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REDD+ AND SUSTAINABLE FOREST

MANAGEMENT WITH PEOPLES

PARTICIPATION

SUBMITTED BY

ASHOK KUMAR SINGH IFS

JHARKHAND

MCT PARTICIPANT (PHASE IV, 7TH

COURSE)

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Title: - REDD+ AND SUSTAINABLE FOREST

MANAGEMENT WITH PEOPLE’S PARTICIPATION

Abstract: -

Climate change is one of the greatest environmental challenges of our time.

The 4th Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

(IPCC) informs us that not only is climate change real, but that human activities

have been driving climate change through the release of gases into the

atmosphere that augment the Earth‟s natural “greenhouse effect” (IPCC, 2007).

195 countries have joined the United Nations Framework Convention on

Climate change (UNFCCC) in an endeavor to limit global temperature increase

to avoid dangerous climate change and to cope with its impacts. The

conservation of forest resources is an issue that transcends political boundaries,

and is of local, national, and global concern. The range of ecosystem goods and

services provided by forests include carbon sequestration and storage.

Deforestation and forest degradation in tropical regions is the second largest

source of global greenhouse gas (CGH) emission. The concept REDD+ was

first introduced in its preliminary form at the climate change negotiations

during the Third Meeting of the Conference of Parties to the UNFCCC )COP-3)

in 1997. The negotiation at COP 17 held at Durban in November-December

2011 also marked some progress on REDD+, though there are several

unresolved issues concerning the implementation of REDD+. The major issues

include lack of clarity on definitions of terms like „forest degradation‟,

„sustainable management forests‟ and „conservation‟; inadequate and imprecise

guidelines on reference emission levels, safeguards, and linkages with

Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMAs)‟;and uncertainty over

finance as well as the institutional mechanism for financing REDD programmes

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at a global scale (2011). However, emission reduction is not the only objective

of REDD+, and as highlighted in COP 16, it also aims at supporting sustainable

rural livelihoods of local communities and promoting biodiversity conservation.

Neglecting these later objectives may not yield desired outcomes from REDD+

programmes. Therefore, efforts have been made to initiate adequate safeguards

to ensure that broader social, governance, and environmental objective are met

while implementing REDD+ activities.

Keywords:-

Sustainable forest management, REDD+, participating forest management,

biodiversity conservation

Introduction:-

REDD plus is financial incentive mechanism for reducing emission from

deforestation and forest degradation plus signifying positive elements of

conservation, sustainable management and enhancing carbon stock through

afforestation, or reforestation, with potential of sustainable livelihood of forest

depended communities, maintenance of ecosystem services and biodiversity

conservation with safe guarding of people living in and around forest.

Deforestation and forest degradation in tropical regions have been cited as the

second largest source of greenhouse gas (CHG) emissions, with different

studies estimating its share in total global anthropogenic CHG emissions to be

ranging from 12-20 per cent (Chazoal et al. 2010; IPCC 2007). With increasing

concern for climate change, the emphasis on the reduction of CHG emissions

from deforestation and forest degradation has gained prominence as a major

climate change mitigation measure. The critical interlinkage between forest

ecosystems and rural livelihood systems, as well as the competing land use

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demand to further economic growth in these countries proliferate deforestation

and forest degradation. REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and

Forest Degradation Plus), a popular word in the climate change lexicon, has

emerged as one such solution to incentivize conservation and sustainable

management of forest in the last few years. The concept of reducing emissions

from deforestation (RED) was introduced in the 11th Conference of Parties of

the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC COP

11) in 2005 as a compensation payment mechanism with potential win-win

outcomes. Subsequently, its scope has been expanded to include forest

degradation (REDD+) and sustainable management of forests (REDD+).

REDD+ has evolved to REDD+ to expand the scope of this compensatory

financial instrument even further to accommodate the concerns of diverse

stakeholders. „REDD+ goes beyond merely checking deforestation and forest

degradation, and includes incentives for positive elements of conservation,

sustainable management of forests and enhancement of forest carbon stock. It

includes reforestation, sustainable management, and food security into the

scope of this compensatory framework. REDD+ was also a key point of

discussion during the 15th COP in 2009 in Copenhagen. REDD+ god

prominence in international climate negotiations with its due acknowledgement

in the Copenhagen Accord in 2009 and all subsequent COPs have seen its

significant evolution. REDD+ further by including all land cover changes that

affect carbon storage. The genesis of REDD+ lies in the notion of carbon

trading and Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) that were initiated in COP

3 held in Kyoto in 1997. The global treaty that emerged out of this COP is

popularly known as the Kyoto Protocol. The COP 13 held in Bali, Indonesia, in

2007 recognized the contribution of emissions from deforestation as well as

forest degradation. This COP also recognized the urgent need to reduce these

emissions in developing countries by halting forest cover loss by the year 2030

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at the latest, and reducing gross deforestation by at least 50 per cent by 2020, as

compared to the current levels.

REDD+ got prominence with its due acknowledgment in the Copenhagen

Accord in 2009. The Cancun Agreement of COP 16 in 2010 emphasized the

rote of REDD+ no only as a mechanism for reducing emissions, but also for

halting and reversing the loss of forests. It also encouraged countries to explore

effective ways to slow, halt, and reverse forest cover loss in their respective

territories by identifying the drivers and addressing them through appropriate

measures.

