Participatory Approaches To Forest Carbon Projects Phase I: Methods Development

Country	India
Partner Organization:	Indian Ministry of Environment & Forests (MOEF) Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science (CES) Indian Institute of Forest Management (IIFM) Madhya Pradesh Forest Department
Funding Source:	USDA Forest Service-Office of International Programs USAID-Global Bureau
Timeframe:	March 2000 - June 2001
Contact Person(s):	Dr. Mark Poffenberger	Dr. N.H. Ravindranath	Dr. V.K. Bahuguna
Address:	5266 Hollister Avenue Bldg. B Suite #237 Santa Barbara, CA 93111 USA	Centre for Ecological Sciences Indian Institute of Science Bangalore 560 012 India	MOEF CGO Complex Paryauxuan Bhawan Delhi 110003 India
Telephone:	(805) 696-9087	91-80-360 1455	91-11-3782417
Fax:	(805) 696-9097	91-80-360 1428
Email:	mpoffen@aol.com	ravi@ces.iisc.ernet.in	bahugunaifs@yahoo.com

The Clean Development Mechanism and Village-Based Forest Restoration in Central India: A Case Study from Harda Forest Division, Madhya Pradesh, India

Problems Downloading?
Click here for help.

PROJECT PROPOSAL

Community Forestry International, Inc. (CFI) proposes to work with the government of India's Ministry of Environment and Forests (MOEF), the Indian Institute of Forest Management (IIFM), and the Indian Institute of Science (IIS) to conduct an exploratory study of new financing mechanisms for communities participating in Joint Forest Management (JFM) in India. This first phase proposal would examine systems that could compensate communities for carbon sequestration and storage resulting from forest regeneration. The project is designed to facilitate a dialogue among senior Indian planners, scientists, and NGO leaders to collaboratively develop a new paradigm for the sustainable financing of JFM strategies. During Phase One, the project team would:

Findings from this collaborative policy study would be presented to the Government of India and to international bodies engaged in designing new mechanisms to support and finance carbon sequestration and storage. A national workshop on forest financing would be held in India at the conclusion of the study to highlight the findings. The results would also be presented at the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a UN sponsored international process.

PROJECT OBJECTIVES

The study will generate estimates of the volume of carbon currently being sequestered and stored by community forest managers. The project will also design preliminary frameworks for monitoring carbon storage related environmental services, mechanisms for transferring carbon credits to community-based forest management groups, as well as recommendations for investments that are likely to enhance conservation behavior.

CONTEXT

The deterioration of India's natural forests has lead to a decline in environmental service functions at local, national, and global levels. The removal of trees from the land and the loss of surface soils rich in humus has resulted in the release of carbon into the atmosphere contributing to green house gases and accelerating global warming.

The nationalization of much of India's forestland in the latter part of the 19th century initiated a process of alienation of forest dependent communities from the management of designated public lands. Over the past one hundred years, combined pressures from industrial utilization and subsistence use by expanding rural populations lead to a steady depletion of natural forest ecosystems across much of the sub-continent. In India, approximately 23 percent of the land area is under the jurisdiction of state forest departments, however only 5 to 10 percent of India's territory still possesses good forest vegetation. By the early 1990s, an estimated 67 million hectares were classified as degraded wastelands.

Concerned over the loss and deterioration of local forests, a growing number of rural communities in eastern India began forming forest protection groups in the 1980's. This grassroots environmental movement began informally, aided only by local NGOs and forestry field staff. Recognizing the value of these community initiatives, in 1990 the Government of India passed a formal notification encouraging forest protection committees to extend their work. Virtually every state in India passed JFM resolutions in the following five years.

In some states, community forest protection became a massive peoples' movement covering much of the natural forests in Orissa, southwest Bengal, and southern Bihar. By 1999, an estimated 30,000 villages across India possessed active forest groups controlling access to between four to eight million hectares of degraded natural forest. Once under community stewardship, with self-imposed moratoria on cutting and grazing, resilient Indian forest ecosystems began regenerating. Sal and teak forests on the verge of total elimination began sending up shoots from their remaining root stock at a rate of one to two meters each year. Within four or five years, closed canopy stands of saplings began covering the landscape. The restoration of forest cover in many districts in eastern India is clearly visible in changes apparent in satellite images for the period 1980 to 1999. On the ground, the impact on environmental service delivery at local levels has been correspondingly dramatic.

