Indigenous People’s Engagement with Forest-Based Carbon Offsetting: Challenges, Benefits, Strategies and Mitigating Circumstances

Abstract

There is an increasing interest in utilizing forests for their capacity to sequester greenhouse gases to mitigate climate change. This interest has translated into the development of Forest-Based Carbon Offset (FBCO) projects worldwide. Significant pools of stored carbon exist on lands that Indigenous Peoples own, manage, and/or reside upon, which offers current and potential engagement with FBCOs. I conducted a comparative case study analysis of Indigenous Peoples with long-term engagement with FBCOs in select states and provinces of Canada, USA, and Mexico, examining the barriers or enabling conditions imposed by policy, market forces, and natural environments, and the social, economic, political, and environmental outcomes of those engagements. My analysis revealed that the specific differences in the regulatory and political environments that mediates Indigenous Peoples’ tenure over their forestlands and the structure of the FBCO markets were key contextual factors that presented mixed challenges and benefits towards their ability to adapt these systems to enact their vision for their forests and communities.