Integrating CBM into MRV activities of projects financed by the Alliance in the Early Action Areas of REDD+ in Mexico (2013)

Consultancy report prepared for The Nature Conservancy (TNC).

This document presents a basic approach to community based monitoring (CBM) in the
Mexican setting of REDD+. The objective is to present firstly, a brief description of the
projects  being  implemented  in the  early  action  areas  (EAA)  financed  by the  Alliance
Mexico REDD+ (Alliance), secondly a proposal for the integration of CBM into the projects’
activities and finally a discussion of the potential linkages to the MRV system. The Alliance
is providing resources for the implementation of REDD+ activities in 13 projects located
within the EAA of Chihuahua, Yucatan Peninsula, Chiapas, Cutzamala Basin and Oaxaca.
These projects are implementing different activities to mitigate climate change including a
wide variety of actors, strategies and scopes. The creation of a comparable and consistent
system to monitor, report  and  verify the  outcomes  of  implementation  will  allow the
Alliance to evaluate the potential contribution of the projects to reduce carbon emissions
and increase carbon removals in the EAA as part of REDD+; moreover the information to
be produced can be compatible with national MRV systems and be integrated later into
the monitoring systems for REDD+.

Part of this work was presented in Warsaw during COP 19.

Side event of community forest monitoring for REDD+.

The report can be accessed in the following link: http://alianza-mredd1.org/uploads/ckfinder_files/files/4_1_2_7%20Report%20CBM%20in%20Alliance%20REDD%2B%20Balderas%20vf%202013.pdf

Please cite as:
Balderas  Torres,  A.  2013.  Integrating  CBM  into  MRV activities of projects financed by the Alliance in the Early Action Areas of REDD+ in Mexico. The Nature Conservancy. Consultancy Report, Mexico, D.F.

White Paper: Opportunities and challenges for integrating CBM into MRV systems for REDD+ in Mexico (2013).

Consultancy report prepared for The Nature Conservancy (TNC).

Executive Summary Community based monitoring (CBM) can offer good options to engage
local communities in the management of natural resources and to help generating the
information necessary for REDD+. New technologies are being used to create flexible and
innovative on-line systems to monitor natural resources. It is necessary to create flexible
options to make the best use of these tools and include them into basic systems for the
representation of lands and the system to generate carbon stock change factors in REDD+.

Part of this work was presented in Warsaw during COP 19.

Side event of community forest monitoring for REDD+.

The report can be accessed in the following link:
http://alianzamredd.org.mx/uploads/ckfinder_files/files/4_1_2_7%20%20WhitePaper%20Community%20based%20monitoring%20Balderas%20vf%202013.pdf

Please cite as:
Balderas  Torres,  A.  2013.  Opportunities  and  challenges  for integrating CBM into MRV systems for REDD+ in Mexico. The Nature Conservancy. Consultancy Report, Mexico, D.F.

Valoración de los servicios forestales de mitigación del cambio climático: El caso de Guadalajara y La Primavera (Publicado en REC, Julio 2012)

The valuation of forest carbon services by Mexican citizens: the case of Guadalajara city and La Primavera biosphere reserve.

Abstract. Adequate demand for, and recognition of, forest carbon services is critical to success of market mechanisms for forestry-based conservation and climate change mitigation. National and voluntary carbon-offsetting schemes are emerging as alternatives to international compliance markets. We developed a choice experiment to explore determinants of local forest carbon-offset valuation. A total of 963 citizens from Guadalajara in Mexico were asked to consider a purchase of voluntary offsets from the neighbouring Biosphere Reserve of La Primavera and from two alternative more distant locations: La Michilía in the state of Durango and El Cielo in Tamaulipas. Surveys were applied in market stall sessions and online using two different sampling methods: the snowball technique and via a market research company. The local La Primavera site attracted higher participation and valuation than the more distant sites. However, groups particularly interested in climate change mitigation or cost may accept cost-efficient options in the distant sites. Mean implicit carbon prices obtained ranged from $6.79 to $15.67/tCO2eq depending on the surveying methodology and profile of respondents. Survey application mode can significantly affect outcome of the experiment. Values from the market stall sessions were higher than those from the snowball and market research samples obtained online; this may be linked to greater cooperation associated with personal interaction and collective action. In agreement with the literature, we found that valuation of forest carbon offsets is associated with cognitive, ethical, behavioural, geographical and economic factors.

Keywords Stated preference methods; Market mechanisms; REDD+; Environmental services; Choice modelling.

Referencia: Balderas Torres, A., MacMillan, D.C., Skutsch, M., Lovett, J.C. 2012. The valuation of forest carbon services by Mexican citizens: the case of Guadalajara city and La Primavera biosphere reserve. Regional Environmental Change, 1-20, DOI: 10.1007/s10113-012-0336-z.

El artículo publicado por Springer se puede consultar en la siguiente dirección: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10113-012-0336-z#page-1

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Una propuesta para la distribución de beneficios en REDD+ (Publicado junto con Margaret Skutsch, en Forests, Marzo 2012)

Splitting the Difference: A Proposal for Benefit Sharing in Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+). 