The carbon sequestration value of community-based forest protection is substantial. One study reported that carbon levels of 3 to 5 metric tons per hectare in scrubland can rise to 60 to 90 metric tons per hectare in regenerating forests after 25 years of protection. Other researchers estimate that annual carbon increments may range from 3.9 to 8.5 metric tons of carbon per hectare in fallowed swidden sites. If these figures are comparable under Indian conditions, joint forest management initiatives may already capture 20 to 40 million tons of carbon annually. Currently, the environmental services provided to offset greenhouse gas emissions are not formally calculated nor are any compensation mechanisms operating. In fact, the community forest management systems in India are poorly and erratically funded at present. At the present time, only 5 percent of India's forest lands are managed by communities, providing tremendous opportunities for extending this successful strategy, given the needed support.

Although the European Union (EU), the World Bank, DFID, NORAD, SIDA, the ADB, and many other agencies have invested hundreds of millions of dollars to support JFM initiatives, these initiatives are not designed to provide long term support to the forestry sector. Loans to state forest departments are erratic, carry heavy conditionalities, and often exacerbate corruption. It is estimated that only twenty to forty percent of social forestry funds actually reach target groups. Project financing creates distortions in field programs, with some districts and communities receiving substantial benefits while others are entirely by-passed. Forest departments may be overwhelmed with substantial funds for a five-year project period, only to have the budgets drastically cut when the project ends.

Due to the nature of foreign assistance loans, economic justification for investments in the forestry sector are often based on calculating returns from timber sales, rather than the valuation of environmental services and subsistence goods. Loan funded forestry projects often require felling and other activities that are at odds with environmental goals including carbon sequestration and storage. Multi-lateral and bi-lateral projects often support older forest department management paradigms that assume industrial timber harvesting will be the primary outcome. Asia Forest Network case studies from South and Southeast Asia have documented that donor financed social forestry projects emphasizing commercial timber extraction were frequently incompatible with the management goals of community groups engaged in forest protection.

While it is not surprising that conflicts exist within the forestry sector as management systems are decentralized and devolved to community groups, it is important that field research and policy discussions give priority to developing financing modalities consistent with new directions in forest management. Creating methods for financing JFM based on environmental service functions provided and subsistence goods delivered provides new opportunities to fund local efforts in ways consistent with the management goals of community stewards. Credits directed towards communities for carbon sequestration could provide an important component for new systems for financing community based forest management. This exploratory study seeks to develop methods for operationalizing such a financing mechanism.

PROJECT EXECUTION

Study Components

There are four major components to the proposed study. Each aspect of the study will be addressed independently, though linkages between the four areas will be developed during the course of the program.

Estimating Carbon Storage and Sequestration Values

This component of the study would seek to generate estimates regarding the level of carbon being sequestered and stored in India in regenerating forests under the protection of rural communities. Carbon sequestration rates would be calculated for different forest types, based on data from India and other parts of the world. Special attention would be give to sal (Shorea robusta), teak (Tectona grandis), and thorn forest environments. A classification matrix would be developed to reflect differences in carbon sequestration rates based on vegetative conditions and forest succession age classes. The development of the calculation framework would be guided by the findings of a JFM research network project of community protected forest regeneration rates in 20 sites across India. Assessments of rates of carbon capture and storage in Southeast Asia and other related contexts would allow researchers to check the reliability of project estimates for India.

The MOEF and most of the 20 state forest departments in India collect information regarding the amount of degraded forestlands under community forest protection groups. State forest department records would be used to calculate the number and area under JFM communities. It will be important, however, to clearly define the criteria that identify communities contributing to carbon sequestration. Joint Forest Management groups recognized by many state forest departments often exclude informal community forest management groups that do not conform to JFM resolutions. All groups that provide carbon related environmental services will need to be included in the national carbon credit transfer system. Forest department data would be cross-checked through NGO networks and field site visits to develop comprehensive inventories of all community-based forest management groups and to assess the effectiveness of community forest protection on regeneration. Such a data base would generate state and national level figures concerning the number of forest protection groups, and the forest territory currently regenerating under village protection.