REDD+ has created on opportunity for many developing countries to

contribute there is a need for consensus among the member countries on

different operational aspects for its effective implementation. The consensus on

funding sources, MRV methodologies, and institutional mechanism for

implementation have strong implications on REDD+ design and outcomes at

national level.

Forests in India have always held a special place in the socio-economic,

cultural, and religious facets of Indian society. Though blessed with diverse

forest resources that support a rich diversity of flora and fauna, the geographical

distribution and quality of forests in not uniform in India. India has 78.29

million hectare (Mha) under forest and tree cover (Forest Survey of India, 2011)

which is 23.81 per cent of the total geographical area of the country. Of this

total, forest cover constitutes 69.20 Mha (21.05 per cent), whereas tree cover is

9.84 Mha (2.76 per cent). However, improving he quality of forest cover is a

major concern today in terms of density classes, since very dense forest covers,

having canopy density more than 0.7, constitute only 8.347 Mha (9.76 per cent).

The remaining forest cover is open forest or scrub which requires to be

rehabilitated. India‟s forests are facing immense pressure due to unsustainable

use of forest produce. Poverty and forest degradation are inextricably linked

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and curbing forest degradation requires convergence of various poverty

alleviation policies and schemes. The role of local communities is vital in not

only addressing the drivers of forest degradation but also enhancing carbon

stock through conservation, protection, and reforestation. The carbon stock of

Indian forests in 2004 has been estimated by the Forest Survey of India (FSI) to

be 6.663 metric ones (FSI, 2011). Carbon stock in India‟s Forests has increased

by 592 metric tones form between 1994 and 2004, but it can be increased

significantly through the involvement of local communities. The institutional

mechanism for REDD+ will leverage on the strengths of the existing forest

management system in the country while also ensuring sectoral integration and

inter-departmental coordination to address some of the key drivers of

deforestation and forest degradation in the country.

Policy and Legislation:-

The National Forest Policy, 1988 marked a paradigm shift in the forestry

sector from regulatory to participatory mode of forest governance, keeping

sustenance and the livelihood need of the people living in and around forests as

the first charge of the people along with the ecological security of the nation as

the prime objective of the policy. The new forest policy framed in 1988

radically differed form the previous policies of independent India. It stressed

that forests were not to be commercially exploited of industries, but were meant

to conserve the soil and environment, and meet the subsistence requirements of

local people prioritizing environmental stability than to earn revenue. Deriving

direct economic benefit from forests was subordinated to the objective of

ensuring environmental stability and maintenance of ecological balance. It

discouraged monocultures and promoted mixed forest. The focus shifted from

„commerce‟ and „investment‟ to ecology and satisfying basic needs of the

people such as providing fuelwood and fodder, and strengthening tribal-forest

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linkages. Para 4.3 of the new policy reads, “The life of tribal and other poor

living within and near forests revolves around forests. The rights and

concessions enjoyed by them should be fully protected. Their domestic

requirements of fuelwood, fodder, minor forest produce, and timber should be

the first charge on forest produce. However, the 1998 National Forest Policy

brought in a major shift and enunciated that the principle aim of forest policy

was to ensure environmental stability and maintenance of ecological balance

including atmospheric equilibrium which is vital for the sustenance of all life

forms-human, animal, and plant. The derivation of direct economic benefit must

be subordinated to this principal aim. However, removals from forests

continued to occur in order to meet the increasing demand for forest good and

services. Later on, several other legislations including the Wildlife (Protection)

Acct, 1972; Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980; the Environment Protection Act

1986; and the biological Diversity Act, 2002, were promulgated which, along

with the Indian forest Act, 1927, or the State Forest Acts, constitute the basic

legislative framework for forestry, wildlife, and biodiversity. India has a multi-

tier forest administration system comprising the Indian Forest Service

constituted in 1966 under the All India services Act, 1951, by the Government

of India supported by State Forest Services and Forest Rangers, and frontline

forestry personnels the foresters and the forest guards who have a reach in to

the remotest and most interior parts of the country. The main mandate of these

forest services is to protect, conserve and manage forest and wildlife resources

of the country by ensuring scientific and Sustainable Management of Forests

(SMF) for various product and services under the policy and legal framework.

Simultaneously, in 1990, the Government of India initiated the process of

people‟s involvement in the conservation, management and protection of forests

using a benefit sharing mechanism based on the principle of „care and share‟

through joint forest management (JFM)-the so-called „JFM 1990 Resolution‟.

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Under JFM, the use (local communities) and owner (Government) manage the

resource and share the cost equally. However, it is difficult to generalize the

JFM concept and approach in the light of variations across the nation with

respect to geography, resource base, socio-economic status, cultural diversity,

and pressure on forests. The programme was yet another initiative by the

Government of India to involve the forest-dwelling communities in the

management of forests. The same has been implemented by most state

governments in India.

Currently, JFM spans 29 states with 118,213 JFMCs which manage

22.94millionha of the forests in the country. The Central government brought in

a legislation named „The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest

Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006, popularly known dwellers.

GREEN INDIA MISSION (GIM)

Government of India (GOI) announced its first Ever National Action Plan

on Climatic Change (NAPCC) in June 2008 to identify measure and steps to

mitigate problems of climate change in India. One of the eight missions is green

India mission popularly known as GIM. In its review the NAPCC said that

climate change is a global challenge and India will engage actively in

multilateral negotiation in UN Framework convention on climatic change in a

positive, constrictive an forwarding looking member.

