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This issue of cc
.alps-compact presents an overview of spatial planning-related measures in the Alps to ameliorate the effects of climate change and promote adjustments to it. The second chapter explains CIPRA‘s key concerns: If spatial planning is to play a key role in climate protection, a number of things have to change, because in the case of conflicts of goals regarding the interests of individual sectors, special interests and of utilisation rationales, spatial planning is usually relegated to the backseat. Spatial planning and its instruments may contribute to securing swamps, forests and river zones as well as areas for the production of renewable energy sources. What is decisive, though, for spatial planning decisions with respect to spatial and settlement structures is to shift decision-making from the local to the regional level. Apart from the classic instruments of spatial planning, what is needed for negotiating spatial interests are new forms and models of collaboration.
In Chapter Three the detailed relations are analysed and described in depth, and in Chapter Four the author summarises the most important findings and conclusions. Chapter Five presents exemplary projects for climate-friendly spatial planning measures in the Alps: for example, the spatial concept of Switzerland that contains elements to encourage transport-reducing settlement structures; the new guidelines for residential construction in Austria; intercommunal cooperation models for plant establishments, and the “Projet Village 2003-2013” in the French municipality of Les Gets. These examples show us how it can be done and encourage others to do the same. Chapter Six contains literature and background information for further reading
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Franks, P.; Blomley, T.; Namara, A.; McNeilage, A.; Rainer, H.; Donaldson, A.; Malpas, R.; Olupot, W.; Baker, J.; Sandbrook, C.; Bitariho, R.; Infield, M.
Bwindi Impenetrable National Park and Mgahinga Gorilla National Park are two afromontane forests considered as extremely important biodiversity areas, with global significance, due to their population of highly endangered Mountain Gorilla
. Threats to the two parks include uncontrolled exploitation of forest resources as well as fire damage and the indirect pressures of demand for land. In response to these threats, a range of “integrated conservation and development” strategies have been applied in and around Bwindi and Mgahinga.
This report summarises the findings of a study which tested the effectiveness of these strategies in reconciling biodiversity conservation and socio-economic development interests. It confirms the validity of the assumption that linking local people to a resource and helping generate a steady stream of benefits increases willingness to manage and protect that resource, over the long term but notes inconclusive evidence that providing alternative livelihoods is an effective conservation strategy.
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Forest loss, primarily tropical deforestation and forest degradation, accounts for approximately 17 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions
. Reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD) in developing countries is thus an important component of a viable global climate policy framework, and has captured international attention as a potentially effective and low-cost climate change mitigation option. As further detailed below, this report focuses on national and sub-national aspects of REDD activities, with a particular focus on the role of performance-based payments for avoided deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries.
In December 2007, during the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) COP 13, Norway’s Prime Minister launched ‘Norway’s International Climate and Forest Initiative (N-CFI)’ with funding of up to NOK 3 billion (currently about US$430 millon) a year. To help inform the design and implementation of programmes supported by the Norwegian Climate Forest Initiative, the Norwegian Royal Ministry of Foreign Affairs commissioned IIED, CIFOR, and WRI to carry out a joint study that would review lessons for REDD from:
- experience with payment for ecosystem services (PES) approaches in Africa, south-east Asia and Latin America; and
- selected cross-cutting technical issues relevant for REDD including, inter alia, baseline setting, monitoring of forest emissions and equity and cost aspects.
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This book is the first product of the Collaborative Partnership on Forests' Global Forest Expert Panels (GFEP) initiative
. GFEP is a new mechanism for providing objective and independent scientifc assessments of key forest-related issues to support international processes and decision-making at the global level. It is led and coordinated by the International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO).
Policy makers recommended making adaptation of forests to climate change the subject of the first scientific assessment. Accordingly, an Expert Panel on Adaptation of Forests to Climate Change was formed by the GFEP Steering Committee in late 2007 to carry out this assessment. This Expert Panel consists of 35 scientists and experts from different forest-related disciplines and different parts of the world. About the same number of scientists contributed to the assessment as reviewers. The results of their voluntary collaboration between February 2008 and February 2009 are presented in the eight chapters of this book. The chapters have been prepared by Coordinating Lead Authors with teams of Lead Authors and Contributing Authors. They are based on a common conceptual framework and follow a logical sequence, though the chapters can be read independently from each other.
