empowering community-based climate solutions

Empowering Community-Based Climate Solutions

Insights from the Equator Initiative and COMDEKS

Thesis: Forest communities are a critical—and underutilized— source of climate solutions.

• Who: Rural community organizations and indigenous peoples groups

• What: Climate Mitigation and Adaptation through Community-Based Forest Management

• Sustainable forest use• Forest restoration• Forest-friendly agriculture

• How:Empowering communities with resource rights and access to support networks is the route to maximum climate benefits

Evidence: Equator Prize Case Study Database

The UNDP Equator Prize is awarded every two years to local sustainable development solutions for people, nature, and resilient communities. o Equator Prize database contains 187 case

studies from rural communities around the world.

o Over 60% involve forest communities and sustainable forest management

o Each case study contains information on:

o Key Activities and Innovationso Biodiversity Impactso Socioeconomic Impactso Policy Impactso Replicationo Sustainabilityo Partnerships

Evidence: COMDEKS

COMDEKS = Community Development and Knowledge Management for the Satoyama Initiative Programme

o Satoyama Initiative = promote sustainable use of natural resources in landscapes worked in and relied upon by rural communities

o Currently being piloted in 20 countries in target

landscapes (multi-community areas)

o Community-based land use planning process o Baseline assessment of landscape

conditions (social, economic, environment)o Application of resilience indicatorso Portfolio of community-led landscape

projects funded by SGP

o Assessment and improvement: adaptive management cycle

The Need for Community-Based Solutions: Intensifying Climate and Forest Threats

Forest communities:

• Highly dependent on local forests and vulnerable to forest loss and climate change.

• Many of the drivers of forest loss and degradation manifest at the community level.

• Deforestation and land use changes emit 17% of global CO2.

• Demonstrated history of stewardship.

• REDD on global climate agenda since 2007.

New York Declaration on Forests: Ambitious Goals, But How Do We Achieve Them?

• NY Declaration Targets:

• Cut loss of natural forests 50% by 2020, and 100% by 2030.

• Restore 150 Million ha of degraded forests by2020, and 200 M additional ha by 2030.

• How?

• Tackling plantation ag is critical but not sufficient.

• Community-based forest management, restoration, and protection offers another, complimentary mechanism.

Potential for Community-Based Climate Solutions is Substantial and Already Being Implemented

• Successful community-based forest management can:

• Reduce forest use pressures• Increase local enforcement• Reduce deforestation• Maintain forest canopy• Maintain forest quality• Restore degraded forests

• Both Mitigation and Adaptation benefits result:• More forests and less forest

degradation translate to lower C emissions and greater climate resilience of forest ecosystems

Global Benefit: Community–Managed Forests Show Reduced Deforestation Rates vs State or Private Forests

2014 WRI/RRI study: benefits of effective community forest management reach beyond the local level

• Regional and global significance

• Brazil: deforestation rate 2000-2012 in Indigenous community forests• 0.6% compared to 7.0% in

adjacent forests (11 times lower)

• Guatemala’s Peten region (Maya Biosphere) from 1986-2007:• 0.02% in community forests vs.

0.41% in nearby protected areas of the Maya Biosphere (20 times lower)

For Communities, Development Benefits are Primary, Climate Benefits Secondary

Collective action is motivated by potential economic, social, and environmental benefits:

• More livelihood options; increased household income

• Greater food security• Restored forest productivity • Community and personal

empowerment, self-reliance and agency

• Maintenance of territorial integrity and preservation of cultural heritage

• Political and legal empowerment and inclusion

• Social capital, community cohesion

How Do Community Forest Initiatives Cut Deforestation?

They address the drivers of forest loss and degradation:

• Provide livelihood/income alternatives that reduce forest pressures

• Produce cultural benefits that community members value highly

• Incorporate food security into forest management , making local ag more productive and forest-friendly

Result: open-access forests become managed forests:

• Managed as community asset• Adoption of forest rules and

enforcement to suppress illegal logging and forest conversion

What Kinds of Community-Based Forest Management Yield Climate Benefits?

A wide range of different efforts,

depending on local conditions, threats, and opportunities

Initiatives fall into 3 main groups:

• Sustainable Use: Sustainable harvest practices, livelihood alternatives, food security.

• Restoration: Increased productivity and climate change adaptation.

• Protection: Conservation and cultural preservation.

Sustainable Forest Use: Ekuri Initiative, Nigeria

Ekuri Initiative, Cross River State, Eastern Nigeria

Situation: 34k ha legally recognized community forest near Cross River National Park. Local economy dependent on subsistence farming and sale of forest fruits and other NTFPs.

Threats: Proposed logging, resisted by local tribal authorities. Illegal logging also a problem in nearby park areas.

Initiative Activities:• Adopted forest management plan that established 8 distinct use zones:

• Stream buffer zone, protected area, animal corridor zones• NTFP and commercial timber zones• Farming and cash crop zones• Ecotourism zone

Result: Healthy standing forest that brings in substantial community income while contributing to household subsistence needs.• Contrasts with surrounding forests that are subject to commercial logging and

encroachment.