The green India mission recognizes that phenomenon of climate change

will seriously affect and alter the destruction, type and quality of natural

resources of country. This will have further reparation for livelihood of people

in general and particularly to those who are living in and around forest and

dependent on forest for their livelihood. The GIM also puts the greening in

context of climate adaptation and mitigation, aiming to enhance ecosystem

services like carbon sequestration and storage, hydrological services and

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biodiversity a long with provisioning services like fuel, fodder, small timer and

(NTFT). GIM aims not only increasing forest cover but emphasizes on

improving the quality of forest cover in 4.9 million hector of forest and noon

forest area with active cooperation and participation of local community.

Community-based Forest Governance:-

Community-base forest governance is the key to the institutional set up of

REDD+ in the Indian context. Its functions are based upon the following

principles:

Democratization has to include decentralization to power to the community

of forest user groups.

Democratic decentralization of power and governance requires operational

autonomy for the lower level entity (such as community) within a transparent

regulatory framework.

Safeguarding against elite capture at the local level is necessary to protect

the community and individual rights and resources.

Monitoring the sustainable use of resources and enforcing norms by the

government to conserve these resources is required.

State support will be required by many communities in any decentralized

system for forest protection, conflict resolution between the Gram Sabha and

the JFMCs technical knowledge for harvesting, resource mapping and

monitoring, marketing and trade of minor forest produce.

Local forest governance and management must be nested within a larger

landscape, enabling sustenance of ecosystem functioning, corridors for

movement of wildlife and genetic flow, and other functions and benefits that are

external to the community.

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The sift to community-based management not only involves devolution of

power but also requires changes in rights, responsibilities, structure of

institutions and attitude of governing bodies.

Besides this, the government must play a pro-active role in ensuring that

the interests of the weaker sections of the society are safeguarded and no elite

capture takes place.

The national level framework should be flexible enough to adapt to

regional variation accomplishing the overall goals.

India’s preparedness for REDD+

At the national level, India has a robust policy and legal framework in the

form of the wildlife Protection Act, 1972; Forest Conservation Act, 1980;

National Forest policy, 1988; National Environmental policy 2006; and forest

Act 2006 for the sustainable management of its forests.

India‟s national Forest Policy, formulated four years before the Earth

Summit (UNCED 1992), embodies all elements – social, environment, and

economic of Sustainable Forest management. The principal aim of India‟s

National Forest policy is to ensure environmental stability and maintenance of

ecological balance, including atmospheric equilibrium, which is vital for the

sustenance of all life forms human and plant. The derivation of direct economic

benefit is subordinate to this principal aim.

India‟s national Forest Policy is in alignment with the four global

objectives agreed in 2006 by all member countries of United Nations under the

umbrella of United Nations Forum of Forests (UNFF). These global objectives

aim to:

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1. Reverse the loss of forest cover worldwide through sustainable forest

management, including protection, restoration, afforestation and reforestation;

and increase efforts to prevent forest degradation

2. Enhance forest-base economic, social, and environmental benefits,

including improving the livelihoods of forest dependent people

3. Increase significantly the area of protected forests worldwide and othe area

of sustainably managed forests, as well as the proportion of forest products

form sustainably managed forests

4. Reverse the decline in official development assistance for sustainable

forest management and mobilize significantly increase, new, and additional

financial resources from all sources for the implementation of sustainable forest

management

India has already demonstrated its commitment in climate negotiations by

declaring that, even as it pursues its social and economic development

objectives, it will not allow its per capita CHG emissions to exceed the average

per capita emissions of developed countries. Conservation, expansion, and

improvement in the quality of its forest is a national priority for India s it is not

only a cost-effective mitigation measure against climate change, but also

generates benefits in terms of ensuring qualitative and sustained flow of

ecosystem goods and services, vital for the sustenance of local forest dependent

communities (MoEF, undated; Sarkar, 2011).

A range of policies and programmes have been initiated at the national

level to address the impacts of climate change in the context of sustainable

development. The National Mission for a Green India (GIM)2 is one of eight

Missions prepared under the aegis of the National Action Plan on Climate

Change (NAPCC). Its objective is to increase forest cover by over five million

ha and improve the quality of forests over another five million ha during the

next ten years; enhance annual CO2 sequestration by50 to 60 million tones by

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the year 2020; and increase forest-based livelihood income of about three

million households living in and around the forest.

The National Afforestation Programme (NAP) aims to restore degraded

forests with active participation of local communities. For further strengthening,

this programme has been reviewed by the Government of India based on

feedback from implementing States and other stakeholders (GoI 2011)3. The

MoEF is implementing a centrally sponsored scheme, namely “Intensification

of Forest Management Scheme”. Which aims at the creation of infrastructure

for the development, protection, and conservation of forest resource in the

country.

For India, carbon services from forests and plantations is one of the co-

benefits and not the primary objective of forest management. Therefore, as

India is poised to pilot REDD+ projects in the country, it is important to revisit

some of the issues underpinning the design of an appropriate national

architecture.

Design and implementation of REDD+ activities

Irrespective of the final design of the REDD+ mechanism, provisions have

to be made to deliver on finance, to support eligible projects; Monitoring

Reporting and Verification (MRV) mechanism, to ensure activities are in

alignment with the principles of the Framework Convention on Climate Change

and; safeguards, so that REDD+ helps in conserving, maintaining and

enhancing ecological services and contributes to the socio-economic

development of forest dependent communities.

