Carbon colonialism and the new land grab: Plantation forestry in Uganda and its livelihood impacts

Lyons, Kristen; Westoby, Peter

doi:10.1016/j.jrurstud.2014.06.002

Cited by 166 publications

(92 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…Guidelines insist that A/R activities should be on degraded forest land [26], but the practice of labeling rich forest as degraded forest is widespread [75], with profoundly negative effects on social and ecological communities [28,39]. Increased deforestation beyond project boundaries is a recorded effect of forest-conversion for development.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In doing so, tree plantation developers that are able to invest in large-scale forestry can provide sustainable forest management and climate change mitigation [27]. In many cases, however, A/R projects are implemented in forested areas and follow the patterns of the global land grab crisis [5,28], in which small holders and indigenous people are violently dispossessed of their lands and livelihoods [29]. Case studies suggest that industrial forest plantations are neither more profitable [30], nor sequester more carbon than REDD+ or business as usual timber harvesting [31].…”

Section: Forest-centered Ccm: Redd+ and Forest Plantationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Forest Islands and Castaway Communities: REDD+ and Forest Restoration in Prey Lang Forest

Work

2017

Forests

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Climate Change policies are playing an ever-increasing role in global development strategies and their implementation gives rise to often-unforeseen social conflicts and environmental degradations. A landscape approach to analyzing forest-based Climate Change Mitigation policies (CCM) and land grabs in the Prey Lang Forest landscape, Cambodia revealed two Korea-Cambodia partnership projects designed to increase forest cover that are juxtaposed in this paper. Case study data revealed a REDD+ project with little negative impact or social conflict in the project area and an Afforestation/Reforestation (A/R) project that created both social and ecological conflicts. The study concludes that forest-based CCM policies can reduce conflict through efforts at minimal transformation of local livelihoods, maximal attention to the tenure rights, responsibilities, and authority of citizens, and by improving, not degrading, the project landscapes. The paper presents the circumstances under which these guidelines are sidestepped by the A/R project, and importantly reveals that dramatic forest and livelihood transformation had already affected the community and environment in the REDD+ project site. There are deep contradictions at the heart of climate change policies toward which attention must be given, lest we leave our future generations with nothing but forest islands and castaway communities.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Forest-centered Ccm: Redd+ and Forest Plantationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Forest Islands and Castaway Communities: REDD+ and Forest Restoration in Prey Lang Forest

Work

2017

Forests

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“…Literature has also emerged outlining local level impacts of the expanding carbon economy, including injustice related to land tenure and access rights, as well as local natural resource rights, with indigenous and local communities especially impacted (Lyons and Westoby 2014;Mbatu 2016;Okereke and Dooley 2010;Schroeder and McDermott 2014;Suisseya and Caplow 2013). Literature also identifies the erosion of biodiversity, the militarization of conservation and associated violence by the state (Benjaminsen and Bryceson 2012;Bottazzi et al 2013;Büscher 2013;Cavanagh et al 2015;Fairhead et al 2012;German et al 2014;Martinello 2015;White et al 2012).…”

Section: Global Carbon Marketsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reforming global carbon markets or re-imagining alternative climate solutions and sustainabilities? An analysis of selected NGO strategies in Uganda

