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

Community guidelines for accessing forestry voluntary carbon markets
1.5 Forests and climate change mitigation
What kinds of forestry activities can make a
difference?
‘Think global, act local’ became a slogan of sustainable development
initiatives after the Rio Earth Summit of 1992. This means that all efforts
matter, no matter how small in scale. One of the most important effects
of successful large-scale projects and programmes is the facilitation
of individual actions; they make it easier for ‘ordinary’ people to have
a positive impact on the world around them. If enough people make
changes in their own lives, we will end up with the significant and
sustainable changes that we need at the global scale.
Working together to have an impact
In many developing countries, rural communities look after forests that
would otherwise be degraded or removed. An analysis conducted by the
Kyoto – Think Global, Act Local (KTGAL) Project 10 found that local forest
management was often more effective than centralized management in
reducing degradation and enhancing forest carbon stocks. This means
that community-based forest management (CBFM or ‘community
forestry’, see Glossary) prevents carbon emissions by reducing the rate
of deforestation and degradation, and helping the forest to regenerate.
10 See www.communitycarbonforestry.org for more details of the K-TGAL project
28