Institutional Mechanisms for REDD+ - Case Studies Working Paper

emissions). There is also the question of whether or not this approach will focus on forest carbon or all
carbon (e.g., agriculture, soil, etc.).
3.2.3 WHAT INSTITUTIONAL SYSTEM IS PROPOSED TO CHANNEL BENEFITS TO
THE INTENDED BENEFICIARIES?
At the national level:
According to the draft REDD+ national strategy, all revenues (market and non-market) will be ―received as
grants and deposited directly in the NRTF account‖ (Republic of Tanzania, p. 16, 2010). Sources of funds
listed in the strategy include bilateral and multilateral donors, carbon traders, private sector, and NGOs
implementing REDD+-related activities.
Government agencies are divided on whether NTRF should centralize all funds: 89 The MNRT and FBD
seem to be open to various options, including community-to-market relations, while the VPO would prefer
that all forms of payments transit through the state, including from markets and international funds. The
latter justified its position by mentioning corruption at the village level. Non-government experts and
organizations 90 expressed a strong preference for a nested approach in which villages can negotiate with
international market players directly. They fear that a model centralizing all revenues is expensive and will
reduce revenues that will actually reach villagers. They also worry about risks of corruption and
mismanagement. According to these organizations, if villagers need to negotiate with NRTF, then there will
be a need for strong safeguards 91 and NRTF must be an independent entity.
Although the institutional design of NRTF is yet to be finalized, options favored in the REDD+ national
strategy would establish NRTF as a semi-autonomous structure most likely attached to the VPO and
governed by a board of trustees composed of high-level ministry officials. These governance principles are
considered insufficient by NGOs and by the Embassy of Norway, which is a major REDD+ donor in
Tanzania. Many of the Norway-funded pilot projects are designed so that the communities can link directly
with the international market. The Embassy hopes that this approach will encourage the government to
reconsider its position.
At the sub-national level:
The REDD+ national strategy does not propose benefit-sharing options at a more local level. 92 It does,
however, refer to Wildlife Management Areas (WMAs) and Participatory Forest Management (PFM) as
possible models upon which to build. Per MNRT officials interviewed, the option favored by the government
would require the creation of multi-village authorities to address issues of scale and to limit leakage and
transaction costs. Several government officials and NGOs mentioned the importance of ―aggregates,‖ that is,
cooperatives or federations (groups of villages and communities that would receive money from NRTF such
as the Authorizing Authorities of WMAs or associations of villages involved in community-based forest
management [CBFM]). These ―aggregates‖ would then be responsible for passing REDD+ money further
down to communities. Village institutions would be responsible for managing and investing the funds within
the community. In this scenario, the government would help villages to establish cooperatives and might
establish general rules on how REDD+ funds must be used (as with WMAs, see Section 3.3 for more details).
89 Interviews with MJUMITA and TNRF.
90 Interviews with MJUMITA and TNRF.
91 Although the national REDD+ strategy does recognize the need for social and environmental safeguards and plans the development of an impact
assessment framework specifically tailored to address risks of REDD+ projects (based on experience with biofuels/land grab), it does not set
standards or refer to existing international standards such as CCBA.
92 According to CARE/Zanzibar, the Zanzibar government was concerned that its role was not defined in the strategy; it was pushing to receive
funds from NRTF and to have allocation authority within Zanzibar.
48 PRRGP INSTITUTIONAL MECHANISMS FOR REDD: CASE STUDIES – WORKING PAPER