Efficient, Sustainable, and Multifunctional Carbon Offsetting to Boost Forest Management: A Comparative Case Study
Research highlights: Funding forest management with subsidies from carbon offsetters is a well-documented mechanism in tropical regions. This article provides complementary insights into the use of voluntary offset contracts in temperate forests. Background and objectives: The mitigation of greenhou...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2021-03-01
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| Series: | Forests |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4907/12/4/386 |
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| author | Timothée Fouqueray Lucile Génin Michel Trommetter Nathalie Frascaria-Lacoste |
| author_facet | Timothée Fouqueray Lucile Génin Michel Trommetter Nathalie Frascaria-Lacoste |
| author_sort | Timothée Fouqueray |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Research highlights: Funding forest management with subsidies from carbon offsetters is a well-documented mechanism in tropical regions. This article provides complementary insights into the use of voluntary offset contracts in temperate forests. Background and objectives: The mitigation of greenhouse emissions has become a major global issue, leading to changes in forest management to increase the capacity of forests to store carbon. This can lead to conflicts of use with other forest ecosystem services such as timber production or biodiversity conservation. Our main goal is to describe collective actions to fund carbon-oriented forestry with subsidies from carbon offsetters and to analyze how their governance and functioning prevent conflicts pertaining to multi-functionality. Materials and methods: We assembled an interdisciplinary research team comprising two ecologists, a social scientist, and an economist. Drawing on a conceptual framework of ecosystem services, social interdependencies, and collective action, we based our qualitative analysis on semi-structured interviews from two French case studies. Results: Carbon-oriented intermediary forest organizations offer offset contracts to private firms and public bodies. Communication is geared toward the mitigation outcomes of the contracts as well as their beneficial side effects in providing the ecosystem services of interest to the offsetters. Subsidies then act as a financial lever to fund carbon-oriented forestry operations. Scientific committees and reporting methodologies serve as environmental, social, and economic safeguards. Conclusions: These new intermediary forest organizations use efficient forest operations and evaluation methodologies to improve forest carbon storage. Their main innovation lies in their collective governance rooted in regional forest social-ecological systems. Their consideration of multi-functionality and socioeconomic issues can be seen as an obstacle to rapid development, but they ensure sustainability and avoid conflicts between producers and beneficiaries of forest ecosystem services. Attention must be paid to interactions with broader spatial and temporal carbon policies. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T12:56:32Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-d0462f4abd444f449f098df3e93b38b1 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1999-4907 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T12:56:32Z |
| publishDate | 2021-03-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Forests |
| spelling | doaj.art-d0462f4abd444f449f098df3e93b38b12023-11-21T11:53:10ZengMDPI AGForests1999-49072021-03-0112438610.3390/f12040386Efficient, Sustainable, and Multifunctional Carbon Offsetting to Boost Forest Management: A Comparative Case StudyTimothée Fouqueray0Lucile Génin1Michel Trommetter2Nathalie Frascaria-Lacoste3Ecologie Systématique Evolution, CNRS, AgroParisTech, Université Paris-Saclay, 91405 Orsay, FranceEcologie Systématique Evolution, CNRS, AgroParisTech, Université Paris-Saclay, 91405 Orsay, FranceGAEL, Grenoble INP, CNRS, INRAE, Université Grenoble Alpes, 38000 Grenoble, FranceEcologie Systématique Evolution, CNRS, AgroParisTech, Université Paris-Saclay, 91405 Orsay, FranceResearch highlights: Funding forest management with subsidies from carbon offsetters is a well-documented mechanism in tropical regions. This article provides complementary insights into the use of voluntary offset contracts in temperate forests. Background and objectives: The mitigation of greenhouse emissions has become a major global issue, leading to changes in forest management to increase the capacity of forests to store carbon. This can lead to conflicts of use with other forest ecosystem services such as timber production or biodiversity conservation. Our main goal is to describe collective actions to fund carbon-oriented forestry with subsidies from carbon offsetters and to analyze how their governance and functioning prevent conflicts pertaining to multi-functionality. Materials and methods: We assembled an interdisciplinary research team comprising two ecologists, a social scientist, and an economist. Drawing on a conceptual framework of ecosystem services, social interdependencies, and collective action, we based our qualitative analysis on semi-structured interviews from two French case studies. Results: Carbon-oriented intermediary forest organizations offer offset contracts to private firms and public bodies. Communication is geared toward the mitigation outcomes of the contracts as well as their beneficial side effects in providing the ecosystem services of interest to the offsetters. Subsidies then act as a financial lever to fund carbon-oriented forestry operations. Scientific committees and reporting methodologies serve as environmental, social, and economic safeguards. Conclusions: These new intermediary forest organizations use efficient forest operations and evaluation methodologies to improve forest carbon storage. Their main innovation lies in their collective governance rooted in regional forest social-ecological systems. Their consideration of multi-functionality and socioeconomic issues can be seen as an obstacle to rapid development, but they ensure sustainability and avoid conflicts between producers and beneficiaries of forest ecosystem services. Attention must be paid to interactions with broader spatial and temporal carbon policies.https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4907/12/4/386forest managementmultifunctionalitycarbon offsetcollective actionconflict avoidancemitigation |
| spellingShingle | Timothée Fouqueray Lucile Génin Michel Trommetter Nathalie Frascaria-Lacoste Efficient, Sustainable, and Multifunctional Carbon Offsetting to Boost Forest Management: A Comparative Case Study Forests forest management multifunctionality carbon offset collective action conflict avoidance mitigation |
| title | Efficient, Sustainable, and Multifunctional Carbon Offsetting to Boost Forest Management: A Comparative Case Study |
| title_full | Efficient, Sustainable, and Multifunctional Carbon Offsetting to Boost Forest Management: A Comparative Case Study |
| title_fullStr | Efficient, Sustainable, and Multifunctional Carbon Offsetting to Boost Forest Management: A Comparative Case Study |
| title_full_unstemmed | Efficient, Sustainable, and Multifunctional Carbon Offsetting to Boost Forest Management: A Comparative Case Study |
| title_short | Efficient, Sustainable, and Multifunctional Carbon Offsetting to Boost Forest Management: A Comparative Case Study |
| title_sort | efficient sustainable and multifunctional carbon offsetting to boost forest management a comparative case study |
| topic | forest management multifunctionality carbon offset collective action conflict avoidance mitigation |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4907/12/4/386 |
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