Institutional Networks and Community-driven Adaptation and Mitigation Ashwini Chhatre University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Adaptation, Mitigation, and Community All adaptation is local Some mitigation is local as well Not all mitigation supports adaptation Local integration of adaptation and mitigation

Institutional Mediation

Institutional Types Public institutions Civic institutions Elected local government Line ministry agencies, para-statal organizations Civic institutions Producer organizations (cooperatives, etc.) Membership-based non-profit organizations Market institutions Commodity markets Credit market (banks, etc.)

Institutions, Networks, and Co-evolution Articulation Access Feedback Co-evolution

Adaptive Capacity Adaptive capacity as a function of the density of cross-scale institutional networks Capacity to balance adaptation and mitigation Interventions to increase access and articulation to facilitate self-organization Investments in local democracy – information, knowledge, leadership

Forests, Adaptation, Mitigation Estimated 1.2 billion people depend on forests Forest degradation causes significant emissions Reducing emissions from forest degradation Promise of interventions in forestry Potential negative consequences for the rural poor Possibile ‘win-win’ scenarios

REDD and Community Forestry REDD Requirements Reference scenarios Monitoring Forest Carbon Partnership Facility Room for institutional experiments Promise of community-owned forests Positive impact of tenure security Optimal use of local knowledge

From REDD to communities A system of positive incentives Lessons from community forestry for adaptation and mitigation Limits of project-based interventions Neglect of trade-offs and leakage Poor targeting of vulnerable groups National REDD credits and local distribution of benefits Institutional networks, access, and articulation

Financial Mechanisms Budget mechanisms: Ring fencing Poverty Action Fund, Uganda Fiscal mechanisms: Ecological value-added tax ICMS Ecologico, Brazil Market mechanisms: Carbon as collateral for development Micro-finance and savings & credit groups Public-private partnerships

Conclusion Investment in institutional networks Cross-scale interventions for community-level adaptation and mitigation Central role of public institutions, especially elected local governments A combination of financial mechanisms necessary