Community guidelines for accessing forestry voluntary carbon ... - FAO

Chapter 6: Identifying, managing and quantifying risks
Figure 15: Timeline for forecasting cash flow
6.3 Risks related to property rights, use rights
and land tenure
Disputes over ownership and use of land and resources, including
contested and overlapping rights, have always been perceived as one
of the more significant risk factors in forestry projects, and the new
opportunities of the forestry VCM can make these risks more prominent
(see Box 7 on ‘carbon rights’ in section 2.6). Paying very close attention
to the issue of land and property rights could significantly minimize the
risk of conflict and project failure. In almost all cases in the Asia-Pacific
region, local populations will be living in or around the proposed project
area and may be affected by the proposed forestry VCM project. The
following should therefore be considered:
1. What are the facts on the ground? Forestry VCM projects
generally involve changes in existing or planned land use.
Project developers will therefore have to establish which other
communities or stakeholders use or have access to the land on
which the project depends. They should look into how existing
patterns of land use and potential land use concessions
affect the project and local residents. It is not uncommon
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