Fifteenth Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI) Dialogue on Forests, Governance and Climate Change

The Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI) hosted its 15th Dialogue on Forest, Governance and Climate Change, on 19 March 2014. Participants took stock of the agreement reached on REDD+ at the Warsaw Climate Change Conference, as well as international efforts to promote the establishment of forest carbon rights in forested countries. Approximately 100 participants attended the event in Washington, DC, US, with more engaging virtually through a live webcast.

At the beginning of the dialogue, Arvind Khare, Executive Director, RRI, announced RRI's release of a map of Latin America’s Pacific Rim corridor, which shows that community rights in forested areas are endangered by mining, hydrocarbon, forestry, agro-industry and hydropower projects. He said that the map will be used as one of the main planks in civil society talks in the run up to the next UNFCCC Conference of the Parties in Lima, Peru. He also announced the release of the report, “Status of Forest Carbon Rights and Implications for Communities, the Carbon Trade, and REDD+ Investments,” which surveyed 23 low- and middle-income countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America, and found no laws governing how Indigenous Peoples and local communities could profit from the carbon in forests in which they live and depend on.

During the day, speakers discussed the challenges of establishing carbon rights and their linkages with land tenure. The adequacy of safeguards, and when they should come into force, was also discussed. Speakers also noted that the REDD preparation process has introduced changes in policymaking in some countries, while others noted that, in other countries, forests rights were threatened by REDD+ and questioned whether too much is being asked from the preparation process.

At the conclusion of the day, Khare recounted the lessons he had drawn from the day's discussions: legal systems in developing countries where REDD+ is being implemented are weak and may not be equipped to handle new concepts, such as carbon credit and carbon trade; work remains to create the investor confidence needed for carbon trade to occur; in order for carbon trade to occur, it must be very clear who the seller is, who the owner is and what exactly the commodity being sold is; and UNFCCC safeguards and World Bank policies alone will not change the underlying governance conditions in developing countries affecting carbon trade, so greater investment is needed to help governments get forest governance right, to prepare communities to effectively participate in processes affecting them and to protect their rights.

Download our summary report of the dialogue in HTML and PDF format.