Research Theme: 2. Decarbonising Modern Societies
Project ID IT1.13
Full project title: How do CDM projects contribute to sustainable development?
Evaluating policy options for the clean development mechanism: A stakeholder multi-criteria approach
Project status: Completed
Project Duration: April 2001 to October 2003
Contact: Dr Katrina Brown
School of Development Studies
University of East Anglia
Norwich
NR4 7TJ
UK
Project overview
In the run up to the second commitment period of the UNFCCC (post-2012) it is crucial that developing countries engage in policy processes and that different options for climate change mitigation are advanced. The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) has been one of the key policy initiatives implemented to facilitate the participation of developing countries, to provide incentives and innovations for mitigation, and to transfer technology and resources necessary for 'cleaner' - i.e., less greenhouse gas intensive - development. However, there is still much uncertainty concerning the sustainability of these initiatives. Whilst CDM projects explicitly aim to bring dual benefits, in terms of climate mitigation and development in their recipient country, the development benefits are often more hypothetical than real. In fact, the idea and definition of what constitutes development itself is contested.
One of most controversial areas within the UNFCCC policy framework is the enhancement of land use and forestry related carbon sinks. A number of such projects have already been initiated as pilot jointly implemented activities. Within these projects there are clear trade-offs between carbon sequestration, local social development, economic well-being and access to resources, and other aspects of the environment. Land-use related CDM projects are being developed at a time when international interest in market-based policy mechanisms centred on environmental services is at a height. A critical evaluation of the impacts of these projects and the priorities of different stakeholders involved in their development and implementation is therefore extremely timely. Furthermore, with policy moving rapidly, if haphazardly, in the field, information to support the development of clear guidelines and criteria is also necessary. This research aims to provide such information which will help to ensure that the benefits of investments in CDM and similar projects are more equitably shared between stakeholders at local, national, regional and international levels, and that the trade-offs between social, economic and environmental criteria can be rigorously assessed.
This project has adopted a case study approach and utilised a multi-disciplinary, primarily qualitative methodology to address these issues. Preliminary research in Bolivia and Brazil was used to identify a set of key questions and criteria which were then applied to projects in Mexico and Belize.
Objectives
•To develop a framework for evaluating CDM forestry options, with special reference to local development perspectives and North-South issues;
•To explore the interests of those stakeholders involved in the development of the CDM-forestry policy framework within and across developing nations;
•To strengthen major NGO and international research institute partnerships (Centre for International Forestry Research, ProNatura Mexico and El Colegio de la Frontera Sur).
Work Undertaken
•Stakeholder analysis of local, national and international actors in forestry CDM projects in Bolivia, Brazil, Belize and Mexico.
•Development of a multi-criteria analysis model of stakeholder priorities for social development, environmental and carbon sequestration criteria. The criteria were developed through expert judgement and extensive stakeholder consultations including a workshop in the UK. Scenarios of land use sequestration projects included reduced deforestation, afforestation and forest conservation activities. The novel trade-off analysis methods, first developed by the project team in coastal management, were applied through the weighting of the carbon, social and environmental criteria by direct and secondary stakeholders.
•A series of in-depth interviews and group interviews with project participants to elucidate their experiences and perception of project and its costs and benefits.
•Analysis of the evolving institutional arrangements to support CDM and the development of markets in environmental services.
Results
1. Benefits of carbon forestry projects
Our analysis of empirical results indicates that the costs and benefits of these projects are not necessarily equitably distributed. Projects are drawn to communities where local land managers and farmers are well organised, in some cases with robust local collective action institutions. Clear property rights to land and other productive resources are necessary. Women are often marginalised from key aspects of projects. This implies that relatively well-off farmers who have private or individual property rights to forest are more likely to be beneficiaries. However even these farmers are likely to be poorly informed and receive only small increase in incomes. The emphasis of projects has shifted over time, in particular moving towards a more exclusive focus on carbon markets rather than a broader range of social and economic development oriented activities.
2. Stakeholder priorities for forest carbon project
Trade-off analysis techniques were used to assess development benefits simultaneously with other objectives, primarily those of carbon sequestration. Our investigations show that different stakeholders have different priorities in terms of carbon, environmental and development criteria. Within these criteria, different indicators are identified; for example many stakeholders put an emphasis on income generation as the key 'development' indicator, whereas other aspects such as property rights are highlighted by local stakeholders. Our research highlights the different dimensions, particularly of the development component of these projects, and reiterates the importance of local property rights to resources, and timing of investments and returns.
3. Institutions
The development of institutions to negotiate, manage and support projects such as CDM and forest carbon is evolving rapidly, but is highly problematic. Our analysis highlights the conflicts and challenges to develop effective institutions. In one respect much interest and enthusiasm has been generated about the opportunities offered by CDM and other instruments, but at the same time, government officials are sceptical about the possibility of realising real, substantial and lasting benefits. As the potential market for CDM projects is relatively small, Mexico is setting up national level institutions which will consider a wide range of environmental service markets. However, the development of new cross-sectoral institutions is often slow and difficult. Furthermore, robust cross-scale institutional frameworks are necessary to ensure that objectives for equity and sustainable development are met and that already marginalised sectors of society are not excluded. However, the ability of land use carbon projects to provide real benefits for sustainable development may ultimately be constrained by the nature of the market itself.