Monitoring, Verifying, and Reporting

Mechanisms to transfer financial support to community resource managers for sustaining and improving environmental services will likely require a transparent system for monitoring, verifying, and reporting. Existing data will need to be utilized where possible. Appropriate variables would be identified by the research team, as well as sampling methods for assessing field conditions, analysis procedures, and channels for communicating findings on a regular basis to monitoring centers. This exploratory study would initiate a process to develop such an information system. Given the tens of thousands of communities involved and the vast areas covered, the approach would rely on assessing changes across uniform blocks of landscape with sample measurement sites. Remote sensing data would be used to verify field level findings.

Identifying Effective Investment Options

Over the past decade, hundreds of millions of dollars have been invested in JFM support projects. Government, NGO, and donor-financed activities have included policy assessments, training and capacity building, institutional change efforts, as well as a broad menu of technical support and financial assistance to community forest management groups. The research team would assess potential investments that create incentives for communities to sustainably manage natural forests in order to improve environmental service delivery need to be identified. The study would review information on the effectiveness of past JFM support strategies documented in project reports and assessments. The research team would also visit field sites in India to meet with selected village groups to elicit their views regarding the effectiveness of past project support in support forest protection activities. Through reviewing past JFM experience we will identify mechanisms and activities that have proven to be cost effective and directly contributed to accelerating carbon capture and ensuring long term carbon storage. These findings will provide a basis for our policy recommendations.

Developing Transfer Mechanisms

Ensuring that credit transfers to community forest management groups reach their target audience in an efficient and timely manner is an important component of any financing mechanism. A variety of transfer mechanisms have been used in the past to oversee the distribution of project resources to participating communities. These include state forest departments, local panchayats, NGOs, and others. Funds transferred to communities have sometimes been allocated directly to member households. In other cases, they are managed by FPCs in conjunction with the local forester in a trust account. In the case of some World Bank projects, funds have largely comprised money for paying labor involved in silvicultural treatments though, in other cases, block grants have been made for resource development activities. To be successful, transfer mechanisms will need to insure that funds accruing to JFM groups are made accessible directly to those members with minimal overhead costs and that the benefits equitably benefit all members of the community or management group including women and ethnic minorities. Community directed carbon credits will need to be administered through transparent mechanisms that minimize corruption.

This component of the project would review experiences with different resource transfer arrangements to identify advantages and disadvantages of different approaches in terms of costs, efficiency, loci of control, transparency, and accountability. Special attention will need to be given to the growing role of the panchayat as a vehicle for local governance, while recognizing the important role that informal hamlet groups play in forest management. The project will suggest mechanisms that may work best in specific contexts.

Policy Dialogues

The project would target a number of policy dialogues to disseminate its findings. These would include the following:

India: The report would be presented to the Indian Planning Commission and the MOEF. Discussion of the implications of the report for financing JFM would be a topic of discussion for the national Working Group on JFM. The findings would also be presented to the India office of the Global Environmental Facility (GEF) as an approach to channeling funds to grassroots organization. Finally, the report would be shared with the Indian Business Council to explore the role of the private sector in sustaining critical environmental services.

International: Findings from the report would be disseminated through several ongoing international climate change and forest management policy processes such as the IPCC. Interactions with staff working on the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) would seek to adapt recommendations to fit with newly evolving international strategies to provide carbon offset credits. CFI would also work with CIFOR, ICRAF, and other international organizations that seek to develop models for transferring carbon credits to community forest managers. The project would attempt to build collaborative alliances with similar initiatives so that joint presentations could be arranged during meetings of international policy makers.

PROJECT OUTPUTS

The primary product of this phase of the project would be a feasibility study concerning a new approach to finance JFM in India through compensating communities for carbon sequestered and stored in village protected forests. The project would generate a final report that would target a number of audiences including national planners, the Indian private sector, development agencies, and global climate change fora. The final report would be published and disseminated at the close of the project and would include the following information:

PARTICIPATORY APPROACHES TO FOREST CARBON PROJECTS PHASE I: METHODS DEVELOPMENT