Finance

REDD+ is a financial instrument to incentivize avoided deforestation and

degradation of forest conservation, and sustainable management of forest with a

view to reduce CHG emissions. It aims at compensating forest owners in

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developing countries for conserving forests by assigning a value to the forest

carbon stock, one of the ecosystem services that forests provide. The notion of

REDD+ is based on two basic premises. Firstly, countries conserving forests

forego the economic gain form harvesting them, as well as the benefits from

alternative land use, and hence the need to be compensated for the same.

Secondly, cost involved in conservation and sustainable management of forests

need to be shared by developed countries, as forests provide a range of offsite

ecosystem services. Given the livelihood linkage of forests in many developing

countries, forest conservation imposes several direct and indirect costs. Hence,

any financial mechanism to compensate some of these costs by developed

countries would encourage sustainable management of forests in developing

countries. The Eliasch Review (2008) estimates that even if forest carbon

dioxide emissions from forests by 2030 would still be a substantial sum of US $

17-33 billion annually. The review identifies two types of financing needs that

would arise regardless of the final design of the REDD+ mechanism. These are:

(i) Upfront capacity-building (readiness) costs, which will require upfront

investments in REDD+ infrastructure, monitoring systems, forest and

carbon density data, and stakeholder participation

(ii) On-going emission reduction costs, which include:

a. Forest protection cost for implementation of Policies and Measures

(PAMs) to attract REDD+ investments

b. Opportunity costs for compensating foregone profits from reducing

forest emissions

Financing REDD+ has remained one of the bottlenecks because of the

huge uncertainty involving the mechanisms for its operation. However, since

COP-11 in 2005, it has been recognized that developed countries in

implementing REDD+ activities. Official Development Assistance (ODA)

tends to be a short-term source of finance and therefore is less suited to long-

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cycle carbon forestry projects. This makes ODA better suited for developing the

national REDD+ strategy and undertaking preparedness activities. Voluntary

markets have been the predominant source of finance for the forestry sector and

in 2007, contributed toward 18 per cent of all projects, globally. The

compliance market is currently restricted to afforestation/reforestation under the

Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), and it is still not clear if it would

become part of the future REDD+ mechanism.

India, in its submission to the UNFCCC recommends a flexible

combination of market based and no-market based approaches for providing

positive incentives for the two types of carbon stocks under the REDD+ regime:

(a) change in carbon stocks that includes incremental carbon stocks and reduced

deforestation, and (b) baseline carbon stocks. The market-based approaches that

would be developed for incentivizing removals and emission reductions to be

separate from the CDM market and conservation of forest carbon stocks could

be incentivized through non-market bases mechanisms.

Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification

One of the critical methodological issues for REDD+ implementation is

fixing the reference baselines for emission measurements and modalities for

MRV. Some countries argue for a historical baseline whereas others advocate

using a global baseline. A decision of COP-16 on the Cancun Agreements

requests developing countries to develop a national strategy or action plan; a

national forest reference emission level and/pr forest reference level and a

robust and transparent national forest monitoring system.

India is of the view that the Reference Level (R/L) Reference Emission

Level (REL) needs to be fixed in an open and transparent manner following the

procedure agreed by the Parties for the purpose. India‟s National Forest Policy

led to a design of the Joint Forest management (JFM) programme following a

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circular issued by MoEF in 1990. It emphasized that State governments involve

local forest communities, who would receive a pre-determined share from the

forest produce. As a result, the State issued enabling JFM resolutions and

people‟s participation became central to Sustainable Forest Management

(SFM). Therefore, in the absence of an agreed RL/REL at the international

level, the year for REDD+.

In addition to the above mentioned issues, implementation of REDD+

faces a host of operational challenges particularly on measuring additionality of

carbon stocks; assessing system leakage so that the avoided deforestation in one

area is not displaced to another; and ensuring permanence of carbon storage

even after the REDD+ project period had ended. Therefore, MRV would entail

monitoring not only the project period and the project site, but continued

monitoring over an extended period to ensure permanence and assess the degree

of leakage, if any.

In India, the challenge before the forestry sector is not so much related to

checking deforestation as it lies in managing degradation. It is particularly

difficult to curb forest degradation due to widespread poverty, and

overwhelming dependence of local communities on forest resources for

subsistence and livelihood. Even introducing new policies and schemes to

reduce the dependence on forests would be a slow process subject to myriad

operational challenges. As a result, MRV of forest degradation presents much

greater challenges in terms of technical and cost implications as evaluating

carbon emission from degradation would require extensive on-site monitoring

as remote sensing has its limitations. Although India possesses an established

system of monitoring Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) activities by

means of eight criteria and forty-three indicators developed under the Bhopal-

India process (1998); new techniques and methods need to evolve for

measuring aspects such as leakage and additionality of forest carbon stock.

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Institutional arrangement

The REDD+ architecture at the international level recognizes the sovereign

rights of the nations to design and implement nationally appropriate policies

and measures. Therefore, flexibility to accommodate different national

circumstances would be inherent to its design. The Conference of Parties (COP)

to the UNFCCC needs to have provisions for balanced representation from both

developing and developed country parties to ensure transparency, equity and

accountability in the decision making process.

The institutional mechanism at the international level, while providing

overall overall for REDD+ mechanism, will incentivize measurable actions on

REDD+ that are in accordance with the objectives of the Framework

Convention on climate change.

