Beyond carbon: Redefining forests and people in the global ecosystem services market (original) (raw)
Related papers
Payments for Ecosystem Services—the Case of Forests
Current Forestry Reports, 2016
Payments for ecosystem services (PES) is a trending topic in environmental resource management. The literature on PES has been growing almost exponentially, and practical applications of PES schemes are mushrooming all around the world. In this review article, I present the existing definitions of PES, the factors to consider during the design and implementation stages of PES programs, as well as discuss the recent theoretical debates related to PES in the literature-specifically those related to commodification and legitimacy of PES, its behavioral implications as well as the issues of power and equity. Despite a wealth of accumulated knowledge in the theoretical and experimental fields related to PES, there is still a considerable lack of empirical studies assessing the practical implementation of PES in the field. Only a few schemes are actually systematically assessed, and there is still a lack of a unified comprehensive framework for the thorough evaluation of existing practical experiences. I outline some of the future research challenges that need to be tackled in order to gain a better understanding of the opportunities that the PES mechanism offers to environmental policy makers and other interested stakeholders. Keywords Payments for environmental services. Environmental governance. Economic incentives 1 The acronym PES is used in the literature to refer both to payments for "ecosystem services"-that is, emphasizing the enhancement of "nature" services, and for "environmental services"-that is, including amenities provided by the "built" or "actively managed" environment [136]. While there are compelling arguments to prefer one term over the other [25••, 41••], in this paper, I use these two terms interchangeably.
Seeing REDD: Reducing Emissions and Conserving Biodiversity by Avoiding Deforestation
Journal of Sustainable Forestry, 2012
Protection of existing forests through Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD)—a system of providing incentives for reduced deforestation—has the potential to deliver both climate change mitigation and biodiversity conservation benefits. This article explores how these complementary environmental goals can be supported by international payments for ecosystem services (IPES) via the emerging global carbon market. REDD, through an IPES framework, offers an opportunity to “bundle” payments for reduced emissions with payments for biodiversity conservation in order to allow for cost-sharing between the multiple beneficiaries of REDD. The article outlines two potential cost-sharing arrangements between carbon investors financing reduced emissions and the beneficiaries of biodiversity conservation provided by REDD. One scheme combines finances from general biodiversity beneficiaries as a whole with carbon investments in REDD through a global “fund”; a second scheme matches payments from specific biodiversity beneficiaries with investments in REDD through a payment “partnership” between both groups. Each scheme falls on either end of a spectrum of opportunities for bundling payments for different environmental benefits into one investment in REDD. The discussion is intended to incite further dialogue on potential systems for implementing the emerging concept of bundling payments for ecosystem services.
2011
PES Learning Papers draw on the World Bank's extensive experience in supporting programs of Payments for Environmental Services (PES). They are part of a larger effort by the World Bank to provide open access to its research and make a contribution to development policy discussions around the world. The PES Learning Paper series disseminates the findings of work in progress to encourage the exchange of ideas about PES. An objective of the series is to get the findings out quickly, even if the presentations are less than fully polished. The papers carry the names of the authors and should be cited accordingly. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this paper are entirely those of the authors. They do not necessarily represent the views of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/World Bank and its affiliated organizations, or those of the Executive Directors of the World Bank or the governments they represent. The boundaries, colors, denominations, and other information shown on any map in this work do not imply any judgment on the part of The World Bank concerning the legal status of any territory or the endorsement or acceptance of such boundaries.
CABI Reviews, 2010
This review analyses the major themes extant across 199 research articles published in various peer-reviewed forestry and economics journals between January 2002 and June 2009 on the topic of forest-related environmental markets. The reviewed articles are categorized according to four areas of research: forest stewardship and sustainable supply chain certification; renewable energy generation from woody biomass; forest-based greenhouse gas emissions offsets and carbon markets; and ecosystem services from forests. Two key research questions are identified for future research: (1) how can certification schemes be used to promote ecologically and socially sustainable bioenergy generation from forest-related feed stocks and (2) how can certification schemes be used to promote ecologically and socially sustainable afforestation-based greenhouse gas emissions offsets that offer broader social and ecosystem benefits on appropriate regional scales?
Combining responsible forest management (RFM) experiences with literature reviews and stakeholder discussions allows an assessment of the potential role of RFM in reduced emissions from deforestation and forest degradation and conservation, sustainable forest management and enhancement of carbon stocks (REDD+). RFM contributes to greater carbon storage and biodiversity in forest biomass in comparison to conventional logging and deforestation. Using an adjusted von Thünen model to explain land user behavior in relation to different variables, considering a general forest transition curve and looking at a potential relation between governance and deforestation rates, the authors conclude that reduction of deforestation and forest degradation can only be achieved by a combined approach of increasing forest rent relative to other land uses and reducing transaction costs for forest management and conservation. More than providing an additional income for a privileged few, REDD+ will need to address the barriers that have been identified in RFM over the past 30 years of investment in forest management and conservation. Most of these are of an institutional nature, but also culture and social organization as well as locally specific development trends play a significant role in increasing the potential for application of RFM and REDD+.
2014
This article describes and proposes the ''environmental subsidiarity principle'' as a guiding ethical value in forestry governance. Different trends in environmental management such as local participation, decentralization or global governance have emerged in the last two decades at the global, national and local level. This article suggests that the conscious or unconscious application of subsidiarity has been the ruling principle that has allocated the level at which tasks have been assigned to different agents. Based on this hypothesis this paper describes the principle of subsidiarity and its application to environmental policies within forest governance and proposes the ''environmental subsidiarity'' principle as a critical conceptual tool for sustainable resource management. The paper explains as an example how ''environmental subsidiarity'' is the key principle that can link payment for ecosystem services (PES) with environmental public policies and applies this principle with all its political consequences to reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, and enhancing forest carbon stocks in developing countries (REDD?) architecture. It concludes by showing how the adoption of ''environmental subsidiarity'' as a ethical principle could help to maximize benefits to all stakeholders involved in PES schemes such as REDD?.
2016
Through the commodification of nature, the framing of the environment as a 'natural resource' or 'ecosystem service' has become increasingly prominent in international environmental governance. The economic capture approach is promoted by international organizations such as the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) through Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD), Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) and The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB). This paper will inquire as to how forest protection is related to issues of social and ecological justice, exploring whether forest exploitation based on the top-down managerial model fosters an unequitable distribution of resources. Both top-down and community-based approaches to forest protection will be critically examined and a more inclusive ethical framework to forest protection will be offered. The findings of this examination indicate the need for a renewed focus on existing examples of good practice in addressing both social and ecological need, as well as the necessity to address the less comfortable problem of where compromise appears less possible. The conclusion argues for the need to consider ecological justice as an important aspect of more socially orientated environmental justice for forest protection.