NTFP income: harvesting forest snails for sale


Forest mapping and zoning for multiple forest uses

Adidy Maitso Association, Eastern Madagascar


Situation: Dense, moist forest; high biodiversity

Threat: Slash-and-burn ag; over-exploitation of rosewood and other valuable species by local people. Root cause is insufficient ag land and lack of alternatives to subsistence farming

Tenure: Local devolution of resource management authority

16 local “community management units” with resource management authority

Management sites partitioned into zones based on ancestral boundaries and local knowledge:

Forest use zone: community can access forest resources Conservation zone: no local resource use permitted Occupancy zone: farming and dwellings


Initiative Activities: Adidy Maitso Association works with all 16 communities to provide agricultural training to increase yields and provide new options: chicken rearing fish farming beekeeping new crops

Heavy emphasis on education, stressing value of intact forest, forest restoration, enforcement of use restrictions

Results: Rice yields increased 5-6 times Diversified income stream Community forest patrols established Replanting 15 ha forest per year with native species

Bottom line: Reduced deforestation; 65% reduction in forest fires


Community Forest Patrols Enforce Forest Use Rules


Increased Rice Yields From Local Farms Reduce Incidence of Slash-and-Burn Agriculture

Restoration: Trowel Development FoundationNorthern Samar Province, Philippines

Restoration: Trowel Development Foundation

Situation: Mangrove swamps and beach forests historically occupied coastal area, but were cleared for settlements and fish and shrimp ponds. Hundreds of hectares of fish ponds now sit idle and unproductive

Initiative Activities: Replanting of mangroves in idle fish ponds to encourage increased natural fish catch and provide suitable habitat for crab-fattening operations

Result: Recovery of native fish and shellfish populations, increasing local fish

catches Establishment of 5 environment-friendly tie-crab farms has increased

household income markedly and increased local food security in the region

Mangrove restoration help ameliorate impact of recent typhoon replanted area

Climate-adapted and flood resistant

Restoration: Trowel Development Foundation

Protection: Wechiau Community Hippo Sanctuary, Northwestern Ghana

Wechiau Community Hippo Sanctuary, Ghana Situation: Sanctuary occupies a 34-km stretch of river forest, floodplain, and

savannah woodlands along the Black Volta River and encompasses 17 communities.

Threat: Poaching endangered hippo population, which is considered sacred. Local agriculture degraded woodland areas.

Initiative Activities: Local bylaws adopted regulating land use and entry Dwellings and agriculture restricted from core sanctuary zone Established ecotourism program Instituted value-added activities such as shea nut processing to replace

income lost from displaced farming in sanctuary

Results: Ecotourism has generated jobs and funded community investments in

education and water and energy infrastructure Stable hippo population Benefits sharing among the sanctuary’s 4 ethnic groups Model for Ghana’s Community Resource Management Area legislation

Wechiau Community Hippo Sanctuary, Ghana

Insights: Four Factors Associated with Climate Benefits from Community-Based Forest Initiatives

New economic incentives: Alternative or additional income sources or enhanced productivity of local forests and farms.• Acts as a counterweight to the need to over-exploit local forests for subsistence or cash.

Community-based land use or forest management planning: Consensus on forest use that the community can stand behind.• Provides the basis for community rule-making and enforcement, which keeps local

forests from being open-access resources.

Community education/communication/knowledge management: Public communication and dialogue on the value of local forests, the potential for community management; the technical aspects of management and enterprise; as well as documentation and sharing of local successes. • Establishes the value of forests and the alternatives to overuse.

Land tenure—both forest and farm: Legally recognized right to use, manage, exclude others from , and dispose of local forests and farm lands. • Provides the practical basis for community-driven development and the rationale for

investments in sustainable forest management.

Insights: Land Rights/ Forest Tenure Are Central, But Many Different Tenure Situations Can Be Functional

Tenure security is one of the strongest correlates of success in community-based forest initiatives. Stronger land rights give communities more land management options and self-determination, which can make collective action easier and increase community benefits.

Many different tenure situations can work, even though not ideal. While holding outright communal title may be optimal, various forms of co-management with the state can also work. Hybrid systems of state ownership and local customary tenure regimes. Modification of state protected areas regulations to allow sustainable

community management of park areas.

Good stewardship by communities sometimes brings tenure gains. By showing that community-based management can produce healthier ecosystems and greater local benefits, many Equator Prize winners have received formal recognition of their success by government authorities and expanded management rights.

Insight: Participatory Planning, Education, and Communication Are the Engines of Attitude and Behavior Change

Participatory planning and education processes establish group consensus and a foundation of trust--the basis for community action. Communities are not monolithic and not all members begin with a clear idea of why action is necessary or what action is best. • Participatory needs assessments and baseline assessment of local

environmental, economic, and social conditions provide a starting point for management and a baseline for measurement of progress.