The National REDD+ Cell set up at the Ministry of Environment and

Forest (MoEF) will play a key role in the design and implementation of REDD+

strategies at the national and sub-national level, consistent with the mechanism

at the international level. The National REDD+ Cell will coordinate and guide

REDD+ related actions at the national level, and engage with the State Forest

Departments (SFDs) to collect, process and manage all relevant information and

data relating to forest carbon accounting. It will also help identify REDD+

opportunities in the States and work with State Forest Departments (SFDs) for

REDD+ project development. The Cell would actively participate in the

deliberations of the UNFCCC on REDD+ and also assist MoEF and its

affiliated agencies in developing and implementing appropriate polices relating

to REDD+ Implementation in the country, Besides, it well help in mobilizing

and disbursement of resources and providing technical guidance and support to

the States by engaging with the Centres of Excellence.

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A State REDD+ Cell could be set up in the respective State Forest

Departments and its function would primarily include overseeing the project

preparation and its implementation by the Joint Forest Management

Committees (JFMCs) or Village Forest Protection Committees (VFPCs).The

Gram Sabha will be the centric body to constitute the Joint Forest management

Committee for conservation, protection and management of forests, with benefit

sharing from forests on the principle of sustainable harvests as laid down in the

management plan of the respective area within their jurisdiction. The Forest

department shall provide technical guidance to the Gram Sabha, an also monitor

implementation of the management plan.

Monitoring

Regular monitoring of the carbon stock is very important for the REDD+

project. However, there are various issues in monitoring and verifying the

REDD+ project; such as, there is no uniform defining of various terms like

forests, deforestation, and degradation, across the globe. There is a lack of

uniformly agreed density classification, which make it difficult to monitor the

progress and effectiveness of REDD+ projects across the nations. There is a

lack of historical data, technical skills for field measurements, carbon stock

calculations, and under-developed nations. Besides, monitoring and verification

requires hue expense. In India, there is an urgent need to organize capacity-

building programmes of local communities and forest staff at the project level

on methodologies for assessing carbon, in order to ensure minimal transaction

cost for the preparation of REDD+ projects.

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Discussion:-

Deforestation is the single largest source with 17% of global greenhouse

gas (GHG) emissions. In this context reducing emissions from deforestation and

forest degradation (REDD) has assumed global significance in the climate

change debate, as it is considered to be a cost-effective mitigation option This

could also generate additional conservation and livelihood benefits. However, a

number of civil society organizations and researchers have raised concerns

regarding impacts of REDD on livelihoods and rights of indigenous groups and

local communities It has been argued that these concerns could be addressed

with the help of community participation and some tough regulatory standards.

A large number of REDD pilot projects have been initiated in developing

countries conservation NGOs and state. Multilateral organizations have started

supporting readiness activities, through readiness programmes like Forest

Carbon Partnership (FCPF) of the World Bank and the UN-REDD programme

of UN organizations, in priority countries where deforestation rates are

relatively high. India has made significant progress in addressing deforestation

and stabilizing forest cover through a combination of policy measures and

innovative forest management activities. But it is still grappling with the issue

of forest degradation which adversely impacts livelihood of millions of people

in the country. Tackling degradation and increasing forest cover is closely

linked to the issue of recognition and settling of community rights over a large

part of forest land in the country. All these issues will have to be simultaneously

addressed to successfully implement REDD Plus approach.

The local forest dependent communities would be central to the

implementation of REDD+. It is a statutory requirement under the FRA to have

Gram Sabha based forest governance. Also, the National Mission for a Green

India document states that committees set up by the Gram Sabha under FRA

will be centrally, for REDD+, the Gram Sabha will be the overarching village-

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level institution to oversee and implement REDD+. The FD along with the

local-level forest governance units will play a key role in sanitization and

capacity building of the local people so they can reap maximum benefits from

forest conservation activities in their area. The Gram Sabha and JFMCs with

technical support from the FD are principal agencies in decentralized

management of forests. These institutions need to be strengthened for effective

decision making and planning to be inclusive and responsive to the need of the

local communities for the design of the REDD+ architecture.

An inter-departmental coordinated approach is required to address to

various drivers of deforestation and forest degradation that lie outside the

forestry sector as well as cater to the concerns of different stakeholder groups.

This demands coordinated efforts by all sectors to align their policies and

activities by means of mandates, procedures and capacity to meet such

accountabilities. This will also ensure that the actions under existing policies

and programmes of various departments that have linkage and overlaps are

suitably modified/strengthened for realization of goals under SMF.

With such a huge population depending on forest for subsistence

livelihood, the strategies for controlling forest degradation need to be focused

on reducing the dependence by creating alternative livelihood opportunities for

the forest dependent communities, providing alternative technologies to reduce

the gap in demand and supply of forest products and making the community

adopt sustainable harvesting practices.

This provides unhindered opportunities for the poor to utilize the

traditional knowledge in sustainable management of forest with the help of the

forest department and the Government of India. Linking the two REDD+, and

alternative livelihood improvement activities will ultimately reduce pressure on

forests producing an increase in forest cover in future. Moreover the

international negotiations on REDD+ under the UNFCCC from bali to Durban,

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provided a nested approach for implementation leading to performance based

system in countries undertaking REDD+ readiness activities like India, where

communities will be benefited through conservation of forest ecosystem, in turn

improving their livelihood and simultaneously increasing the forest cover of the

country. Although, India is partially ready for implementing REDD+

mechanism, but still the benefit sharing mechanism needs to be framed

properly, in order to overcome the livelihood issues in REDD+ and to conserve

the degrading forest cover.

