Climate Change Emissions and Livelihoods at the Forest-Farm Frontier

Managing emissions that lead to climate change and doing so in a way that allows improvements in incomes and enables sustainable development to continue are among the greatest challenges of the coming century. Better scientific knowledge about the relationship between carbon emissions and livelihoods is becoming available, but it is limited, patchy, and based on limited empirical evidence.

Research sponsored by the Climate Change, Agriculture, and Food Security (CCAFS) program of the CGIAR, in collaboration with the University of Michigan’s International Forestry Resources and Institutions Program is showing how new institutions, property rights arrangements, and agricultural technologies can enable synergistic improvements in livelihoods and reductions in emissions.

The papers prepared under the auspices of the joint CCAFS/IFRI program were presented at a conference hosted by the International Food Policy Research Institute in Washington DC on August 26. The presenters included leading researchers from around the world.

The conference, coordinated by CCAFS partner Arun Agrawal at the University of Michigan, included participants who examined institutional mechanisms that maintain the forest-farm boundary and contain agricultural expansion into forests; showed the importance of tenure arrangements and effective enforcement mechanisms in achieving positive development and climate outcomes; and identified how tropical deforestation can be reduced. Such research is critically necessary to achieving and maintaining sustainable development – it provides key lessons for policy making and decision makers across the political spectrum.

Featured Papers (click to download)

REDD sticks and carrots in the Brazilian Amazon. Assessing costs and livelihood implications
Jan Börner, Sven Wunder, Sheila Wertz-Kanounnikoff, Glenn Hyman, Nathália Nascimento

The Viability of Cattle Ranching Intensification in Brazil as a Strategy to Spare Land and Mitigate Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Avery Cohn, Maria Bowman, David Zilberman, and Kate O’Neill

Overcoming tenurial constraints to carbon forestry projects in Africa
Edward B. Barbier and Anteneh T. Tesfaw

Swidden, Rubber and Carbon. Can REDD+ work for people and the environment in Montane Mainland Southeast Asia?
Jefferson Fox, Jean-Christophe Castella, Alan D. Ziegler

Does secure land tenure save forests? A review of the relationship between land tenure and tropical deforestation
Brian E. Robinson, Margaret B. Holland, Lisa Naugton-Treves

More information

Download the meeting agenda

View the meeting presentations on Slideshare.