Governance of Forest Carbon Markets and Community Rights

Governance of forest carbon markets lies at the intersection of climate mitigation policy, financial mechanisms and the rights of forest‐dependent communities. These markets, whether compliance-based or voluntary, create incentives to reduce emissions from deforestation and degradation by assigning monetary value to stored carbon. Effective governance requires clear land and carbon tenure, transparent benefit-sharing mechanisms, robust measurement and verification systems, and the safeguarding of community interests. Securing rights to land and resources, obtaining free, prior and informed consent and ensuring equitable distribution of revenues are fundamental to both carbon integrity and social justice. Governance arrangements also need to balance ecological objectives with local livelihoods, recognising traditional management systems and the relational values communities place on forests. The global expansion of forest carbon schemes highlights the need for coordinated regulation, institutional capacity building and adaptive frameworks that can respond to diverse socio-economic and ecological contexts.

Research from Nature Portfolio

A recent empirical evaluation employed a before-after-control-intervention framework to assess a large-scale voluntary REDD+ project in West Africa. Satellite imagery and household surveys revealed a 30% reduction in local deforestation compared with control areas, without measurable short-term changes in household wellbeing. The research also suggested a shift of labour towards non-forest-dependent activities, enhancing alternative income streams. Cost-effectiveness analysis indicated that avoided emissions amounted to roughly 340,000 tCO₂ per year at US$1.12 per tonne. This study offers a rigorous causal approach to impact assessment and informs the design and monitoring of future forest carbon initiatives.

Governance of Forest Carbon Markets and Community Rights publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in governance of forest carbon markets and community rights across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

REDD+: A mechanism to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, plus conservation, sustainable management and enhancement of forest carbon stocks.

Carbon offset: A reduction or removal of greenhouse gas emissions used to compensate for emissions occurring elsewhere.

Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES): Financial incentives provided to landholders or communities in exchange for managing land to deliver ecological services, such as carbon sequestration.

Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC): The process by which indigenous peoples and local communities are fully informed about projects affecting their lands and grant or withhold consent without coercion.

Tenure rights: Legal or customary rights to own, use, manage or benefit from land and its resources, critical for equitable participation in carbon markets.

References

1. Evaluating the impacts of a large-scale voluntary REDD+ project in Sierra Leone. Nature Sustainability (2024).
2. The political economy of net-zero transitions: Policy drivers, barriers, and justice benefits to decarbonization in eight carbon-neutral countries. Journal of Environmental Management (2023).
3. A framework based on payments for ecosystem services to support the delivery of high integrity carbon and biodiversity credits. Ecosystem Services (2025).
4. Accelerating subnational deforestation and forest degradation reduction efforts (REDD+): need for recognition of instrumental and relational value interactions. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability (2023).