Strengthening Institutions

Local institutions play a significant role in forest conservation and its

sustainable utilization. The institutions dealing with forests at the local level

are: Joint Forest Management Committees, Community Forest Management

groups (a large number in Odisha, for example), Van Panchayats (Uttarakhand),

traditional village level institutions/village council (Schedule VI area),

Biodiversity Management Committees, Forest Committees set up under Rule 4

of FRA, etc. Self-help groups/common interest groups have also been set up at

the village level to promote forest-based livelihood activities. Since JFMCs

have certain limitations such as tenurial insecurity, inadequate silvicultural

development, restricted harvesting, lack of legal back up and market access,

they need to work in coordination with the Gram Sabha/Panchayti Raj

Institutions.

Panchayat Raj Institutions are constitutionally mandated bodies for

decentralized development planning at the local level. The Scheduled Tribes

and Other Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 empowers

the Gram Sabhas with the ownership of MFPs and the responsibility to set up

institutions to make sure that the individual and community forest rights are

strengthened.

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Gram Sabhas are required to set up a village level institution to protect and

manage forests. This would not only help in strengthening the Gram Sabhas,

but would also help in the necessary union of resources and integrated planning

at the village level that would surely benefit all stakeholders. Livelihood

activities and enterprises as well as protection of forests have often been

effectively addressed at the cluster level/ sub-landscape level, led by federations

of SHGs/ common interest groups (CIGs) and federations of thematic

committees/groups such as JFMCs/CFM/VPs/FRA committees as well as

livelihood promotion groups like SHGs/CIGs to plan of such federations needs

to be the decision of communities, with the consent of their respective Gram

Sabhas.

There is a need felt for revamping the JFMCs. To allow greater

decentralization of decision-making, transfer of power, and adequate support.

The following steps would be needed to reform the JFMCs.

The JFMC will be set up by the Gram Sabha. Its constitution and processes

need to be harmonized with the provisions as laid out in the state Panchayat and

PESA 1996 legislation. The JFMC, as a committee of the Gram Sabha, must be

given power to protect and manage as well as derive benefits from forests.

The JFMC must be provided necessary resources and support to achieve its

mandate.

Silvicultural management of the area assigned to JFMC must be according

to the plan approved by the Gram Sabha, following technical consent by the

forest department.

The Forest Department‟s role would be to provide demand-based support,

as required by the Gram Sabha and its mandated committees to strengthen

decentralized forest governance leading to sustainable managements of forests.

The forest Development agency (FDA) was formed at the beginning of the 21st

century, basically to provide direct financial support to the JFMCs and the

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Panchayati Raj Institutions. The need of the hour is to reform the FDA structure

and its role. This would make it a principal institution in contributing to

decentralize forest governance and providing valuable services for forest

conservation and improved livelihoods of people living in and around the

forests that would further achieve poverty eradication and enhance carbon

sequestration. The key measures in this context would be the following:

The FDA at the district level will be elected representatives such as the

Zila Parishad president which would help in programme convergence with the

Panchayat Raj Institutions. The FDA at the state level will be chaired by an

elected representative such as the Minister of Forests.

The executive body of the FDA would have elected representatives from

clusters/wards, comprising of revamped JFMCs.

Federations of the Committees of Gram Sabha would alo be represented at

the district/division level. The CEO of the FDA will be the DFO.

SHGs/UGs and their federations involved in forest-produce-based

enterprise would be represented at the division level/district level FDA.

Representation of civil society organization and agencies particularly rural

development, agriculture, livestock, fisheries, horticulture, revenue, drinking

water, health, tribal welfare, and education will be secured. All government

officials will be ex-officio members and would not have voting rights.

The function of the FDA will be to facilitate demand-based planning and

implementation of forest conservation and community development by the local

bodies mandated by the Gram Sabha. It will need to create partnership, people‟s

representatives, media, and government line agencies to carry out its function

and to strengthen forest governance.

The Government of India will also support capacity building of the local

community institutions to facilitate long-term protection, regeneration and

management of forests, and initiate forest-based livelihood enterprise.

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Sustainable forest management (SFM) and forest produce utilization will

require good skills and knowledge in inventorization, adaptive silvicultural

practices, sustainable NTFP harvesting, value addition and marketing, and

monitoring of impacts. Indigenous knowledge, forestry science, information,

and communication technology well further promote capacity-building

activities. Moreover, the involvement of community institutions in facilitating

grass roots actions will require sensitization of the forest department officials

and frontline staff. The forest department will also need to ensure compliance

with technical prescriptions as per the management plan. It would be essential

to respond to the community institutions by providing greater support in

„protection‟ in case of sensitive areas. The technical knowledge of the

department will be important to assist developing quality planting material,

designing eco-restoration programmes, pilot testing of climate change

adaptation measures, creating an enabling regime that helps farmers and

communities to plant, protect, and harvest trees/forests without having to incur

huge transaction costs. The Goi consider supporting the recruitment process by

focused advocacy, and even provide financial support for salaries of frontline

staff for a limited period. Capacity building of frontline staff will be given high

priority. Teams of experts at the level of reformed FDAs could bring in new

knowledge, expertise and innovative ideas in fields such as information and

communication technology (including RS/GIS capabilities), community

mobilization, watershed/soil moisture/water harvesting, hydrogeology, finance,

ecological restoration/REDD issues, etc. The Gol will support strengthening of

the Range Offices, inter alia, developing them as forest and wildlife resource

centres (with library, documentation, map room, GIS, and MIS cell facilities).