Good communication also necessary to actually carry out community action (technical training), measure it, learn from it, and teach others.

• Peer-to-peer exchange and knowledge networks• Extension services, “train the trainers” approaches • Community monitoring and assessment• Innovative uses of media and technology• Community organizing and political advocacy

Insight: Forest Initiatives Must Account for Local Agriculture and Food Security Needs; An Integrated, Landscape Approach Needed

Local forest health is linked to the conduct of local agriculture. Unsustainable agriculture is one of the drivers of forest loss and degradation. Successful community-based forest initiatives understand this and explicitly incorporate activities to raise the productivity and profitability of local agriculture and change to forest-friendly practices.

Organic and specialty crops Agroforestry and slope-adapted cropping Cooperatives and marketing organizations

Adopting a landscape approach, where both forestry and agriculture are seen as part of the mosaic of local land uses, is helpful.

COMDEKS experience with community-led land use planning confirms that food security is at or near the top of local priorities when projects are prioritized, and forest interventions always have an agricultural aspect.

Insight: Partnerships and well-timed support can be catalytic, but the relationship must be clear

Partnerships matter. Equator Prize winning communities are self-reliant. But nearly every successful community initiative boasts several crucial partnerships.• Specialized skills, training, and technology• Product commercialization and market access (esp. private sector)• Research and monitoring • Financial support

Partnerships do not necessarily diminish autonomy. Community must remain the center of gravity and authority. Multiple and diverse partnerships are better. Gradual transition from external to local NGO partners is healthy. Governments are essential partners, but relationship with the community must be clear.

Donor lessons: Small, well-targeted, well-timed investments can bring big results:• SGP model is highly effective and efficient• Early funding most catalytic; Longer funding timeframes fit community

projects better.

Insight: Scaling of success is possible and can bring landscape-level change

Equator Prize initiatives have shown a remarkable ability to spread their successful models of local action (quantitative scaling):• Direct contact with other similar communities. • Training centers• Media• On-line communities and other networking tools

Quantitative scaling also demonstrated: communities become proficient at new, related lines of work that increase the effectiveness of their forest restoration enterprises or restoration. Local community organizations may morph into second-level groups that can link together efforts over a larger area.

COMDEKS experience shows the power of having scale built into the initiative from the start. COMDEKS landscape programs are multi-community endeavors and act over a larger geographical area, coordinating many different projects to achieve a set of strategic landscape goals—a clear route to landscape level impact.

Implications for a New Global Climate Regime:Expand Land Rights

Greatly Expand Indigenous and Community Land Rights. No other factor has greater potential for expanding the area under sustainable community-based forest management.

• General consensus has developed on the importance of forest and land tenure to sustainable rural development (including REDD+)

• Since 1992, 25 countries have passed laws expanding the forest tenure of Indigenous Peoples and communities.

• Result: Greatly expanded area under community forestry—500 million ha in low and middle-income countries—roughly 30% of forest area in these countries.

• But pace of recognition has greatly slowed since 2008—even as interest in REDD+ surged.

• Meanwhile, pace of land grabs and tenure disputes has increased.• Therefore, a large unmet demand for land rights remains, eroding the

potential for climate gains from community forest management.

Action to Expand Land Rights

Calls for increased global investment in national tenure reform.

• Formal legal recognition of collective property rights and claims to customary lands.

• Such reform can capitalize on technological improvements in mapping, demarcation, and land titling that have recently decreased the cost of legally recognizing Indigenous and community lands.

Implications for a New Global Climate Regime:Acknowledge Community Role

Acknowledge the legitimacy of local ecosystem management and its local, national, and global benefits

• Acknowledge the potential climate benefits of community-based forest management and account for it in national carbon commitments that countries submit to the UNFCCC (the Intended Nationally Determined Contributions—INDCs)

• Acknowledge the importance of “non-carbon” benefits that community-based forest management yields.

Avoid resource conflicts that pit national against local interests

• Largescale extractive logging, mining, and industrial agriculture encouraged by national policies pose one of the greatest threats to community control of local forests

• Avoiding such conflicts calls for meaningful inclusion of IPs and local interests in national natural resource policies and planning: Proactive FPIC

Implications for a New Global Climate Regime:Embrace a Landscape Approach

Embrace a landscape approach that integrates agriculture and food security into forest planning and management

• Acknowledge the link between forest degradation and unsustainable agricultural practices• Encourage (and fund)

integrated community ag-forest initiatives

A whole landscape approach encourages trans-community interactions and up-scaling of both climate and community effects

Bottom Line: An Indigenous and Local Empowerment Agenda Supports Community-Based Climate Solutions and Should be Part of Any Global Climate Regime

A new global climate regime must advance, not limit, the ability of communities to manage their land and natural resources.

Time to listen to Indigenous and local communities. What do they say they need?

Responding to these demands will create the conditions for maximum climate and local benefits from community forest management.

Thank you!

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http://comdeksproject.com/

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http://www.equatorinitiative.org/



empowering community-based climate solutions

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