SNV ProPoor REDD+ Benefit distribution systems

SNV Pro-Poor REDD+ Benefit Distribution Syste e ms Renewable Energy Low Emission Development Plans Multiple Benefits Participatory Forest Monitoring Agriculture REDD+ could provide important opportunities to reduce poverty and enhance equity by delivering significant financial flows to rural areas The way this finance may flow down to local actors in the form of cash or in-kind benefits will rely on carefully designed Benefit Distribution Systems that include local stakeholders in the decision making process The Benefit Distribution System (BDS) will be a fundamental component of any REDD+ programme Under a national REDD+ mechanism, funds will need to be channelled down through a number of different tiers of government, from national to local, requiring a system to transfer funds at each level How the BDS is designed will help to determine key questions around who is eligible to receive benefits from REDD+, when they will be delivered, and the form they will take (i.e cash or non-cash) For this reason, well designed and targeted BDS will be vital to the success of REDD+1, Conversely, experience has shown that a weakly designed BDS will undermine the incentives for actors and increase the risk of non-compliance3 SNV’s approach to pro-poor BDS SNV believes that for REDD+ to be effective, transparent and equitable, the design of the BDS needs to involve local actors, in particular the beneficiaries, in key decisions Local consultation is necessary to determine the kinds of benefits local actors expect from REDD+ and the appropriate schedules for their delivery It is also critical that there is local level representation within institutions disbursing the benefits, performing monitoring and handling complaints Engaging local people in the design and operation of the BDS will ensure the system is tailored to the local needs, therefore reinforcing participation and the incentives offered through REDD+ SNV’s approach to local BDS design is framed around four key themes (see Figure 1) further described in Box be cy s ns Tr a g rin ito pa on re n M •Monitoring payments and performance •Locally representative recourse mechanisms •Directly engaging beneficiaries around benefit timing, size, type and delivery, ensuring methods are culturally appropriate and people make informed choices •Linking perfomance and benefits tic is fit ter ne ec Be har c •Applying a consultative framework along side of key local authorities, NGOs and potential beneficiaries to determine local views on eligibility ne De fic fin ia ing rie s Figure 1: SNV’s approach to local BDS design •Identifying and addressing key risks and incentive structures at the local level Peskett, L., Vickers, B and Graham, K (2011) Equity issues in REDD+ Working paper produced for the project: “Safeguarding local equity as global values of ecosystem services rise” IUCN (2010) Building effective pro-poor REDD-plus interventions: How enhanced multi-stakeholder processes can ensure REDD-plus works for vulnerable communities Forest Conservation Programme Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC) 2012 Assessing Options for Effective Mechanisms to Share Benefits: Insights for REDD+ Initiatives Washington, DC: Program on Forests SNV REDD+ Box Key themes for pro poor BDS design Defining beneficiaries: correctly defining the beneficiaries will help determine where responsibilities lie for carrying out REDD+ activities It will also help identify those stakeholders who may be directly or indirectly affected by these activities This process will need to begin with an assessment of existing land tenure arrangements and identify how customary rights and overlapping land claims could influence whether people have legitimate claims to REDD+ benefits (Figure 2) Benefit characteristics: Directly engaging the identified beneficiaries in decisions around the types, timing and size of benefits will help to tailor the BDS to local needs This builds on the above process by acknowledging that different beneficiaries, particularly those with different tenure and land entitlements, will have different benefit preferences For example, those beneficiaries without formal recognition of land title may see this as an important potential benefit from REDD+ The participation of local stakeholders in arrangements to oversee the delivery of benefits will also facilitate smooth and transparent benefit sharing Support to local groups must be linked to performance in order to change behaviour Payments may be linked directly to the reduction in carbon emissions or may use agreed proxy measures for performance Monitoring performance: The BDS design will need to consider how REDD+ activities are monitored At the local level, this process could be facilitated through local engagement in monitoring activities This could allow local actors to self-check the benefits they receive against their performance in any REDD+ mechanism Monitoring efforts and benefit delivery should always be supported by robust recourse mechanisms These will ensure complaints or disputes around the BDS are acted upon Local representation on recourse mechanism bodies will be vital in terms of being seen by beneficiaries as a group of non-biased and independent individuals that can be openly approached 4 Transparency: The design of local level benefit sharing systems must involve steps to mitigate the risks of corruption at the local level4 Corruption risks should be identified early across all processes in the BDS design and operation Opportunities to mitigate these risks should first consider the integration into existing local processes to ensure the cost effectiveness of risk mitigation measures United Nations REDD Programme, Vietnam (UN-REDD), October 2010 Follow-up studies for the design of a REDD-compliant Benefit Distribution System in Viet Nam Adapted from: Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC) 2012 Assessing Options for Effective Mechanisms to Share Benefits: Insights for REDD+ Initiatives Washington, DC: Program on Forests Figure Key steps in defining beneficiaries5 Define legitimacy Identify beneficiaries Classify beneficiaries Local actors whose claims and use of natural resources should be recognised Review legal framework and property rights Assess perceived rights Property or other legal right (e.g legally recognised customary rights) Idenfiy forest resource beneficiaries