This support could also be availed by the partner agencies working in the sub-

watershed /sub-landscape. Infrastructure support in terms of enhanced mobility

and communication at Forest Range and Section level will enhance the rapid

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response needed for forest protection, fire protection, control of crop-raiding

wildlife, etc.

The JFMCs should be merged with the Gram Sabhas under the umbrella of

the Forest Rights Act, 2006 to strengthen the functions of the PRIs.

Community-based forest governance strengthened by the FRA, 2006 is

certainly the future of the Indian forestry sector. Rules framed for the

implementation of the FRA, 2006 are inadequate and need to be revised in

order to formulate additional rules which can provide a mechanism for

sustainable harvesting of MFP, enhance income of forest-dependent

communities and recognize CFRs. The dynamic change in forest governance

form a participatory approach of forest governance (JFM) to community –based

forest governance could lead to an explicit transformation of power across the

nation, leading to an expansion of the JFM concept to a JFM+ concept. JFM+

will be assisted by the forest department for capacity-building to protect and

conserve the resources by providing technical support and use of forest

legislation. In JFM+, the JFMCs will work under the Gram Sabhas, The power

form the forest department will be decentralized to the Gram Sabha, who are

proposed to work in co-ordination with the JFMCs. The management plan for

JFM+ will incorporate both scientific and traditional knowledge, which could

be used in resource management with regular flow of funds. The JFM+ concept

not only nourishes JFM but also enhances the intensity of good governance

under the Gram Sabha to promote sustainable management of forests in

addition to improving the livelihoods of local people who are dependent on

forest for their bona fide livelihood needs. This will provide a strong platform

for REDD+ to emerge in India. In short, community-based forest governance

(CBFG) is a process to achieve the mandate of REDD+ in India,

Forest Guard manning a check-post for 24 hours without proper of basic

facilities for quick communication, or of arms to confront organized gangs of

25

offenders. Compared to the magnitude of protection problems and other

responsibilities, the staff and facilities provided at all the levels in forest

administration are meager and primitive. People‟s participation is essential in

protecting forests as there have been several cases of illicit felling, fire, and

encroachments in JFM areas. Besides protection against illicit cutting and

encroachments, protection against forest fire is another major concern. Forest

fires are quite frequent and damage the forests considerably. Fire control

methods adopted by the SFDs are obsolete and old, involving cutting and

burning of fire line4s and beating fires manually. Fire incidences are

deliberately under-reported of fire lines and beating fires manually.

The Forest Principles agreed upon at the Earth Summit in 1992 mandate

sustainable development of all types of forests. However, there is a general lack

of political commitment and means of implementing sustainable forest

management in developing countries, including India. The optimal realization

of biodiversity conservation and carbon sequestration services is possible when

forests are managed sustainably. India has gone ahead to empower communities

for sustainable forest management but capacity of the community has to be built

up so that they can take up this responsibility, which is perhaps even more

important than the need for financial resources for sustainable forest

management.

India is expecting an annual enhancement of carbon stock to the extent of

50-60 million tones CO2 by 2020 and an addition on more than one billion

tones of CO2 over the next three decades.

One of the critical issues for REDD+ implementation is monitoring,

reporting and verification (MRV). Since India has strengthened its efforts for

implementation of SFM since 1990, the reference baseline could be 1990 for

the assessment of carbon to generate financial incentives. There is a need to

have a monitoring mechanism to assess sustainability of forests. India has

26

developed criteria and indicators for the assessment of sustainability of forests

but additional effort is needed to institutionalize these. The Forest Survey of

India my be designated as the national-level coordinating agency to monitor the

sustainability of forests. Since it will be difficult for FSI alone to do this huge

task, there is a need to identify many more agencies form government and non-

government sectors for MRV, particularly for carbon assessment. It is

suggested to adopt the path of small projects at the level of JFMC/CFMC under

REDD+ to facilitate the flow of financial incentives generated through trading

of enhanced carbon to the community. An institution is needed to regulate the

implementation of REDD+. A REDD authority may be established in the MoEF

to frame policies, strategies, and guidelines for the implementation of REDD+

in the country. State governments through state-level REDD+ Cells need to

facilitate project formulation at the JFMC/CFMC level. A JFMC/CFMC will

formulate the REDD+ project with the technical assistance of FD. Monitoring

may be done by the Central government through the Forest Survey of India,

while verification may be done by an independent body identified by Forest

Survey of India.

Forest are a national resource of global concern. Forests have been a

subject of global negotiations on account of their key role in sequestering

carbon from the atmosphere. REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation

and forest Degradation) is a policy instrument with a legal framework meant to

incentivize conservation and sustainable management of forests, and thereby

reduce CHG emissions from deforestation and forest degradation. The „+‟ sign

signifies the enhancement of forest carbon stocks without compromising the

ecosystem services and keeping in mind the rights of the forest dependent

communities. India is one of the countries which has a strong policy and

regulatory framework for REDD+. This chapter provides an overview of this

framework.

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Policies and Acts to Synchronize the legal Framework for REDD+

The National Forest Policy, 1988 is under implementation with the prime

objective of conserving forests to ensure environmental stability and maintain

ecological balance, which includes preservation, maintenance, sustainable

utilization, restoration, and enhancement of forest carbon stock; these are also

the key elements of REDD+. The policy also emphasizes the need to provide

sufficient fuelwood, fodder, minor forest produce and small timber for rural and

tribal populations. However, the 1988 National Forest Policy brought in major

shift and enunciated that the principle aim of forest policy was to ensure

environmental stability and maintenance of ecological balance including

atmospheric equilibrium which is vital for the sustenance of all life forms –

human, animal, and plant.

