The Carbon Fix

Forest Carbon, Social Justice, and Environmental Governance

Stephanie Paladino, Shirley J Fiske, Stephanie Paladino, Shirley J Fiske

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN: 9781611323337
• eBook ISBN: 9781315473994
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Anthropology
• Index: Social Sciences

Given the growing urgency to develop global responses to a changing climate, The Carbon Fix examines the social and equity dimensions of putting the world's forests—and, necessarily, the rural people who manage and depend on them—at the center of climate policy efforts such as REDD+, intended to slow global warming. The book assesses the implications of international policy approaches that focus on forests as carbon and especially, forest carbon offsets, for rights, justice, and climate governance.

Contributions from leading anthropologists and geographers analyze a growing trend towards market principles and financialization of nature in environmental governance, placing it into conceptual, critical, and historical context. The book then challenges perceptions of forest carbon initiatives through in-depth, field-based case studies assessing projects, policies, and procedures at various scales, from informed consent to international carbon auditing. While providing a mixed assessment of the potential for forest carbon initiatives to balance carbon with social goals, the authors present compelling evidence for the complexities of the carbon offset enterprise, fraught with competing interests and interpretations at multiple scales, and having unanticipated and often deleterious effects on the resources and rights of the world's poorest peoples—especially indigenous and rural peoples.

The Carbon Fix provides nuanced insights into political, economic, and ethical issues associated with climate change policy. Its case approach and fresh perspective are critical to environmental professionals, development planners, and project managers; and to students in upper level undergraduate and graduate courses in environmental anthropology and geography, environmental and policy studies, international development, and indigenous studies.

Index

Page references in bold indicate tables. Page references in italics refer to figures.

A/R see afforestation

accountability 5n1, 9, 14, 51–2, 82, 89, 95, 99, 101, 205, 264, 266n11

Acid Rain Treaty 5, 6

additionality 7, 30, 51, 84n2

afforestation 192, 266n4; afforestation and reforestation (A/R) 5, 66, 78, 302–3, 305

agro-forestry 18, 78, 153

AIDESEP see Inter-Ethnic Association for the Development of the Peruvian Amazon

Alliance of Small Island States 63–4

Amazon, Amazonia 16, 64, 220–35

Amerindians 14, 94–5, 100, 102

ANR see assisted natural regeneration

AOSIS see Alliance of Small Island States

Argentina 286

Asia 17, 39, 44, 67, 94, 140, 143, 255–7, 260, 273, 276, 278, 284, 298

assisted natural regeneration 260, 263, 266n10, 280–1

auditing, audit 14; limitations 91–103

Australia 63, 65, 155–7

avoided deforestation 5, 64, 66, 71n14, 76–8, 81–2, 157, 184, 204, 209, 213, 216n1, 220, 226–7, 230, 275

Bali see United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change: COP-13 (Bali)

baseline data 7, 52, 66, 114, 191, 196, 204–5, 245, 258, 279, 317n22

BDS see benefit distribution systems

Belém Letter 3

benefit distribution systems 190, 194, 196; see also Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation: benefit distribution

benefi...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• CONTENTS
• List of Figures
• List of Tables
• Acknowledgements
• Contributors
• Foreword: The Carbon Offsetting Dilemma
• List of Acronyms
• Introduction: Carbon Offset Markets and Social Equity: Trading in Forests to Save the Planet
• SECTION I Framing the Carbon Regime in the Context of Global Trends
• SECTION II Accounting and Accountability
• SECTION III National and Subnational Framings
• SECTION IV REDD, Rights, and Equity
• SECTION V Alternative Configurations of Community and Governance
• Index