustainable forestry projects;
Poor logging practices with littlecompliance to the Logging Code ofPractice;
Widespread environmental damage;very few long-term benefits, causingsocial upheaval; corruption apersistent problem at all levels of
the industry (McRae 2001).
Few lasting benefits; Payments
primarily used to purchaseconsumables by men andinfrequently invested (LaFranchi2004).

= (2) Large-scale conversion for commercial
agriculture (the “new global land grab”)


From 2003- 20011. ~5 million ha ofcustomary land given to nationaland foreign companies as special
purpose business leases (SABLs)
Concerns that logging, notagriculture, is main objectiveProject proposals seem unfeasible
Logging companies involved
Raw log exports permitted

Possible governance failures

Vested interest of politicians
Failure to gain consent of all landowners
Failure of government departments tocarry out their responsibilities
Source: Colin Filer,2011

How can we achieve climate change
mitigation and sustainable communities inPNG through REDD+?
 Challenge the dominant forestry paradigm andstrengthen governance through: FPIC Participatory land use planning Roles and responsibilities for communities inREDD+, and REDD+ through Community-based
Forest Management

Implementation of Free Prior Informed
Consent (FPIC) Under dominant forestry paradigm, proper

awareness and consultation to gain approval fromcommunities for logging projects often notconducted properly FPIC guidelines currently being developed by
Office of Climate Change and Development toensure communities are fully aware of costs andbenefits of any proposed REDD+ activities Field testing of FPIC guidelines at April Salumei
demonstration project planned

Participatory land-use planningPNG has no national
land-use plan
 Under participatoryland-use planning,communities
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Place controls on theirland use by zoning
Are responsible for
enforcing their landuse plans

Can be incorporated
into district land-use
plans and linked
with private sector
investment

Roles and responsibility for communities in REDD+ andimplement REDD+ through community-based forest
management