The latest on land use, livelihoods and environmental services in the tropical forest margins.
This study reviews the financial costs of abating greenhouse gas emissions through reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD). It is written from the perspective of an institutional investor seeking cost-effective climate mitigation options. A review of empirical data from Brazil and Indonesia suggests that REDD may, in many areas, provide a cost-effective climate mitigation option, with estimated costs lying in a range of US$ 2-10 per ton of CO2e.
via IUCN publications – The financial costs of REDD : Evidence from Brazil and Indonesia
Indonesia’s forestry minister, M.S. Kaban said the REDD initiative is positive overall but the expense and complexity associated with implementation made it unworkable in Indonesia. He supported continued development of the voluntary carbon market to promote avoided deforestation locally.
The Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), which is headquartered in Java, supports a REDD carbon trading system but acknowledges there would need to be significant legal and administrative reforms in Indonesia for it to work. CIFOR director Frances Seymour said the government would need to develop a more transparent forest management system, as well as better coordination between national and regional governments, their agencies, and local communities.
Source: CarbonPositive > Indonesia says REDD unworkable
A fundamental challenge is still how to combine ‘fairness’ and ‘efficiency’ in achieving emission reductions. These are two important aspects in any environmental service payment transfer mechanisms. We put a special emphasis on these aspects at the training we have just organized in Palangkaraya, – Efrian Muharrom, World Agroforestry Centre project officer
Efrian spoke about a training his team facilitated in Central Kalimantan in early March within the FESERLUI project led the World Agroforestry Centre – ICRAF SEA office.
Fair, Efficient and Sustainable Emission Reduction from Land Use in Indonesia (FESERLUI) is one year capacity building project funded by the David & Lucile Packard Foundation. The project aims to support tree-based livelihoods, transparent carbon accounting and negotiation support for local communities, NGOs and government agencies. In this way, the feedback systems between the central government and the regional governments and civil society can be strengthened.
Five sites in Indonesia were selected within a ‘stratified’ sampling frame that recognizes Java, Sumatra, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, and Papua as five domains with specific combinations of drivers of forest cover change, population density, economic profile and political clout. The areas chosen will be well placed to be among the pioneer implementers of new REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation) arrangements.
“After the Palangkaraya training, we will soon organize similar trainings fro the other four project sites. We use an experimental economic method known as mutual gift giving experiment to measure fairness and efficiency of a decision. A series of tools from TULSEA project are also the main part of the training,” explained Efrian.
Complimentary to ALLREDDI – a 3 years project funded by the European Commission and led by the World Agroforestry Centre, FESERLUI will build capacity for, and use a number of the tools from the TULSEA toolbox as part of the negotiation support system for the pilot landscapes: DRILUC protocol for analysis of drivers of land use change, RACSA protocol for carbon stock assessment, WNoTree protocol for barrier analysis of tree-based livelihoods, FERVA protocol for fair and efficient value chain, RATA protocol for rapid tenure appraisal, and RMA protocol for rapid marketing appraisal.
FESERLUI expects to reach improved versions of the generic appraisal tools for landscape level change in C stocks and the ways financial and other incentives can be constructed based on feedback from users.
“Through this project, we also hope to establish a network of ‘learning landscapes’ with local stakeholders that are better prepared for active participation in national-level negotiations on REDD and similar mechanisms of C accounting,” said Dr Suyanto, an environmental economist, currently in charge as the FESERLUI project leader.
Down to Earth has released a compilation of articles on climate change in Indonesian which includes several articles related to REDD in Indonesia. The publication is titled “Keadilan Iklim Dan Penghidupan Yang Berkelanjutan” and can be downloaded here (pdf file 1.0 MB).
Source: Indonesian language climate change compilation by Down to Earth | REDD-Monitor.
A new World Agroforestry Centre working paper by Meine van Noordwijk, Herry Purnomo, Leo Peskett and Bambang Setiono (ICRAF Southeast Asia).
To ensure demonstrable results on emission reduction, REDD mechanisms must be effective in targeting the wide range of agents involved in deforestation and degradation, learning lessons from past and ongoing conservation efforts that have apparently failed. They must reward good performance and incentivize improved performance compared to reference
scenarios, and adequately compensate agents that suffer losses from changed practices. International payments are likely to be performance based, both in terms of emission reduction at national scale and the environmental and social impacts of the system, meaning that accountability, transparency, risk management, adequate benefits transfer and administration mechanisms will be essential for attracting investment.