Institutionalizing REDD+ in India

India has a long history of scientific forest management, spanning over a

century has been carrying our national forest carbon stock accounting for the

country.

REDD+ will not only help addressing capacity gaps under the current

forest management system but most importantly would benefit the local forest

dependent communities. The financial incentives generated through carbon

added or carbon saved will supplement the incentives already derived by

JFMCs through the harvesting of Non-Timer Forest Produce (NTFP) and would

help support livelihoods of communities and contribute to overall socio-

economic development besides. The incentives received from REDD+ are to be

passed on the local communities involved in protection and management of the

forests to ensure sustained protection of India‟s forests. India‟s submission to

the UNFCCC/Ad hoc Working Group on Lon-term Cooperative Action (2011)

28

states its commitment to transfer the REDD+ benefits to the local, forest-

dependent, forest-dwelling, and tribal communities that are contributing to

forest conservation and enhancement of forest carbon stock.

A State REDD+ Cell could be set up in the State FD (SFD) for overseeing

the project preparation and implementation by the joint Forest Management

Committees (JFMCs) or Village Forest Protection Committees (VFPCs). It

shall also be responsible for ensuring that projects are designed in compliance

with the national guidelines and are eligible for financing. In addition, the State

REDD+ Cell shall organize training and capacity-building seminars and

workshops for officials of the SFD and village level institutions through Forest

Divisions which will be the main implementing agency for REDD+

programmes on the ground. The village-level forest governance unit shall be

responsible for REDD+ project formulation. The JFMCs and VFPCs could

directly by involved in the implementation of REDD+ projects under the

technical guidance of the Divisional Forest Officer concerned or his

representatives. The Gram Sabha will be the central body to constitute the

JFMC for conservation, protection, and management of forests, with benefit

sharing from forests on the principle of sustainable harvests as laid down in the

management plan of the respective area within their jurisdiction. The FD shall

provide technical guidance to Gram Sabha, and also monitor implementation of

the management plan. MRV of the REDD+ projects hall be carried out by

independent experts not involved in any of the processes of preparing the forest

carbon stocks inventory. For conducting the evaluation, they will be supported

by the National and State REDD+ Cell. The data on changes in forest carbon

stocks for estimating forest degradation can be collected using Remote Sensing

(RS)/Geographic Information System (GIS) techniques along with required

ground truthing actual measurements on the project site). To ensure

transparency, provisions, and other stakeholders, who will be trained by the FSI

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and FD on technological, methodological, policy, and financial aspects of MRV

processes and procedures. For measuring the forest carbon stock, the FSI can

empanel organizations for carrying out monitoring activities at the state level

and validation of this information can be done by the FSI. For other ecosystem

services, a set of indicators can be developed that can be monitored to

adequately address the issue of safeguards. The MoEF may designate centres of

excellence will provide capacity-building support and perform other facilitating

functions as many be required. Involvement of grass roots or civil society

organizations will also help raise awareness on the issue among forest-

dependent communities.

Conclusion:-

REDD+ has created on opportunity for many developing countries to

contribute to climate mitigation efforts along with sustainable management of

their national resources and at the same time to gain from the process the

payment for the carbon would generate additional funding to support forest

conservation efforts in developing countries it has also accommodated the

interest of diverse stakeholders. India has an adequate legal and policy regime

to implement such as IFA, wildlife protection act, Forest Conservation Act,

Forest Right Act, etc. But in some point and another laws and policy are not in

conformity with each other. It will be unfair to expect communities to conserve

forest and wildlife without empowering the State government have not

however, take in sufficient initiative to apprise the community of this law and

policy aging forest degradation cannot be checked without poverty alleviation

programme. Furthermore, The Government of India should go for a national

level decision to reduce the carbon emissions by the corporate sector. There is

need to establish authority at national level for achieving emission reduction

targets. It could be achieved to some extent through REDD+. The CSR funding

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could be explored under the umbrella of emission reduction to support

livelihood opportunities of forest dependent communities and ecosystem

services. Developing countries including India can obtain result base finance

through the REDD+ mechanism provide drivers of deforestation and forest

degradation are addressed, safeguards such as rights of the forest dependent

communities are taken care of, and national monitoring systems as per

UNFCCC guidelines is in place. Rules framed for the implementation of FRA

2006 are inadequate and need to be thoroughly revised in order, to formulate

additional rule to provide mechanism for sustainable harvest of MFP enhancing

income of forest dependent communities and for the recognition of CFR. The

dynamic change in forest governance form participatory approach of forest

governance (JFM) to community based forest governance will be an explicit

transformation of power across the nation. This has evolved the new term

JFM+. The plus stand for more empowered JFMCs. JFM+ will be JFM

constituted at village or hamlet level and will be represented by chairman

elected from the village or hamlet level and will be represented by chairman

assisted by the forest department of capacity building to protect and conserve

the resources by providing technical support and use of forest legislation. IN

JFM+, the JFMCs will work under the Gram Sabhas in the Panchayat Raj

Institutions. The management plan for JFM+ will incorporate both scientific

and traditional knowledge, which could be sued in resource management with

regular flow of funds. Henceforth, this would result in poverty eradication and

will support livelihood of the indigenous groups dependent on the forest land

and resources for their basic needs.