Afforestation and reforestation programs in South and South East Asia under the Clean Development Mechanism: Trends and development opportunities

Afforestation and reforestation programs in South and South East Asia under the Clean Development Mechanism: Trends and development opportunities

Background

According to the authors, afforestation and restoration programs have significant potential to sequester carbon under the Clean Development Mechanism of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. However, they also point out that there are several challenges to the successful implementation of projects, and CDM-AR (Clean Development Mechanism – Afforestation and Restoration) projects could also have negative impacts on community rights, livelihoods, and the provision of ecosystem services other than climate change mitigation. This paper seeks to identify the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of CDM-AR projects in South and South East Asia as perceived by experts in UNFCCC Annex I (donor) countries and host countries where projects are implemented to identify ideal sites for these projects.

Research goals & methods

The researchers conducted a review of literature and two web-based surveys with experts from Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nepal, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam and some Annex I countries. Experts were from the public and private sectors. The eight selected countries account for approximately 77% of the forested area of South and South East Asia.

Conclusions & takeaways

The authors found that experts ranked community forestry and agroforestry as among the top types of CDM-AR projects that seemed suitable for the South and South East Asian context. Most felt that small-scale forestry projects are more likely to succeed, and that there are adequate opportunities for community participation in CDM projects. One of the top strengths of CDM-AR projects is the availability of land according to the experts that the authors interviewed. However, when asked to identify suitable land, most said they were not aware of any such land. They identified the biggest weakness of CDM-AR as the potential for conflict over land ownership. Interestingly, experts also identified an increase in local CDM-AR experts as the biggest opportunity, and possible financial leakages as the biggest threat to the successful implementation of CDM-AR projects.

Reference: 

Nijnik M, Halder P. Afforestation and reforestation projects in South and South-East Asia under the Clean Development Mechanism: Trends and development opportunities. Land Use Policy. 2013;31:504–515. doi:10.1016/j.landusepol.2012.08.014.

Affiliation: 

  • Social, Economic and Geographical Sciences Group, The James Hutton Institute, Craigiebuckler, Aberdeen AB15 8QH, United Kingdom