@article{c8b7c8fa2ca344a4b4652449c99cb711,
title = "Improving Arguments for Local Carbon Rights: The Case of Forest-Based Sequestration",
abstract = "Land-based climate mitigation schemes such as REDD+ imply the creation of {\textquoteleft}rights to carbon{\textquoteright} for actions that enhance carbon sinks. In many cases, the legal and normative foundations of such rights are unclear. This article focuses on special rights on the basis of improvement. Considering improvement in relation to carbon sinks requires asking what it means to {\textquoteleft}improve{\textquoteright} an environmental resource. Our answer departs in two significant respects from the standard conception of improvement, namely by reconceiving action in relation to ecosystem services, and accordingly, making the case for a counterfactual baseline to be used to compare an improved and unimproved state. Our modifications potentially allow for a variety of agents to claim special carbon rights on the basis of beneficial interactions with land-based carbon sinks. We give three archetypical examples of agents who may claim pro tanto special rights to carbon based on their interaction with carbon sinks.",
author = "Clare Heyward and Dominic Lenzi",
note = "Funding Information: For helpful comments and advice, we would both like to thank participants in the ECPR General Conference panel {\textquoteleft}Mitigation{\textquoteright} in Oslo 2017, the workshop {\textquoteleft}Natural Resource Rights within Planetary Boundaries{\textquoteright} in Berlin 2018, and the workshop {\textquoteleft}Land Rights and Climate Change{\textquoteright} for useful comments and feedback. For written comments we are particularly grateful to Megan Blomfeld and Alejandra Mancilla. This article was conceived during extensive discussions with Martin Kowarsch, and we are especially grateful to him. We are also grateful to Sabine Fuss for our understanding of REDD+. Clare Heyward's work on this piece was supported by the Leverhulme Trust, the CEMICS 2 project (Contextualizing Climate Engineering and Mitigation: Illusion, Complement or Substitute) of the Priority Programme (SPP 1689) of the German Research Foundation, and the Institute for Future Studies project: {\textquoteleft}Climate Ethics and Future Generations{\textquoteright}, funded by Riksbankens Jubileumsfond (grant number M17‐0372:1). She gratefully acknowledges their support. We would also like to thank our anonymous reviewers for their thoughtful comments. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2022 The Authors. Journal of Applied Philosophy published by John Wiley \& Sons Ltd on behalf of Society for Applied Philosophy.",
year = "2023",
month = aug,
doi = "10.1111/japp.12628",
language = "English",
journal = "Journal of Applied Philosophy",
issn = "0264-3758",
publisher = "Wiley-Blackwell",
}
