Tomoko Yoshida

The Potential Benefits of REDD + for Communities in Nepal

Themes

REDD+, community-based forest management

Interests

Forests play a major role as a carbon sink and as a means to store carbon, yet deforestation and degradation are rife. Deforestation contributes more than 18% of global CO₂ emissions.  Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation in Developing countries (REDD+) is a new mechanism that aims to address climate change by creating a financial value for the carbon stored in forests.  Although it is widely believed that stopping deforestation and forest degradation will reduce overall global carbon emissions, the benefits brought about by REDD+ to local communities and indigenous people have received little attention.  There are currently no effective mechanisms to distribute the benefits to communities.  It is still not clear what the benefits will be, nor what systems could be used to share them, or how to make sure they reach local people.

This study will look for effetctive mechanisms to distribute REDD+ benefits to collaborative forest management groups (CFMGs) in Nepal. It will define the potential benefits that communities might expect from REDD+ projects and will analyze the opportunity costs of REDD+ for CFMGs. Finally, based on the data that will be collected in the field and in my literature review, the research will aim to present an equitable REDD+ benefit distribution mechanism to the local communities of Nepal.

Public awareness of forest aesthetic values among East Asians for sustainable forest management