Changing Dynamics of Forest Regulation: Coming Full Circle?

• Published date: 01 July 2011
• Date: 01 July 2011
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9388.2011.00720.x
• Author: Nidhi Srivastava

Changing Dynamics of Forest Regulation:

Coming Full Circle?

Nidhi Srivastava

With REDD and REDD+gaining importance in inter-

national environmental law and policy discussions,

this article reviews the fragmented strands of binding

international law touching on forests to trace the evo-

lution of these issues in international law. It examines

the regulation of (a) trees as a commodity, (b) trees as

endangered species, (c) forests as a tool to combat

desertification, (d) forests and biological diversity and

(e) forests as a tool to address climate change. The

analysis suggests that the current approach to climate

and forests monetizes forests, which is an approach

that is reminiscent of colonial treatment of forests,

even though the objectives and approaches are very

different.

INTRODUCTION

Since 2005 with the first international proposal for

‘Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest

Degradation’ (REDD), forests have re-emerged as an

integral subject of international environmental law and

policy. REDD is a mechanism that allows financial valu-

ation of forest carbon, offering incentives to reduce

emissions from forests by reducing deforestation and

degradation.1REDD+is an approach that goes further

and includes activities such as conservation and sus-

tainable management of forests to provide positive

incentives to enhance removals of greenhouse gas emis-

sion by forests.2Forest governance and regulation has

always mirrored other developments of the time; thus,

it is pertinent to ask where does the REDD and REDD+

steer the trajectory of forests within the legal terrain of

international environmental law? Is it re-defining the

way forests are looked at or is it going back to the way

forests were addressed previously? Finding the answers

requires tracing the evolution of forests laws at interna-

tional, regional and domestic levels.

The total forested area of the world is approximately 4

billion hectares.3Like most natural resources, forests

are not distributed equitably across regions and coun-

tries. As much as 53% of forests are concentrated in five

countries: Russia, Brazil, Canada, the United States and

China.4Although the linkage between deforestation and

atmospheric carbon dioxide has long been known and

recognized,5the role of forests in addressing climate

change has only generated significant international

interest more recently. While the rate of deforestation is

slowly decreasing, there has been an enormous loss of

forests in the past decade.6It is estimated that tropical

deforestation is responsible for around 18% of the

world’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.7The United

Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

(IPCC) identifies reducing deforestation as the most

immediate short-term priority for mitigating climate

change.8

The Stern Review and IPCC Assessment reports high-

light the need for exploring all possible options for miti-

gating climate change and have made forests a vital part

of the climate change agenda. The main line of action

has been putting terrestrial carbon at the same level as

atmospheric carbon. REDD places forest degradation

and deforestation as a key factor to be considered in

climate change mitigation actions and REDD+goes

further in expanding the scope to include sustainable

management of forests and enhanced forest carbon

stocks.9

1The United Nations Collaborative Programme on Reducing Emis-

sions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing

Countries, ‘About REDD+’ (UNREDD, undated), found at <http://

www.un-redd.org/AboutREDD/tabid/582/Default.aspx>.

2Decision 4/ CP.15, ‘Methodological guidance for activities relating to

reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation and

the role of conservation, sustainable management of forests and

enhancement of forest carbon stocks in developing countries’ (FCCC/

CP/2009/11/Add.1, 30 March 2010), paragraphs 6 and 8.

3Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO),

Global Forest Resources Assessment 2010:FAO Forestry Paper 163

(FAO, 2010), at 12.

4Ibid.

5Declaration of the World Climate Conference (UN Doc. IOC/SAB-

IV/INF.3, 23 February 1979).

6The FAO estimates that 13 million hectares of forests have been

converted or lost every year in the last decade (see FAO, n. 3 above,

at 192–193).

7N. Stern, The Economics of Climate Change: The Stern Review

(Cambridge University Press, 2006), at xxv.

8Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Climate

Change 2007:Synthesis Report, Contribution of Working Groups I, II

and III to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental

Panel on Climate Change (IPCC, 2007).

9M.C. Thompson, M. Baruah and E.R. Carr, ‘Seeing REDD+as a

Project of Environmental Governance’, 14:2 Environmental Science

and Policy (2011), 100, at 108.

Review of European Community & International Environmental Law

RECIEL 20 (2) 2011. ISSN 0962 8797

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