Rooted in Community: A Facilitator’s Journey in Forest Conservation
In this thoughtful reflection, Hadi Prayitno, Stakeholder Engagement Manager at Wildlife Works Indonesia, shares his experiences.
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WILDLIFE WORKS REDD+ PROJECTS
Invest in Community-Led Forest Conservation
CLIMATE FINANCE FOR FOREST CONSERVATION
Mai Ndombe REDD+ Project, D.R.C
Covering nearly 300,000 hectares of tropical rainforest and one of the most important wetlands in Africa, the Mai Ndombe REDD+ project partners with over 50,000 local community members to stop deforestation and protect endangered species by co-creating new economic opportunities.
Kasigau Corridor REDD+ Project, Kenya
A critical wildlife corridor between Tsavo East and West National Parks, this project protects over 200,000 hectares of wildlife habitat by partnering with over 100,000 community members to make advancements in health, education, clean water, economic opportunities, and direct job creation.
Horizon Projects: Amazon Ecoregion Colombia
In the department of Vaupés, we are partnering closely with Indigenous communities to develop two REDD+ projects, which will conserve the region's rich biodiversity by improving the wellbeing of thousands of families.
WHERE WE WORK
WHAT IS REDD+?
REDD+ BEST PRACTICES
Wildlife Works has co-created a set of best practices for implementing REDD+ projects, in collaboration with the Nature Conservancy, a group of best-in-class project practitioners and members of civil society.
View the full guidance framework here, or read the seven key recommendations distilled from the guidance framework to ensure equitable REDD+ projects.
REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) is a program established by the United Nations to incentivize activities that lower emissions caused by deforestation and forest degradation. Forests play a vital role in stopping climate change due to the substantial amounts of carbon they release when destroyed or degraded. By curbing deforestation and forest degradation, we can reduce these emissions and maintain healthy ecosystems.
In the early 2000s, it became evident to global economists that without economic alternatives to deforestation, developing countries in the Global South would exhaust their natural resources in their efforts to match the economic progress of the Global North. To address this, the United Nations devised the REDD+ framework, which aims to create a “win-win” scenario where the world’s forests and biodiversity are preserved, and developing nations receive financial compensation.
At Wildlife Works, we have embraced the REDD+ approach to compensate forest communities for their essential role in conserving our planet’s forests. Before REDD+, these communities received little to no remuneration for their efforts in managing the world’s ecosystems, despite the immense benefits these forests provide to the global economy through ecosystem services.
Compensating forest communities for their indispensable work is a matter of environmental justice.
Our commitment to a community-centered methodology will continue to be our guiding principle as we pursue additional market opportunities to safeguard the world's precious biodiversity.
REDD+ stands for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation, plus the sustainable management of forests and the conservation and enhancement of forest stocks. Forests play a large role in our ability to fight climate change because of the massive amount of carbon they emit when they’re degraded or cleared. By preventing deforestation and degradation, we can reduce these emissions and keep healthy ecosystems intact.
Deforestation is a market-based problem, and we believe that market-based solutions can scale to the threat. REDD+ gives living a voice in the market, by giving them more financial value standing than cut down. This is done through the creation of carbon credit. One carbon credit is equal to one metric ton of carbon dioxide. A metric ton of carbon dioxide is about the size of a 2 story house, and it’s the amount (rough estimate) of carbon that about 40 tropical rainforest trees breathe in each year. Our REDD+ projects are monitored and verified by recognized third-party auditors to prove they have successfully used the best practices put forth by international standards. The international standard bodies then issue Verified Emissions Reductions (VERs) that companies can buy if they want to make an impactful action to take accountability for the carbon impact of their business.
In the early 2000’s, global economists realized that unless developing Global South countries had economic alternatives to deforestation, their natural resources would quickly be extracted as they raced to “catch up” with Global North countries. The United Nations developed the REDD+ framework to help build this alternative, and create a “win-win” situation; the world’s forests and their biodiversity remain intact, and developing countries receive compensation.
At Wildlife Works, we have implemented REDD+ in a way to pay forest communities for their essential service of protecting our planet’s forests. Until REDD+, forest communities received little to no compensation for stewarding our world’s ecosystems, even though these forests provide a priceless amount of benefits to the global economy through ecosystem services. Paying forest communities for their critical work is a form of environmental justice.
As defined by the United Nations, Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) is a specific right that pertains to indigenous peoples and is recognized in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). It allows them to give or withhold consent to any project that may affect them or their territories. Once they have given their consent, they can withdraw it at any stage. Furthermore, FPIC enables them to negotiate the conditions under which the project will be designed, implemented, monitored and evaluated. This is also embedded within the universal right to self-determination.
The baseline is a calculation of the greenhouse gas emissions that would have occurred if the REDD+ project had never been implemented. This directly determines how many carbon credits can be generated from an avoided deforestation project.
There are currently several different methods for calculating baselines such as through reference areas, synthetic controls, and risk-based maps with baseline allocations.
Additionality refers to proving the emission reductions would not have happened without the incentive of carbon credits. The emissions reductions achieved by protecting a forest need to be “additional” to what would have happened if one of our REDD+ projects had not been carried out.
