After Gaps in UN Convention, National Laws Must Step Up to Protect Public Land Rights – Global Issues
WASHINGTON DC, Dec 04 (IPS) – This time last year, the forestry sector was abuzz with news of big Blue Carbon deals. These agreements set a staggering amount of land in Sub-Saharan Africa – 20% of Zimbabwe’s land, 10% of Liberia and Zambia, 8% of Tanzania, and an undisclosed amount of land in Kenya – to be managed by the firm. in the United Arab Emirates.
Without the involvement of project-affected communities, countries across Africa are bound by treaty agreements and 30-year commitments. Reports suggested that Blue Carbon was keeping more than 70% of the project’s revenue while impacting the lives of millions. The magnitude of this work shocks the conscience.
A year later, among the many topics that emerged from the latest UN climate change talks in Baku was the adoption of new laws aimed at implementing carbon credit markets.
These financial programs were included in the Paris Agreement on Climate Change to provide incentives for efforts to reduce carbon emissions. The new UN rules, however, have already been criticized for not providing enough parameters to prevent transactions like Blue Carbon deals from happening elsewhere.
With these new laws, it will not be clear whether the communities that have lived and worked their land for generations should be consulted as part of the project. If things go well it will not be clear that they are entitled to benefits and if things go wrong it will not be clear that they should seek remedies.
Carbon projects have no public land rights across the Global South, from Brazil to Laos to Malaysia. In many places, communities still have no income – or, worse, have been dispossessed of their land – after keeping the land intact for generations.
Repeated headlines have affected market confidence – volume and value have fallen for two years in a row. Unfortunately, policymakers have yet to make changes that can reduce the risk.
Governments and corporations have repeatedly affirmed the important connection between public land rights and better outcomes for the planet.
In early November, at the UN talks on biodiversity, governments emphasized the critical importance of short-term security to protect biodiversity.
Ten days later, leaders from 12 countries joined with Indigenous leaders to emphasize the importance of land ownership to protect forests as part of the Forest Climate Leaders Partnership.
Governments say this because study after study shows that when Aboriginal and local communities have clear places to live in their forests, the forest is better protected.
The national law is wrong, however. Many countries do not recognize the rights of people living on land affected by carbon projects.
We worked with experts from McGill University to study the legal frameworks of 33 countries and found only three countries recognized community-based carbon rights.
The lack of national legal guidelines for carbon markets is alarming. More than half of the countries we studied do not have carbon trading laws.
Almost two-thirds do not have proof of registration of carbon projects and, of those that do, only six have this information publicly available. Only seven have designed or implemented benefit-sharing policies applicable to carbon market projects and only four of the seven have established a minimum allocation requirement for affected communities.
Policy makers at the global level have an opportunity to address this problem. But now, all eyes are on national governments. Before they rush to create new carbon policies after Baku, they can make their countries a place where carbon projects are more secure by making public land rights front and center.
This is still an unfinished story. Just a few months ago, the Liberian National Climate Change Steering Committee (NCCSC) suspended all carbon credit projects until they have proper carbon laws in place.
Liberia had two options: strong land laws and strong planning. It now requires regulations to govern carbon trading.
International carbon markets require the recognition of civil rights to be incorporated into supporting national and international laws and regulations. Markets are like any other financial market – transparency, oversight, and enforcement measures are needed to bring confidence, and at this time, they are needed very quickly.
Alain Frechette, PhDis Director of Rights, Climate and Conservation at the Rights and Resources Initiative. Rebecca Iwerks he is the Director of the Global Land and Environmental Justice Initiative in Namati.
© Inter Press Service (2024) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service
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