Abstract
Forest carbon is a new commodity to be produced and traded through market mechanisms that reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD). This paper examines the likely origins and effects of forest carbon through analysis of property relations associated with a REDD-like scheme in Cambodia. Two contracts in the Cardamom Mountains are compared, both implemented by an international conservation organisation with the Cambodian Forestry Administration since 2006. Although the contracts do not yet enable the sale of forest carbon, they do illustrate its processes of production, which are essentially interventions in land and forest property because they involve land-use planning, delineation of forest boundaries, and identification of rights-holders. Ethnographic examination of these processes shows how, in spite of technical standardisation, they interact with local property relations in unpredictable and paradoxical ways. The fictitious and ephemeral nature of forest carbon is therefore exposed, along with the ideals and assumptions of REDD-market proponents.
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Notes
This is not the scheme’s official name, but I adopt this acronym for ease of communication.
From 2002–2005, I managed the NGO’s Community Engagement Program in the Cardamom Mountains, which involved facilitating community participation in land-use planning and initial CMCA agreement negotiations.
This curtailment of rights to resources from shifting agriculture appears to have affected poorer members of the commune more, since they had fewer back-up livelihood options and resources like cash and paddy land (Milne 2009).
Not all CMCA communes had idle paddy land available for uptake after the avoided deforestation agreements. Where paddy was not available, existing swidden plots were simply converted for more intensive, permanent agriculture. Thus, the availability of additional paddy land was helpful but not essential in securing the REDD-like agreements.
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Acknowledgments
This article has benefited greatly from ongoing discussions with Dr Sango Mahanty, AProf Colin Filer, Prof William Adams, and Jeremy Ironside. Valuable and thoughtful feedback was also provided by three anonymous referees, to whom I am very grateful. Funding for research and fieldwork was generously provided by the Australian National University and the General Sir John Monash Foundation. My fieldwork in Cambodia was also supported tirelessly by Thap Savy and Hot Chanthy, who themselves provided vital insights. Thanks are also due to J. Dore, S. Dowling and J. Welbergen.
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Milne, S. Grounding Forest Carbon: Property Relations and Avoided Deforestation in Cambodia. Hum Ecol 40, 693–706 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10745-012-9526-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10745-012-9526-z