Presentation short abstract

This presentation explores the ways & degree to which North American Indigenous Peoples with long-term engagement with forest-based carbon offsetting have adapted it to meet their vision for their forests & their communities, the barriers and challenges they overcame in doing so & those that remain.

Presentation long abstract

Forest-based carbon offsets (FBCOs), allow companies, governments or individuals to mitigate their greenhouse gas emissions by purchasing “offsets” produced through changes in management practices by landowners. Indigenous Peoples are often targeted by FBCO developers. While many Indigenous Peoples have actively rejected FBCOs based on objections to the concept of commodification of nature, concern over the potential for exploitation by market actors and/or loss of control over their forest lands, others have chosen to engage. Based on cases of North American Indigenous Peoples’ long-term engagements with FBCO, this presentation will explore the ways and degree to which these groups have been able to adapt this externally constructed construct and market to meet their own vision for their forests and their communities, the barriers and challenges they overcame in doing so and those that remain. Through interventions in law, policy and offsetting protocols and adaptations to conform implementation to traditional land use, governance and relational practices, these engagements have produced some positive outcomes, including financial benefits, strengthening of organizational capacity, revitalization of land use practices, and increased access to and control of land and natural resources. However, considerable challenges remain, including financial risk from market volatility and changing requirements, significant undervaluing of the intense labor, knowledge and commitment required and lack of recognition of the interrelation of the well-being of human and forest communities.