Lyons

Westoby

Nel

2017

Journal of Political Ecology

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Carbon markets have emerged globally as a central feature in market based strategies to address the climate crisis. Global trade in carbon is based on the premise that it is possible to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions and stabilise the earth's climate, while at the same time generating new forms of capital accumulation. Amongst carbon market initiatives includes Reduction of Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) type projects, that connect peasant and subsistence farmers in the south with northern consumers and industries. These projects are expanding on the African continent, giving rise to social, economic and ecological impacts. In this article we chart the responses of social movements to carbon markets. Through a study of selected NGOs active in carbon market campaigns in Uganda, we examine the strategies and tactics of movements in responding to the expanding carbon economy. Our findings demonstrate NGOs' approaches move between, and across, reformist and rebel (or radical) change agendas. Dominant strategies are directed towards reforming carbon markets and associated forestry governance. Meanwhile, a rebel, or radical change agenda -including rejecting the language and ideology of carbon trade, alongside building autonomous local level rights based movements -emerges in the constrained spaces of both privatised green economic governance and a militarised state. Given the constrained opportunities for radical movement organising, and the frequent institutionalization and limited influence of NGOs, increasing understandings of these radical change agendas and their contributions for re-imagining alternative sustainabilities is significant for scholars, activists and practitioners alike. Key words: Carbon markets, REDD, Uganda, alternative sustainabilities RésuméLes marchés du carbone sont apparus globalement comme un élément central des stratégies basées sur le marché pour faire face à la crise climatique. Le commerce mondial du carbone repose sur le principe qu'il est possible de réduire les émissions mondiales de gaz à effet de serre et de stabiliser le climat de la terre tout en générant de nouvelles formes d'accumulation de capital. Parmi les initiatives du marché du carbone figurent les projets de réduction des émissions provenant du déboisement et de la dégradation (REDD), qui relient les paysans et les agriculteurs de subsistance du Sud aux consommateurs et aux industries du Nord. Ces projets se développent sur le continent africain, donnant lieu à des impacts sociaux, économiques et écologiques. Dans cet article, nous répertorions les résonances des mouvements sociaux sur les marchés du carbone. Grâce à une étude de certaines ONG actives dans les campagnes sur le marché du carbone en Ouganda, nous examinons leurs stratégies et leurs tactiques, et comment elles réagissent à l'expansion de l'économie du carbone. Nos résultats démontrent que les approches des ONGs se déplacent entre les 1 Dr Kristen Lyons, Associate Professor and Dr Peter Westoby, Senior Lecturer; School o...

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“…The socio-environmental justice movements demonstrate the compatibility between justice and degrowth by noting the need for rich countries to contain their ecological debts through having economic degrowth, which implies a lower social metabolism [27,119]. PES and REDD+, as designed, can be harmful instruments that can cause negative impacts to developing countries over the years [100] and still reinforce colonialism logic, i.e., when the Southern countries have their territories administered and dominated by the Northern powers, by a variation of traditional means [126,127].…”

Section: Relating Pes To Sources Of Degrowth: Highlighting the Tensionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Making Nature Valuable, Not Profitable: Are Payments for Ecosystem Services Suitable for Degrowth?

Muniz

Cruz

2015

Sustainability

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Abstract:The growth economy imposes multiple crises on humanity and the natural world. To challenge this economic growth imperative, the degrowth movement emerges as a dissident response. Although within an economic growth perspective, payments for ecosystem services (PES) have also been proposed to attenuate the negative impacts of capitalism, as a redistributive mechanism that is claimed to deliver equitable conservation and sustainability. Degrowth has notably similar concerns, although it is inclined to argue against PES traditional ideologies and practices, which lead conservation to perceive nature within economic growth and market ideologies, diminishing the relationship between humans and nature. In spite of that, PES are becoming a strong trend in environmental governance. This paper attempts to examine whether PES are, and how they could be suitable for degrowth, through the lens of its main sources. In order to integrate PES and degrowth, it could require a PES reconceptualization. Although we assert that PES are not the most appropriate instrument for conservation, we argue that maybe PES could contribute to degrowth as a transition instrument toward fostering better practices. However, it is important to elucidate how they can be used and under which circumstances they could be appropriate.

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Carbon colonialism and the new land grab: Plantation forestry in Uganda and its livelihood impacts

Cited by 166 publications

References 28 publications

Forest Islands and Castaway Communities: REDD+ and Forest Restoration in Prey Lang Forest

Forest Islands and Castaway Communities: REDD+ and Forest Restoration in Prey Lang Forest

Reforming global carbon markets or re-imagining alternative climate solutions and sustainabilities? An analysis of selected NGO strategies in Uganda

Making Nature Valuable, Not Profitable: Are Payments for Ecosystem Services Suitable for Degrowth?

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