[C] The Hidden Frontier of Forest Degradation - Rainforest Alliance

ox three » community-based forest management
Community-owned and managed forests comprise significant portions of a wide variety of forest ecosystems, constituting 11 percent of
global forest cover (White and Martin, 2002). The worldwide amount of forest land under Community Forest Management (CFM) doubled
between 1985 and 2000 (White and Martin, 2002) and is expected to continue increasing due to global attention to rural land
tenure rights. By 2015, the percentage of forest land under CFM is expected to increase to 1.36 billion hectares or 22 percent of the
world’s forests (ITTO, 2007). In developing countries alone, 22 percent of the forest area is already under CFM (White and Martin
2002), nearly three times the area under private or corporate management. Due to the large and increasing footprint of CFM, strategies to
avert degradation will require engagement with the people who live in these forests and the communities that own and manage them.
Limited existing data suggest that CFM outcomes — even in the absence of an existing REDD mechanism that supports CFM-based
actions — are highly compatible with averting degradation. In Nepal, CFM is associated with improved forest condition and biodiversity
value, along with increased production of firewood, timber, fodder and non-timber forest products; degradation has been reversed and
carbon continues to accumulate in forests under CFM (Karky and Skutsch, 2009). In 20 case studies from around the world the
International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO) documented that CFM was associated with numerous outcomes that help avert forest
degradation, frequently including improved fire reporting and control, suppression of agricultural clearing, and reduction of illegal logging
(ITTO, 2007). Murdiyarso and Skutsch (2006) report on a variety of CFM projects around Africa and Asia, documenting increases
in carbon sequestration as a result of CFM from one to five MgC per hectare per year.
Intentional actions to avert degradation via CFM are likely to be cost effective under some circumstances. Two studies looked at the
potential for CFM to deliver carbon sequestration through improved forest management. Karky and Skutsch (2009) found in the
Himalaya region of Nepal that if traditional forest uses (such as fuelwood collection, fodder, limited timber extraction and extraction of
non-timber forest products) are allowed to continue, then CFM in Nepal can deliver carbon sequestration at an opportunity cost of
$2.0 to $13.6 per MgC. If all extractive uses are banned, the values rise to an opportunity cost of $32.8 to $63.9 per MgC. In Mexico,
De Jong and his co-authors (2000) reported that improved community forest management could deliver substantial sequestration
benefits at carbon prices of $15 per MgC.
Achieving avoided emissions from degradation via CFM requires intensive investment in capacity building in multiple communities (De
Jong et al., 2000). Training in basic business management, marketing, forestry, fire management and a variety of other disciplines may
be necessary. Equipment needs for monitoring and patrolling must be met. Regional and global mechanisms may be needed to support
CFM and provide market access for forest-based products from small enterprises scattered through remote geographies. Much of
this same level of engagement with communities is likely needed in order to reduce degradation, even in the absence of a CFM focus,
with REDD activities (Poffenberger and Smith-Hanssen, 2009).
During the development of the Kyoto treaty there were repeated calls for the Clean Development Mechanism to support CFM as an
eligible activity to produce carbon offsets (De Jong et al., 2000; Klooster and Masera, 2000). Today, the evidence supporting inclusion
of CFM under a REDD mechanism is stronger and the increase in area of the world’s forests under CFM makes finding a strategy for
its inclusion even more important.
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