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

Introduction to the guidelines
Agreement (CBFMA) holders in the Philippines, and more. Many
countries in the Asia-Pacific region have legal structures for formally
recognizing communities that own, manage, or use forests, which
means that these communities can explore involvement with forestry
VCM projects as a means to achieve their management goals.
Smallholders/smallholder groups
Individuals, families, and groups who own and manage small plots
of forest land may find these guidelines useful in assessing whether
a forestry VCM project is compatible with their current management
goals. Smallholders will learn the distinct advantages and disadvantages
of developing forestry VCM projects. Chapter 6 highlights the importance
of having clear property rights and simple benefit sharing arrangements
in making project management less complicated and risky. Chapter 2
discusses the obstacles caused by high transaction costs of forestry
VCM projects and the options for addressing these obstacles through
grouped projects.
NGOs
These guidelines will also be useful for NGOs that are exploring the idea
of developing their own forestry VCM project, and NGOs that partner
directly with local communities that may be interested in getting involved
with the forestry VCM. Nearly all existing forestry VCM projects have at
least one NGO partner, and these guidelines will be useful for helping
NGO workers give sound advice to their local project partners. NGOs
can serve many different roles related to project management; these
roles are discussed in detail in Chapter 3. This chapter also discusses the
multiple benefits of forestry VCM projects related to poverty alleviation,
land rights, and rural development, which are of particular interest to
many NGOs.
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