Sinks and sources: a strategy to involve forest communities in Tanzania in global climate policy

At present only the sink ability of forest to sequester atmospheric CO2 through establishing new forests is credited under the current UNFCCC climate change mitigation mechanisms in developing countries, i.e. the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) of the Kyoto Protocol. Other forest practices such as the Community Forest Management (CFM) in Tanzania which involve management of natural forests that would otherwise degrade or be deforested and result in carbon emissions, are not at present credited. However, under a new policy currently under discussion by the Parties to the UNFCCC, reductions in deforestation and degradation may be credited in the future. This thesis provides evidence in support of this new policy, known as Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD), which considers forests as ‘sinks and sources’ of atmospheric CO2. This policy would operate on the basis of overall national efforts to slow down loss of carbon from forests, and CFM might contribute to such national efforts, thus involving communities in the global climate change mitigation policy.