Based on the main findings of the assessment, a policy brief titled "Making forests ft for climate change - A global view of climate-change impacts on forests and people and options for adaptation" has been prepared especially for policy and decision makers.
Given the wide scope of the topic adaptation and the very limited time available for the assessment, this book cannot cover every issue related to the adaptation of forests and people to climate change. The assessment also reveals that there are still major gaps in knowledge about the impacts of climate change on forests and people and about how adaptation actions can best be tailored to local conditions. Nevertheless, it is hoped that this book will contribute to the discussion on and development of effective adaptation strategies while at the same time providing a robust basis for further research on the adaptation of forests and people to climate change
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This report explores whether there is a business case for high-biodiversity REDD projects and schemes and how such a business case could be created or promoted
. It was commissioned by the Secretariat of the CBD as part of its efforts to support Parties efforts to address reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries.
From the analysis, it is clear that significant potential exists to link the biodiversity conservation and climate change mitigation agendas with current and forthcoming REDD markets and schemes. However, the current business case seems often limited to niche markets and voluntary initiatives.The report however, discusses a range of approaches given below, which could be developed to create a business case for high-biodiversity REDD.
- Voluntary markets do provide a strong commercial incentive to invest in and buy credits from projects with specific biodiversity and social benefit. This is because of the reputational and CSR benefits for corporate buyers that are associated with being perceived as promoting biodiversity conservation and sustainable development. Voluntary markets are however of relatively small size;
- Minimum standards or safeguards could be integrated in an international REDD agreement to limit eligible activities at least to those that prevent negative biodiversity impacts. This could be coupled with reporting and monitoring requirements, and voluntary national-level biodiversity quality standards;
- Non-carbon benefits of forest conservation could be rewarded through broader payment for ecosystem service (PES) schemes;
- Developed countries could adopt ambitious emission targets to create strong demand for carbon credits and at the same time allow the use of REDD credits towards meeting these targets;
- Host countries need to acquire the capacity and create the governance framework to both implement national-level REDD policies and to enable and to promote sub-national and non-governmental REDD activities. This includes reducing corruption and inefficiencies in the forestry and land-use sectors and creating the institutional capacity to create effective incentives on the ground.
The report concludes that fundamentally, creating a strong business case for REDD will be the best and most certain way of creating a business case for high-biodiversity REDD
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This report presents a rapid assessment of current carbon capture and storage through a green economy lens, outlining the potential in terms of natural systems
. The report underlines a far greater potential across a wider suite of natural systems. Indeed, it is a potential to not only combat climate change and climate-proof vulnerable economies, but to accelerate sustainable development and the achievement of the poverty-related Millennium Development Goals.
The report indicates that vigorous efforts are needed to reverse the current trend of greenhouse gas emission. However, it thinks that doing so will be impossible without addressing carbon losses from ecosystems such as forests and peat-lands. The report states that a challenging but achievable goal is to make agriculture carbon neutral by 2030. Currently, this natural fix is the only feasible option for removing carbon from the atmosphere at large.
The key messages from this report are:
- while forests, agriculture and peat-land have been highlighted as urgent priorities, the role of other ecosystems is also important and needs to be taken into account;
- an effective policy will need to achieve a balance between rural livelihoods and carbon management policies that may threaten those livelihoods;
- the agricultural sector could be broadly carbon neutral by 2030 if best management practices were widely adopted;
- it is essential that climate mitigation policy is guided by the best available science concerning ecosystem carbon, and decisions should be informed by the overall costs and benefits of carbon management;
- dry lands, in particular, offer opportunities for combining carbon management and land restoration.
