In the wake of the Kyoto Protocol of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) a strong interest has emerged on the role of forests as sinks for greenhouse gases. However, to date the mechanisms suggested to bring about such ‘global environmental management’ have yet to realize the co-benefits of global mitigation and local development. This thesis examines the local impacts and benefits accrued from such schemes within a cross-scale analysis of global, national and local institutions.

Set within a political ecology framework this thesis explores four key research questions. At the global level environmental discourses are examined to identify the global values, ideologies and aspirations for the Kyoto Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism. In the context of two forest carbon projects, the Noel Kempff Mercado Climate Action Project (NKMCAP) in Bolivia and the Peugeot/ONF Project in Brazil, the thesis assesses the impacts of shifting property rights, the project “fit” with local development priorities, and distribution of benefits. Finally, the thesis addresses how forest carbon projects in the post-Kyoto policy environment could be designed to ensure that schemes driven by global interests benefit the local context.

The research adopts a qualitative approach to analysing empirical data. Data were collected at the UNFCCC Conference of the Parties and SBSTA meetings during 2000 to 2002 by direct observation, extensive note taking and 20 semi-structured interviews with key policy-makers, NGOs, private companies, scientific community and indigenous peoples. Case study data were collected in Bolivia and Brazil using ethnographic and participatory methods, and 142 semi-structured and structured stakeholder and key informant interviews undertaken with local community members, local organizations, municipality, project developers and government. Primary data were triangulated with secondary information, such as project and policy documents. The research draws on three different forms of analysis: discourse, institutional and stakeholder analysis.

The thesis finds that the global discourse is largely governed by a heterogeneous yet dominant managerial discourse. A counter narrative associated with the indigenous and local peoples at the UNFCCC helps to mirror the managerial discourse as largely illegible for those countries or individuals experiencing climate change at the local level. Local realities are explored at the national and local level in the context of the NKMCAP and Peugeot/ONF where developers have tended to prioritise carbon or conservation benefits over enhancing social benefits. Negative short term impacts from shifting property rights and limited distribution of benefits to poor people are associated with poor project design, weak institutional arrangements and lack of clear project criteria. Examining such schemes within the national and global policy context has emphasized just how pivotal cross-scale institutions are to addressing the balance between global priorities and local realities.