Customary rights not recognised by law Local actors whose incentives need to be changed Beneficiaries on the basis of resource use SNV’s activities related to pro-poor BDS Developing an approach for pro-poor local BDS SNV is supporting REDD+ implementing organisations to put in place appropriate pro-poor BDS which fits their local context SNV is drawing on its experiences in REDD+ in Vietnam to build a generic step-wise approach which follows the four key themes set out in Figure The approach will be adaptable over time as our experiences develop To further refine our approach, SNV is focusing on: • Testing innovative approaches: SNV, in partnership with IIED and the University of Life Sciences (Norway), is testing new approaches to engage local actors in decisions around the BDS format These innovative methods will help fine-tune SNV’s existing tools (see below) for local engagement, and will help to tailor BDS models to local preferences • Linking local, sub-national and national systems: SNV recognises the need to link local processes to sub-national and national BDS In Vietnam, SNV achieves this through its active engagement in the national BDS subtechnical working group where it directly links its work at the local level to broader discussions around the national BDS architecture • Sharing and learning: Approaches for REDD+ BDS are emerging globally Through its strong network of national and international partners, including CIFOR, IIED, and government agencies, SNV is able to share its experiences and tap into the latest thinking and approaches for pro-poor BDS Availble at: http://www.worldagroforestrycentre.org/sea/files/abacus_manual Adapted from - Sikor, T., Enright, A., Nguyen Trung, T., Nguyen Vinh, Q.,Vu Van, M (2012) Piloting Local Decision Making in the Development of a REDD+ Compliant Benefit, for the UN-REDD Programme, Vietnam http://www.snvworld.org/en/sectors/redd/publications www.snvworld.org/redd Tools and methods to support the pro-poor BDS approach Tools for engaging local stakeholders in BDS decisions SNV was contracted by UN-REDD to design and test an innovative tool aimed at helping REDD+ implementing agencies tailor the local BDS to the needs of the identified beneficiaries This tool uses an interactive game-like approach to engage local actors in decisions around benefit types and timing, and introduces key concepts such as the conditionality of REDD+ benefits to local actors The basic steps which frame this approach are illustrated in Figure The approach has been piloted across several provinces of Vietnam Designing systems to deliver social and environmental co-benefits SNV supported the design of payment coefficients to help facilitate the delivery of social and environmental co-benefits (see Case study) The ‘R-coefficient’ for REDD+, weights benefits according to seven key ecological and social criteria In this way, the coefficient is designed to help support REDD+ activities in more disadvantaged communities, or ecologically diverse forests Approaches for measuring the costs of pro-poor BDS SNV recognises the importance of cost effectiveness in the context of a propoor BDS approach This means designing a BDS that is able to deliver benefits to local actors in an effective and low cost way so to ensure the long term sustainability of the delivery mechanism With the support of NORAD and project partners, SNV is developing methods to measure the operational costs associated with designing pro-poor BDS at the local level When combined with other cost estimates, such as SNV’s work in using the ABACUS6 model for measuring REDD+ opportunity costs, we are able to provide a clearer picture to implementing organisations of the costs of pro-poor REDD+ These approaches can be applied to help implementing partners identify key areas where implementation costs for the BDS can be reduced, ensuring more benefits flow to local actors Figure Basic steps used for engaging local actors in BDS decisions7 Awareness raising & communicating intentions Informed decision making Selecting benefits under full compliance Selecting the suite of benefit packages Tailoring benefits to local needs Observing benefit choices between groups Selecting benefits under noncompliance Introducing conditionality Verifying benefit selections Monitoring for transparency Case study: Delivering co-benefits through the BDS in Vietnam Recognising the opportunity to deliver co-benefits through the design of the national BDS, SNV, in association with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) and UN-REDD, assisted with the design of the R-coefficient – a payment coefficient aimed at weighting REDD+ payments according to seven criteria - income, ethnicity, gender, biodiversity, watershed, accessibility and protection impact The criteria were selected through a consultative process of both national and sub-national stakeholders involved in REDD+ The R-coefficient scales up or down the size of the performance based payment depending on the different socio-economic demographics in the REDD+ implementation area and the ecological value of the forest The coefficient assigns a weight to each of the seven factors of between 1.2 and 0.8 depending on the individual criteria of the area The seven criteria are then multiplied together by the total incremental carbon amount over the given period to come up with a final multiplier to determine the total carbon payment owed The R-coefficient is currently being trialled in Lam Dong Province, Vietnam Supported by: Contact: Adrian Enright BDS Lead aenright@snvworld.org For more information on the SNV REDD+ Programme go to www.snvworld.org/redd and follow us on twitter: @SNVREDD If you are interested in receiving our bimonthly newsletter then please contact Nga: nnguyendaotuyet@snvworld.org SNV REDD+ www.snvworld.org/redd ld / dd ... the suite of benefit packages Tailoring benefits to local needs Observing benefit choices between groups Selecting benefits under noncompliance Introducing conditionality Verifying benefit selections... Contact: Adrian Enright BDS Lead aenright@snvworld.org For more information on the SNV REDD+ Programme go to www.snvworld.org/redd and follow us on twitter: @SNVREDD If you are interested in receiving... legitimate claims to REDD+ benefits (Figure 2) Benefit characteristics: Directly engaging the identified beneficiaries in decisions around the types, timing and size of benefits will help to