The Social Life of Forest Carbon: Property and Politics in the Production of a New Commodity

Background

REDD+ initiatives are central to global climate change efforts, aiming to conserve forest carbon. Deforestation and degradation in developing countries contribute about 15% of global emissions. International bodies, governments, and the private sector use market mechanisms to stop forest loss and conserve carbon, creating a new commodity: forest carbon. Commodification requires privatization, valuation, and detachment from its production. This links exchange to forests, land, and labor, with benefits and risks distributed unevenly. A major concern is that new carbon rights may override existing local forest rights. States might regain control over valuable carbon-storing forests, potentially harming livelihoods through restrictions on practices like swidden.

Goals and Methods

This study examines how forest carbon is produced, focusing on the conditions, resources, and labor involved. It investigates the social and material impacts of turning forest carbon into a commodity by analyzing early-stage property relations across different land ownership systems. Specifically, the research questions whether strong customary tenure makes an area more suitable for REDD+ initiatives compared to regions with weak local tenure. It also explores how forest carbon production changes existing land and forest property relations, and if the exclusion of marginalized local groups occurs, or if strong initial local rights offer protection. The authors use case studies from Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, and Cambodia, selected to assess the influence of recognized and informal customary tenure on forest carbon and REDD-related negotiations.

Conclusions and Takeaways

REDD+ initiatives carry a real risk of excluding local populations from forests and lands, though negotiations over knowledge and property can mediate this. Forest carbon and land/forest property relations have a recursive and mutually constitutive relationship, resulting in an unstable foundation for carbon markets due to ongoing property disputes. Underlying tenure regimes influence how forest carbon markets evolve. Even strong customary tenure can be a contested basis. Where rights are weak, a “property paradox" arises: customary rights are recognized via compensation yet simultaneously removed through required behavior changes. Forest carbon production can contradictorily modify underlying property relations, with local access or exclusion dependent on actors, claims, and the interplay across scales. Power relations and knowledge are key in mediating access to forest carbon and its resources. Exclusion emerges concerning productive resources and knowledge negotiations in carbon trade, indicating risks for local property relations and livelihoods as the carbon market develops.