Protecting and restoring forests stands as a highly efficient and economical strategy to mitigate carbon emissions, a crucial step in addressing global warming. Since the third UN climate change summit in Kyoto, Japan, in 1997, several mechanisms have been trialed to fund deforestation reduction and forest restoration.
These include Kyoto’s Clean Development Mechanism, the UN-REDD programme initiated in 2008, and voluntary carbon market schemes introduced after COP21 in Paris in 2015. Despite these initiatives, they have achieved only limited success.
A key challenge with these programs is their impact on indigenous and local communities, who have historically managed these forests. The schemes often restricted their traditional access to the forest for necessities like fuel, grazing, and food, while deforestation continued, driven by global demand for products like beef and palm oil.
The ambitious goal of zero deforestation by 2030 and the restoration of over 350 million hectares of forest land remains far from reach. At COP28 in Dubai, Brazil proposed a new approach: a “tropical forests forever fund” with a budget of $250 billion to encourage countries to conserve and expand their forests. This proposal raises questions about the potential effectiveness of this approach compared to previous ones.
Nobel laureate Elinor Ostrom’s work provides insight into why past forest restoration efforts have been unsuccessful. Her research highlights the importance of community involvement in forest management. Studies show that when local communities are granted management rights and control, they tend to sustainably use and protect these resources.
This is further supported by a study in 15 tropical countries, which found that forests where local communities had informal or customary management rights were rich in biodiversity and supported sustainable livelihoods. These forests also stored substantial amounts of carbon, aligning with global carbon and biodiversity objectives.
Ostrom identified five essential rights for sustainable land management: access, withdrawal, management, exclusion, and alienation. Management rights are critical for forest restoration, but these rights must be backed by secure land tenure to ensure long-term success.
Experiences in India provide a real-world example. The Forest Rights Act of 2006, which granted full management rights and secure tenure to local communities, led to effective forest restoration and improved livelihoods, in contrast to previous programs offering only partial rights.
For effective forest restoration and climate change mitigation, it is crucial for states to devolve management rights to local communities and ensure they have secure tenure. This approach should be guided by Ostrom’s principles, including clear boundaries for community rights, inclusive rule-making, and effective resource management. Ensuring access to funds for restoration, such as those proposed by Brazil or existing mechanisms like REDD+ and the green climate fund, is also vital. Granting secure rights and clear management rules to these communities is key to empowering them in global forest conservation efforts.