Sophie Chapman, Rowena Maguire, Mona Doshi, Caroline Wanjiku Kago, Nelly Kamunde-Aquino, Leah Kiguatha, Elizabeth Dooley, Gretchen Engbring

Carbon & Climate Law Review, Volume 9 (2015), Issue 4, Page 283 - 297

Benefit-sharing is one of the most current and controversial topics within REDD+ policy debates at the national level. It encompasses a range of different issues, and the practical design of benefit-sharing mechanisms within both REDD+ projects and wider jurisdictional programmes is a complex task. A legal perspective of benefit-sharing offers an organising framework comprised of different “elements” which can be used to understand how existing laws apply to benefit-sharing and also to inform the structure of future benefit-sharing mechanisms. Kenya is currently reviewing its governance arrangements for REDD+, including how to manage existing project-level activities within a national programme. With a view to contributing to ongoing discussions regarding the governance of benefit-sharing under REDD+, this article considers how current Kenyan laws inform benefit-sharing arrangements for REDD+ and discusses issues that will require further attention moving forward.

Sophie Chapman, Martijn Wilder, Ilona Millar, Arjuna Dibley, Donal Yeang, Joe Heffernan, Kirtiman Sherchan, Rowena Maguire, Caroline Wanjiku Kago, Nelly Kamunde-Aquino, Leah Kiguatha, Yvonne Nana Afua Idun, Mona Doshi, Gretchen Engbring, Elizabeth Dooley

Carbon & Climate Law Review, Volume 9 (2015), Issue 2, Page 143 - 155

This article discusses two key issues in REDD+ design and implementation at the national level – carbon rights, and benefit sharing. Both carbon rights and benefit sharing can be understood as new legal concepts (although they build on existing law), and as legal concepts they offer a framework for addressing related areas of REDD+ policy. Many countries are currently considering how to manage carbon rights and benefit sharing issues, including Cambodia and Kenya. Both of these countries host existing forest carbon projects and are also in the process of designing national REDD+ programmes. This article uses a conceptual framework for carbon rights and benefit sharing derived from legal analysis to consider the cases of both Cambodia and Kenya, and also includes a general discussion of the challenges countries might encounter when considering how to manage carbon rights and benefit sharing in the context of REDD+ implementation.