How community forest management performs when REDD+ payments fail

Abstract

The Reduced Emissions in Deforestation and Degradation (REDD+) initiative uses payments for ecosystem services as incentives for developing countries to manage and protect their forests. REDD+ initiatives also prioritize social (and environmental) co-benefits aimed at improving the livelihoods of communities that are dependent on forests. Despite the incorporation of co-benefits into REDD+ goals, carbon sequestration remains the primary metric for which countries can receive payments from REDD+, but after more than ten years of REDD+, many site-specific programs have failed to complete the carbon verification process. Here, we examine whether the REDD+ social co-benefits alone are sufficient to have slowed deforestation in the absence of carbon payments on Pemba, Tanzania. Using satellite imagery (Landsat archive), we quantified forest cover change for the period before (2001-2010) and after (2010-2018) the launch in 2010-11 of Pemba island’s REDD+ Readiness project. We then compared rates of forest cover change between shehia (administrative units) that were part of REDD+ Readiness intervention and those that were not, adjusting for confounding variables and the non-random selection of REDD+ shehia with a statistical matching procedure. Despite considerable variation in forest outcomes among shehia, the associated co-benefits with the Pemba REDD+ project had no discernible effect on forest cover change. Likewise, we did not detect an effect of socioecological covariates on forest cover change across all shehia, though island-wide human population growth since 2012 may have played a role. These findings are unsurprising given the failure to secure carbon payments on Pemba and indicate that co-benefits alone are insufficient to reduce deforestation. We conclude that better oversight of all-involved parties is needed to ensure that REDD+ interventions satisfactorily conclude the process of securing a mechanism for carbon payments, if slowing deforestation is to be achieved.

Long-distance social relationships can both undercut and promote local natural resource management

“…The success of these Community Forest Management Agreements has been variable [52] and seriously jeopardized by the failure of carbon payments to materialize [73,77]. However, the potential dynamics among members of different shehia-including coordination (facilitated through JUMI-JAZA), imitation and theft-are central to how community forest management institutions may thrive and spread across the island as a result of the carbon-trading intervention [78].…”

Practical guide to coproduction in conservation science

“…Even studies not directly related to the needs of the DoF (e.g., on the evolution of color polymorphisms [Nokelainen et al., 2018] the global conservation status of the species [Cumberlidge et al., 2022], or invertebrate conservation [Caro, 2022]) can be used creatively to elevate the profile of the DoF by attracting crowds to their stall at Pemba's annual agricultural fair. Finally, researchers with different areas of expertise greatly broaden the opportunities for capacity and career advancement across an organization, such as the DoF, whether this is in satellite imagery analysis (Collins et al., 2022), nighttime fieldwork (Caro & Morgan, 2018), or community mobilization (Borgerhoff Mulder et al., 2021).…”

The impacts of long-distance relationships on local natural resource management

“…The success of these CoFMAs has been variable (44) and seriously jeopardized by the failure of REDD+ payments to materialize (66,68). However, the potential dynamics among members of different shehia -including coordination (facilitated through JUMIJAZA), imitation, and theft -are central to how community forest management institutions may thrive and spread across the island as a result of the REDD+ intervention (19).…”