Promoting Self Sufficiency Through Carbon Credits From Conservation and Management of Forests

Abstract

Forests of the world sequester and conserve more carbon than all other terrestrial ecosystems and account for 90% of the annual carbon flux between the atmosphere and the Earth's land surface. Two case studies from India and Bolivia have been studied to demonstrate the complexities of carbon forestry projects to generate carbon credits and for their role in the development of local communities and environment. This paper seeks to understand what benefits are made available to local communities through existing carbon sequestration schemes under carbon markets and what incentives there are for executors to involve local people as beneficiaries or partners. It also discusses the potential harmful effects which such integration between rural poor and carbon market could cause. In the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) of the Kyoto Protocol emphasis is placed on afforestation and reforestation programs and conservation and management of existing forests are not included. Traditionally local subsistence communities are involved in forest management practices in many parts of the developing world. One prominent example is Van Panchayats (Forest Management Committees) in Uttaranchal State of India. If forest management was included in the Kyoto Protocol, many communities of developing countries engaged in forest management would potentially benefit. In the absence of a mechanism with the Kyoto Protocol, voluntary carbon market can serve a similar purpose.