Abstract: The objective of REDD+ is to create incentives for the reduction of emissions from deforestation and forest degradation and for the increase of carbon stocks through the enhancement, conservation and sustainable management of forests in developing countries. As part of the international negotiations under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), compensation would be estimated in relation to national performance but how these incentives will be channeled within countries has not been specified and there are concerns about how the benefits will be shared among different stakeholders. One central issue is that under the national approach good performance in one region can be offset by underperformance in other regions of the country thus preventing the generation of predictable local incentives. Other issues relate to the need to provide incentives to a wide range of stakeholders and to avoid perverse reactions. To address these and other issues we propose separating the accounting of reduced deforestation, reduced degradation and enhancement of forests. The local attribution of credits would be easier for carbon enhancement, and possibly reduced degradation, than for reduced deforestation, since carbon gains can, in principle, be measured locally in the first two cases, while estimating achievements in reduced deforestation requires a regional approach. This separation in attribution of rewards can help to create adequate incentives for the different stakeholders and overcome some of the problems associated with the design and implementation of national REDD+ programs.

Keywords: avoided emissions; carbon enhancement; forest management; positive incentives

El artículo se publicó en la revista de acceso libre Forests: http://www.mdpi.com/1999-4907/3/1/137

Este artículo analiza las implicaciones y dificultades para atribuir a nivel local los beneficios de REDD+; el enfoque ha servido como fundamento para la promoción de un mercado voluntario para
captura de carbono en México (actualmente en desarrollo).

Referencia: Balderas Torres A., Skutsch M. 2012. Splitting the Difference: A Proposal for Benefit Sharing in Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+). Forests. 3(1):137-154.

Abordando degradación forestal local en REDD+. (Coautor, articulo publicado en Carbon Balance and Management, Diciembre, 2011)

Título: Dealing with locally-driven degradation: A quick start option under REDD+.

Abstract.
The paper reviews a number of challenges associated with reducing degradation and its related emissions through national approaches to REDD+ under UNFCCC policy. It proposes that in many countries, it may in the short run be easier to deal with the kinds of degradation that result from locally driven community over-exploitation of forest for livelihoods, than from selective logging or fire control. Such degradation is low-level, but chronic, and is experienced over very large forest areas. Community forest management programmes tend to result not only in reduced degradation, but also in forest enhancement; moreover they are often popular, and do not require major political shifts. In principle these approaches therefore offer a quick start option for REDD+. Developing reference emissions levels for low-level locally driven degradation is difficult however given that stock losses and gains are too small to be identified and measured using remote sensing, and that in most countries there is little or no forest inventory data available. We therefore propose that forest management initiatives at the local level, such as those promoted by community forest management programmes, should monitor, and be credited for, only the net increase in carbon stock over the implementation period, as assessed by ground level surveys at the start and end of the period. This would also resolve the problem of nesting (ensuring that all credits are accounted for against the national reference emission level), since communities and others at the local level would be rewarded only for increased sequestration, while the national reference emission level would deal only with reductions in emissions from deforestation and degradation.

Keywords: Low-level degradation; below canopy; community management; monitoring; RELs; RLs; crediting; nesting.

Referencia: Sktusch, M., Balderas Torres, A., Mwampamba, T.H., Ghilardi, A., Herold, M. 2011. Dealing with locally-driven degradation: A quick start option under REDD+. Carbon Balance and Management 6:16.

El artículo es de acceso libre y se puede descargar y consultar en: http://www.cbmjournal.com/content/6/1/16

Curva de costos para proyectos de reforestación/forestación para captura de carbono. (Publicado en Ecological Economics, Enero 2010)

Título del Articulo:
Analysis of the carbon sequestration costs of afforestation and reforestation agroforestry practices and the use of cost curves to evaluate their potential for implementation of climate change mitigation.

Abstract:

Carbon sequestration in forest sinks is an important strategy to remove greenhouse gases and to mitigate climate change; however its implementation has been limited under the Clean Development Mechanism of the Kyoto Protocol which has not created the incentives for widespread implementation. The objective of this paper is to analyze the sequestration costs of agroforestry afforestation and reforestation projects (ARPs) following a partial market equilibrium using average cost curves and economic break even analysis to identify the supply costs. The modelling done in this work contrasts the voluntary and clean development mechanism transaction costs. Data is based on the voluntary project, Scolel Té, being implemented in Mexico. Cost curves are developed for seven different sequestration options considering transaction and implementation costs; information from agricultural production in Chiapas Mexico is used to integrate opportunity costs of two agroforestry practices suggesting that sequestration costs may follow a "U" shape, with an initial reduction due to economies of scale and a subsequent increase caused by high opportunity costs. The widespread implementation of agroforestry options not requiring complete land conversion (e.g. living fences and coffee under shade) might be cost effective strategies not generating high opportunity costs. Results also suggest that payments in the early years of the project and lower transaction costs favour the development of ARPs in the voluntary market especially in marginal rural areas with high discount rates.

Liga Permanente: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921800909003942

Referencia: Balderas Torres, A., Marchant, R., Lovett, J.C., Smart, J.C.R., Tipper, R. 2010. Analysis of the carbon sequestration costs of afforestation and reforestation agroforestry practices and the use of cost curves to evaluate their potential for implementation of climate change mitigation. Ecological Economics, Volume 69, Issue 3, 15 January 2010, Pages 469-477.