Transcript Greenhouse Gas Mitigation as a Tool for Sustainable Rural

Using LULUCF Carbon as a Tool
for Rural Development
Sara J. Scherr
UNFCCC/SBSTA Workshop on
Climate Change Mitigation
Bonn, Germany – June, 2004
LULUCF is Essential to
Climate Action
• LULUCF accounts for 20%+ of total global
carbon emissions (IPCC)
• In low-income countries, land use & land use
change account for most carbon emissions:
Indonesia – 75%
Cameroon – 80%
• CDM one of many instruments needed to
reverse these trends
Integrating Climate Action with
International Agreements
UNFCCC
MDGs
CCD
CBD
Ramsar
LULUCF: Restoring Carbon to
Landscapes
Above-Ground Time-Averaged and Total Soil Carbon (0-20 cm) for
ASB sites in Brazil, Cameroon and Indonesia (Tomich et al. 2002)
Invest in LULUCF to Achieve the MDGs
•
Cash income for consumption or investment
• Improve agricultural & forestry technologies
• Resources for community social investment
• Conserve wild plants/animals critical for local
consumption or farm inputs
• Rehabilitate critical ecosystem services
• Mechanism to create partnerships
Invest in LULUCF to Achieve the MEAs
Convention to Combat
Desertification
(CCD)
Convention on
Biological Diversity
(CBD)
Ramsar Convention
DESIGNING PRO-POOR PROJECTS
Ensure strong local participation
Brand projects and environmentally
and socially responsible
Enhance the profitability and
sustainability of land uses
Reduce project marketing
costs and risks
Ensure transparency in
investor-community partnerships
Select the most suitable
compensation mechanisms
Ensuring Rigorous Climate Impacts
for LULUCF
Initiatives for rigorous project design on all
criteria are already underway:
* Climate Community Biodiversity Alliance
* CINCS
* ECCM Three Conventions Partnership
Projects with co-benefits are more sustainable
POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS
1) Expand the scale of LULUCF in the CDM, for global
climate impact
2) Expand the scope of activities allowed under the CDM
3) Engage the rural development community when
structuring internal trading schemes.
4) Make LULUCF carbon strategies an integral part of
national development plans
5) Provide legal safeguards for communities and the
environment
6) Organize an international policy summit to explore
synergies between the MEAs and the MDGs
THE FOREST CLIMATE ALLIANCE
* Advocates for national policies to link action on
climate, biodiversity, and the MDGs through diverse
market instruments
* Advocates internationally to link
MEAs, UNFCCC, and the
Millennium Development Goals
* Supports institutions developing
forest C projects with low-income
producers
* Links with the Katoomba
Group’s ‘Ecosystem
Marketplace’
Scherr, S.J. and M. Inbar. 2004.
Using LULUCF Carbon as a Tool
for Rural Development: Policy
Recommendations to Link
International Action on Climate
Change, Poverty and Biodiversity.
Forest Trends. Washington, D.C.
www.forest-trends.org