View/Open - Sokoine University of Agriculture

access to motorized forest tools, such as a chainsaw, which improve efficiency and,the forest might be even further degraded. Ironically, a degraded forest will generallybe able to store more carbon than a forest which is in a good state. Thus, inconnection with REDD, and particularly a performance-based payment system, thosecommunities which have not been managing their forests well will now becompensated for it, while those which have will not get the same benefits. The sameissue applies for the differences in forest type. For whereas one type of forest, forinstance tropical rain forest, will be able to store a lot of carbon, other types, such asMiombo woodlands, will not, thus creating an unequal benefit stream regardless ofthe actual effort success of the management (Local resource person 2010).In connection with forests working as carbon sinks (ability for carbon storage), forestsare vulnerable to both human induced and natural disturbances. Because it is not justhuman actions which degrade and destroy forests; also natural disasters and forestfires can destroy and disturb the forest system and have grave effects for the uptakeand storage of carbon, as well as reduce and endanger the biodiversity in the area. Thebasis for payments, i.e. purely performance-based or also encompassing effort basedaspects, can then have be greatly affected in this sense (Vatn and Vedeld 2011),especially if the former option is selected.In addition to this, when thinking of the multiple benefits that REDD aims for, findingan area which has the possibility of great carbon storage does not mean the same areais rich in biodiversity. And in terms of poverty alleviation, compensating people forcarbon storage does not necessarily mean they are then fully compensated for theirreduced use of forest products i.e. covers their opportunity costs. Because theeconomical value of the forest does not merely include wood and timber productssuch as fuel wood for energy or timber products for the market. Local people alsooften rely heavily on Non Timber Forest Products (NTFPs) and environmentalservices the forest provides, such as clean water and perhaps even more so, the valuethe forest has as an area which can be converted into agricultural land. As a finalpoint, forests are not used only by adjacent and surrounding communities, and forinstance wood and timber products also belong to regional and global markets whichbrings with it additional (and external) actors with vested economic interest in the47