Seminar Series: Abstract

12.30
September 08 2009
Seminar Room B (Arndt Room)

REDD Seminar Series - Livelihoods and REDD: recent lessons from payment for environmental service schemes
Dr Luca Tacconi and Dr Sango Mahanty

Activities to reduce emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD) are under development in several countries with tropical forests. There are concerns that these activities could have negative impacts on rural livelihoods by restricting rural population’s access to forest resources. Others suggest that paying rural people to participate in the protection of forest resources and for the forgone benefits of forest clearance could instead be a way to ensure they benefit from REDD activities and to increase the likelihood that REDD activities will succeed.

This seminar will examine the potential livelihood impacts of incentive payments for REDD by addressing the following questions: i) what have been the impacts on livelihoods of existing payments for environmental services schemes? ii) what are the implications for the design of REDD activities?

To answer these questions, a comparative case study approach is used, based on eight case studies of payment for environmental services (PES) schemes in Africa, Asia and Latin America, prepared for this research. The project is supported by an Australian Development Research Award.