Institutional Mechanisms for REDD+ - Case Studies Working Paper

use. The state government is also working with other partners to define the carbon baseline for the state, to
conduct capacity building activities to raise awareness among communities, and to monitor and measure
carbon sequestration and emissions. There has been one disbursement and another additional payment is
expected.
The PES system under the State of Chiapas‘s Climate Change strategy was the most controversial among
some of actors interviewed for this case study. The main concern was that it was perceived that the payments
are used for political gain and that the government was paying indigenous peoples for ―doing nothing.‖ 32
1.4 LESSONS LEARNED, CONCLUSIONS, AND
RECOMMENDATIONS
1.4.1 LESSONS LEARNED AND CONCLUSIONS
The PES approach used in México could become the model used for developing the country‘s major
REDD+ benefit-sharing mechanism. Although there are ample experiences with these systems, there are
some overarching concerns about PES in México, including: 33
� The financial benefit sharing process can be politicized and/or used for political gains;
� Funds can be perceived as ―conservation subsidies‖ and thus create dependency from the communities;
� The beneficiaries might not really understand why they are receiving the payment and might use the
funds for activities that result in increased emissions. Although this trend has not occurred in Oaxaca, it
was a concern raised by most of the stakeholders interviewed;
� Because the communities have the right to decide how to use the funds, it can be challenging to monitor
the use of the funds and to persuade communities to invest the funds in long-term community
investments or to distribute benefits equitably; and
� PES can raise ungrounded expectations of financial benefits that might not occur due to uncertainties in
the markets and/or lack of performance.
Regarding benefit sharing more specifically, the following are targeted lessons learned from the PES examples
examined in this case study:
Land tenure and access to benefits:
In the CONAFOR and Oaxaca examples, clear and defined land tenure is required for communities to be
able to participate in the PES systems.
CONAFOR will not enter into an agreement with communities where there are outstanding land conflicts
and /or uncertainty in land tenure. Through the land certification program, PROCEDE, 78 percent of the
ejidos and 43 percent of community lands have been fully certified as of 2006 (Robles, 2011). Based on this
fact, this pre-requisite would, in principle, exclude just over a third of the ejidos in México and over half of the
community lands.
In the case of Oaxaca, when the scheme was set up, SAO and ProNatura provided support for the
communities to regularize and register their lands and define their governance processes through extensive,
32 Interviews with Elsa Esquivel, Ambio; Gabriela Lozada, ABTAssociates; Antony Challenger, SEMARNAT; Paola Bauche, CONAFOR; and José
Maria Michel, CONAFOR.
33 Interviews with Antony Challenger (SEMARNAT), Santiago Enriquez and Gabriela Lozada (ABT Associates), and Elsa Esquivel (AMBIO).
PRRGP INSTITUTIONAL MECHANISMS FOR REDD: CASE STUDIES – WORKING PAPER 13