4. Development of the carbon economy
The examination of forestry carbon projects has wider implications for the development of market-based mechanisms for environmental services. Access to carbon markets and to their benefits depends on a variety of factors across scales, and at local level it critically depends on clear and well-defined property rights and on organisational responses. Some sectors of society depend on less formal rights to access forest resources. This is especially true of poor households and women-headed households. Access to carbon markets is thus socially differentiated in a number of ways. There are indications from Mexico that middle-income communities and producers may be favoured in setting up forest carbon markets. Global and national institutions have created carbon markets and this may involve changing property rights, often overturning long-established traditional management resource rights regimes. In the case of forest carbon projects this change may impact on local peoples' access to valuable resources, including environmental services, subsistence and marketed products. This is important for both local livelihoods and sustainable development.
Relevance to Tyndall Centre Strategy and Overall Centre Objectives
This project provides dual benefits for the Tyndall Decarbonisation Theme. First, the research confirms that market-based instruments such as the Clean Development Mechanism may be efficient in theory, but that they are limited in implementation because of the exchange relations within the market. Markets are generally not good at simultaneously meeting societal objectives along with allocation of resources and therefore markets for carbon may not readily deliver the 'development' element of the CDM. In these cases, the long term sustainability of land use projects as a decarbonisation strategy is in question and could be excluded from the Decarbonisation Scenarios being developed under Theme 2.
Second, the project provides novel development of the stakeholder-driven multi-criteria analysis methods in this area. The project adopted the 'trade-off analysis' framework previously developed in the context of coastal resources and presently guiding the work under the UK coastal vulnerability study (Tyndall Project T2.42). Thus there is synergy and convergence between methods used for decarbonisation and adaptation research across themes in Tyndall. Further, the multi-criteria results and data could ultimately be shared with Theme 2 project examining the social, technical, and environmental aspects of geological sequestration (Tyndall Project T2.21). Although geological sequestration involves a significantly different market structure and large scale infrastructure implementation, the methods and results in terms of the potentially excluded decision-makers is an important common theme.
Potential for Further Work
A number of lines of inquiry have emerged and are currently being developed by researchers on this project and in collaboration with others. These include examination of carbon sequestration in agriculture in developing countries (new PhD project), and research linking mitigation and adaptation at community level. In particular the School of Development Studies has established a critical mass of researchers researching mitigation and adaptation issues from inter-disciplinary perspectives across a range of different countries. Tyndall Project T2.42 is already developing methods of Trade-off Analysis to examine adaptation options in UK coastal communities. Esteve Corbera, the funded researcher in this project, is currently completing his PhD thesis based on the research conducted in Mexico. A series of papers and further dissemination of the research findings are planned.
Outputs and Publications
Brown, K. and Corbera, E. (2003) Exploring equity and development in the new carbon economy Climate Policy 3. Supp1:41-56.
Brown, K. (2003) Integrating conservation and development: A case of institutional misfit, Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 1.9: 479-487.
Brown, K. and Corbera, E. (2003) A Multi-Criteria Assessment Framework for Carbon Mitigation Projects: Putting development in the centre of decision-making. Tyndall Working Paper Series, number 29, March 2003.
Corbera, E., Brown, K and Adger, W.N. (2004) Trade-off Analysis in Carbon Forestry Policy and Projects: A case study from Mexico. Paper to be presented at the International Society for Ecological Economcis Conference, Montreal, Canada. July 2004. For submission to Ecological Economics.
Corbera, E., Adger, W. N. and Brown, K. (2004) The equity and legitimacy of markets for ecosystem services: Carbon forestry activities in Chiapas, Mexico. Paper to be presented at the International Association for the Study of Common Property 2004 Conference. Oaxaca, Mexico. August, 2004. For submission to World Development.
Boyd, E. (2002) The Noel Kempff project in Bolivia: gender, power and decision-making in climate mitigation. Gender and Development 10 (2): 70-77.
Boyd, E. (2004) Environmental services and social development: The realities of "win-win" solutions in Brown (ed) Adaptive institutions for conservation and development: Innovations in Amazonia. Edited book for Columbia University Press. In preparation.
PhD theses supported by this project:
Boyd, E. Forests Post-Kyoto: Global Priorities and Local Realities. University of East Anglia, submitted 2003 examined February 2004.
Corbera, E. Putting Development into Carbon Forestry: a case study from Chiapas, Mexico. University of East Anglia, Submitted September 2005, examined November 2005.
Papers and presentations of this project were given at the International Society Ecological Economics conference (2002), the European Society Ecological Economics conference (2003), and at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (2003).
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