Leakage is the increase of greenhouse gas emissions outside of the boundaries of projects, that can nonetheless be attributed back to the project. It is the phenomenon where deforestation activity shifts to another area after one is protected, thereby negating the positive effect of protecting the first area. The classic example of leakage is stopping a logging company from destroying one forest, only for it to move its activities down the road to another forest.
Two types of leakage are broadly recognized: activity-shifting and market leakage. Activity-shifting leakage is measured at the local level and occurs when the agent(s) of deforestation and/or degradation move to an area outside of the project boundary, on account of the REDD+ Project, and continue deforestation and/or degradation activities there. Market leakage is measured at the national scale and occurs when the REDD+ project significantly reduces the production of a commodity, which through the laws of supply and demand, results in an increased level of production somewhere else in the country to replace the lost supply.
Emission reductions must represent a long-term mitigation benefit. There is inherent risk in reducing atmospheric carbon by storing it in trees, since the rate of forest fires is increasing with climate change. We help ensure permanence with rigorous risk management plans that mitigate the risk of devastating events such as forest fires.
Additionally, a portion of carbon credits generated by our projects are set aside and placed in a “buffer pool” instead of being sold. Buffer credits can be canceled from the pool if a “reversal” takes place, helping to ensure the integrity of previously issued credits.
Wildlife Works has implemented REDD+ to pay forest communities for their essential service of protecting our planet’s forests.
We authored the first methodology for avoided ecosystem conversion that allowed Kasigau Corridor REDD+ to be the first verified REDD+ project in the VCM and charted a path for other developers to increase the use of this mechanism to protect forests. We continue to develop new technologies for REDD+ monitoring, reporting and verification. We work closely with forest communities to co-create project initiatives. Learn more about our process here.
Land tenure plays a critical role in the success of REDD+ projects.
Clear property rights to land (and carbon) are a prerequisite for successful REDD+ projects because land tenure rules define who may access and use the land in and around project areas. Clarity of land ownership also facilitates the creation of revenue-sharing agreements that benefit local communities. Where carbon rights are tied directly to land tenure, landholders can be compensated in direct proportion to the amount of greenhouse gases sequestered on their property.
For these reasons, when REDD+ project developers explore potential project sites it can be a catalyst for the clarification and participatory mapping of property rights and boundaries.
Our Free and Prior Informed Consent (FPIC) process is consistent with the Cancun safeguards for REDD+ projects defined by the UNFCCC, which "constitute general principles that not only help ensure that REDD+ policies and measures do not cause harm to people and the environment, but also that they have positive effects and enhance social and environmental benefits."
Wildlife Works considers FPIC to be a continuous process, and it is critical to each phase of our projects.Some key features of our FPIC process include:
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We conduct a comprehensive evaluation of the risks to, and potential (negative) impacts on, various stakeholders and proposed mitigation plans.
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We provide communities with complete information on the purpose, nature, scale and duration of the project activities
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This includes information on the planned stakeholder engagement process (e.g., times and venues of public consultation meetings), grievance-registering and management procedures, and opportunities and means by which they can participate.
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We conduct thorough FPIC during the feasibility phase, before any contracts are signed to establish the project. Our FPIC process includes conducting extensive community outreach and sensitization to community members, in a user-friendly and culturally fitting manner, free of manipulation, interference, coercion and intimidation. If the community partners agree to start the project, FPIC continues throughout the entire life cycle of the project.
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We implement continuous and meaningful consultation with all project stakeholders, including marginalized groups within the local community.
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We use an effective and culturally appropriate procedure for which people can provide feedback and complaints.
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We provide communities with timely disclosure of appropriate information.
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Community governance is a cornerstone of successful REDD+ projects. Wildlife Works puts local communities at the helm decision-making processes to achieve better outcomes for both the environment and the people. Our approach fosters local ownership and empowers communities to take an active role in forest conservation and climate resilience efforts. Read about the innovative governance structure of the Locational Carbon Committees at the Kasigau Corridor REDD+ Project.
Jurisdictional REDD+ ensures that REDD+ initiatives are integrated across different governance levels, promoting coherence and scalability. Nesting projects into jurisdictional programs can effectively channel finance to the forest areas that are most in danger within a jurisdiction. This facilitates economically efficient protection of standing forests, and pays communities that achieve conservation in the most difficult circumstances. Nested baselines are also well-suited to scaling the REDD+ market, as they create consistency in baseline accounting across a jurisdiction.
Finally, using nested baselines also makes it possible to align REDD+ activities with greenhouse gas inventory data and the host country’s Paris Agreement climate goals.
Read this explainer on jurisdictional and project baselines.
REDD+ FAQ
LATEST NEWS
OUR REDD+ PROJECTS
When implemented to the highest standards, REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation) projects center Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities’ (IPLCs’) efforts to preserve their forests by investing in their economic development. Sustainably safeguarding carbon-rich landscapes requires conservation to take a rights-based approach.
High integrity REDD+ projects can also support host countries in realizing their climate goals by creating positive social and biodiversity impacts. that. The benefit of REDD+ projects must be felt on the ground by the people who live in the forests.
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