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Funds generated through community forestry offer crucial and significant resources for rural in Nepal
. This study examines forestry funds in 100 communities in three districts to assess how large they are and how they are utilized. The study finds that the income from community funds increases local development resources by about 25 percent. This income is invested in schools, temples, roads, and water reservoirs, which bodes well for rural development. However, there are some critical problems with the 'pro-poor programme’, an effort to reduce poverty through the resources generated from community forestry. The study finds that timber is subsidized and the subsidies accrue mainly to the non-poor. Furthermore, income spent on loans tends to favor the non-poor. Overall some 74 percent of the benefits of community forestry funds accrue to the non-poor while 26 percent accrue to the poor in rural communities in Nepal.
The study concludes that two actions may increase the benefits accruing to the poor: a) allowing all households to have an equal share in timber that is harvested; and b) increasing the participation of poor and less advantaged members in the executive committees that manage forestry funds
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There has in recent years been a growing recognition of the important role played by environmental goods and services in the livelihoods of poor people
. This short paper discusses methodological issues related to determination of environmental income. It then focuses on the significance of such income for the rural poor, before outlining some future challenges in the investigation of these relationships.
The paper illuminates the strengths and weaknesses of different approaches, and examines the role that forest environmental income may play in the lives of poor people and in policy making around poverty issues. The authors highlight that dynamic studies, employing time series, are few and far between. Such studies are needed in order to thrash out more specifically the functions that forest resources fulfill in the lives of different groups and individuals through time. This would also show how environmental income interacts with changing economies, legal frameworks, and ecosystems. Additional points raised include: - because forest environmental incomes are particularly important for poor people, deprivation of access to forest resources may have serious impacts on rural livelihoods, both in terms of consumption and cash income generation;
- in the short term, access to key resources may be under threat from conservation interests; in the longer term, use may be threatened by unsustainable extraction and resource destruction;
- in most poverty assessments, forest environmental incomes are either omitted or underreported. By focusing on the key resources of food, fuel, and fodder, this problem could be greatly reduced with a minimum of additional effort.
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This summary report is an output of a larger national study conducted by SVBC in Viet Nam (similar studies have been conducted in other SVBC project countries)
. The study aimed to: (i) identify policy, legal, institutional and economic obstacles to sustainable and equitable forest management at the local level; and (ii) make recommendations for future SVBC activities.
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Research into the present-day forest issues in NWFP has always recognised the importance of the historical past
. Even today, people recall the period under the Walis as a golden age and suggest that forest-related rules be made as during the time of the Walis. However, very little was known about the details of forestry in the areas that comprised the princely State of Swat, and Kalam – both before and during the period of the Princely State of Swat. This was the point of departure for this study on the subject. Therefore, the author researched in detail the period from the sixteenth century up to 1947 and gave an overview of the period from 1947-1969. This study was published by the Swiss National Centre of Competence in Research North-South (NCCR N-S) as IP 6 Working Paper No. 6, in 2005.
As the historical dimension is crucial to the understanding of present-day forestry, a study of forestry issues in the areas of Swat State, and Kalam from 1947 up to the present day was urgently required as well, hence the present Follow-up Study. The objective of the present Follow-up Study is to cover in detail the Walis period from 1947 till 1969 and also the post-State period; and to show how forests have been managed and used in the Swat State areas and Kalam during the period 1947-2005.
This includes more precisely the following points:
- How are the forests used in the study area and for what?
- What kind of rules and regulations did the Walis impose during the period 1947-1969?
- Were these rules and regulations followed in actual practice?
- What was the relationship between the Walis’ rules and regulations regarding forests and the traditional rules and regulations (riwaj)?
- What was the relationship between the Wali and the new Pakistan administration, especially the Forest Department?
- How was the forest service in Swat State organised? How were the rules and regulations enforced?
- How did procedures change after the merger of Swat State?
- What were the consequences of the merger of Swat State on forestry in the study area?
- How did the Pakistan State adjust the rules and regulations to the new situation?
- What are the links between the introduction of Sharia laws in 1990s in the study area and forestry?
- What is the legal situation of forestry today in the study area?
The present study covers the area of the former Swat State, and Kalam which was directly controlled by the Walis from 14-15 August 1947 until 12 February 1954; and from 12 February 1954 onwards by the Last Wali, as Administrator on behalf of the Government of Pakistan
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