Climate Change and Development Update
August 27, 2014
There's a lively debate underway about the closely related issues of land tenure systems, indigenous peoples, and forest protection—a debate made increasingly important by the growing recognition that protection of the world's remaining tropical forests will be crucial to global efforts to avoid runaway climate change.
Here are some highlights from CGD’s Tropical Forests for Climate and Development initiative.
- How REDD+ Empowered Indigenous Peoples In Indonesia: CGD senior fellow Frances Seymour describes how REDD+, the results-based program to reduce deforestation and forest degradation, has boosted the visibility of indigenous peoples in Indonesia. In a related Wonkcast , Seymour and Mina Setra, a leader of Indonesia’s AMAN (the Alliance of Indigenous Peoples of the Archipelago) discuss the issue. Setra says: “when the international community started talking about forests and REDD+, then we had the opportunity to show that we do exist.”
- What really stops deforestation? CGD research fellow Jonah Busch takes a close look at a new report from the World Resources Institute and the Rights and Resources Initiative on the relationship between community forest rights and climate change. Drawing on his recent meta-analysis of what drives deforestation and what stops it with Kalifi Ferretti-Gallon, Busch gently raises some tough questions about the WRI report’s take away messages. There is indeed evidence that control by indigenous peoples reduces deforestation, he writes. But when it comes to control by other local communities, he argues that the evidence tells a different story. And a recent article (note: gated) in the Economist that cites the Busch and Ferretti-Gallon paper notes that increasing incomes of forest groups and improving land tenure can have mixed results on forest clearing. In the same article CGD’s Frances Seymour notes that voices calling for protection of the Amazon (including those of indigenous groups) have grown loud enough that the government has had to take heed, which has strengthened government-led efforts to reduce forest clearing.
- On oil, forests and indigenous peoples in Ecuador: I recently visited Ecuador to see firsthand how the government is trying to tap the oil wealth beneath the Amazonian rainforest while minimizing the impact on forests, the indigenous people who live there, and biodiversity. I discuss these challenges (as well as the country’s ongoing dispute with Chevron over oil spills in the jungle, and the rich world’s failure to take Ecuador up on an offer to forego exploitation of the oil) in a recent blog post: Between a Rainforest and a Hardplace.
These are tough issues, often with no easy answers. I'm convinced that rigorous research and a lively exchange of ideas can help.
Best,
Michele de Nevers