The Carbon Fix: Forest Carbon, Social Justice, and Environmental Governance

Description

Given the growing urgency to develop global responses to a changing climate, The Carbon Fix examines the social and equity dimensions of putting the world’s forests―and, necessarily, the rural people who manage and depend on them―at the center of climate policy efforts such as REDD+, intended to slow global warming. The book assesses the implications of international policy approaches that focus on forests as carbon and especially, forest carbon offsets, for rights, justice, and climate governance. Contributions from leading anthropologists and geographers analyze a growing trend towards market principles and financialization of nature in environmental governance, placing it into conceptual, critical, and historical context. The book then challenges perceptions of forest carbon initiatives through in-depth, field-based case studies assessing projects, policies, and procedures at various scales, from informed consent to international carbon auditing. While providing a mixed assessment of the potential for forest carbon initiatives to balance carbon with social goals, the authors present compelling evidence for the complexities of the carbon offset enterprise, fraught with competing interests and interpretations at multiple scales, and having unanticipated and often deleterious effects on the resources and rights of the world’s poorest peoples―especially indigenous and rural peoples. The Carbon Fix provides nuanced insights into political, economic, and ethical issues associated with climate change policy. Its case approach and fresh perspective are critical to environmental professionals, development planners, and project managers; and to students in upper level undergraduate and graduate courses in environmental anthropology and geography, environmental and policy studies, international development, and indigenous studies. Cover Title Copyright CONTENTS List of Figures List of Tables Acknowledgements Contributors Foreword: The Carbon Offsetting Dilemma List of Acronyms Introduction: Carbon Offset Markets and Social Equity: Trading in Forests to Save the Planet SECTION I Framing the Carbon Regime in the Context of Global Trends 1 A Genealogy of Exchangeable Nature 2 Profits and Promises: Can Carbon Trading Save Forests and Aid Development? 3 Forest Carbon Sinks Prior to REDD: A Brief History of Their Role in the Clean Development Mechanism 4 Justice and Equity in Carbon Offset Governance: Debates and Dilemmas SECTION II Accounting and Accountability 5 The Limitations of International Auditing: The Case of the Norway-Guyana REDD+ Agreement 6 Corporate Carbon Footprinting as Techno-political Practice 7 Regulating Fairness in the Design of California’s Cap-and-Trade Market SECTION III National and Subnational Framings 8 Carbon, Carbon Everywhere: How Climate Change Is Transforming Conservation in Costa Rica 9 Customary Landowners, Logging Companies and Conservationists in a Decentralized State: The Case of REDD+ and PES in Papua New Guinea 10 Interrogating Public Debates over Jurisdictional REDD+ in California’s Global Warming Solutions Act: Implications for Social Equity 11 Doing REDD+ Work in Vietnam: Will the New Carbon Focus Bring Equity to Forest Management? SECTION IV REDD, Rights, and Equity 12 Renegotiating REDD: Beyond Social Safeguards to Social Contracts 13 A Win-Win Scenario? The Prospects for Indigenous Peoples in Carbon Sequestration: REDD Projects in Brazil 14 Equity Concerns during REDD+ Planning and Early Implementation: A Case from Malawi 15 Lessons from Community Forestry for REDD+ Social Soundness SECTION V Alternative Configurations of Community and Governance 16 Empowering Forest Dependent Communities: The Role of REDD+ and PES Projects 17 Climate Mitigation Based in Adaptation: El Salvador’s Restoration of Mangrove Ecosystems, 2011–2013 18 A Critical Reflection on Social Equity in Ugandan Carbon Forestry Index