pursuing climate change mitigation and poverty alleviation through market-based forest carbon

183 Pages·2017·2.44 MB·English

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Theses and Dissertations--Geography Geography
2014
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Jonathan Otto
University of Kentucky, [email protected]
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Otto, Jonathan, "CARBON FORESTRY: PURSUING CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION AND POVERTY
ALLEVIATION THROUGH MARKET-BASED FOREST CARBON SCHEMES IN CHIAPAS, MEXICO" (2014).
Theses and Dissertations--Geography. 28.
https://uknowledge.uky.edu/geography_etds/28
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Jonathan Otto, Student
Dr. Tad Mutersbaugh, Major Professor
Dr. Patricia Ehrkamp, Director of Graduate Studies
CARBON FORESTRY:
PURSUING CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION AND POVERTY ALLEVIATION
THROUGH MARKET-BASED FOREST CARBON SCHEMES IN CHIAPAS, MEXICO

DISSERTATION

A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the
College of Arts and Sciences
at the University of Kentucky

By
Jonathan James Otto
Director: Dr. Tad Mutersbaugh, Professor of Geography
Lexington, Kentucky
2014

Copyright © Jonathan James Otto 2014
ABSTRACT OF DISSERTATION

CARBON FORESTRY:
PURSUING CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION AND POVERTY ALLEVIATION
THROUGH MARKET-BASED FOREST CARBON SCHEMES IN CHIAPAS, MEXICO

Forest carbon projects seek to alleviate rural poverty and mitigate global climate change by
facilitating the flow of capital from actors looking to offset CO emissions to land managers
2
willing to engage in offset-oriented reforestation, afforestation, and forest preservation activities.
In Mexico, forest carbon schemes have been pursued within the country’s national Payment for
Ecosystem Services (PES) program, and through REDD+ pilot projects and separate voluntary
initiatives. In this dissertation, I explore one voluntary project, Scolel’ Te, which is managed by
the non-governmental organization (NGO), AMBIO. Focusing on the case of Scolel’ Te, I show
how forest carbon projects undermine social relations in ways that weaken participating
communities and threaten project success. First, I examine how carbon forestry market
integration undermines social relations by pushing risk on participant labor and encouraging the
establishment of disenfranchising labor arrangements. Second, I analyze how farmer
participation in Scolel’ Te undermines social relations within broader community settings. Such
effects, I argue, are only visible when analyzing the social ramifications of carbon forestry within
the context of intra-community social relations. Finally, drawing on labor studies, I critically re-
assess the role of participatory methods in carbon forestry, suggesting that they undermine the
social relations of production between farmers and project managers, thereby threatening project
success. This analysis demonstrates how shifting market dynamics, historical factors, and labor
processes converge in the context of carbon forestry, and underscores the implications of such
work for participating farmers and carbon forestry more broadly.

KEYWORDS: Carbon Forestry, Mexico, Labor, Political Ecology, Development

Jonathan James Otto

Student’s Signature

Date
CARBON FORESTRY:
PURSUING CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION AND POVERTY ALLEVIATION
THROUGH MARKET-BASED FOREST CARBON SCHEMES IN CHIAPAS, MEXICO

By

Jonathan James Otto

Dr. Tad Mutersbaugh

Director of Dissertation

Dr. Patricia Ehrkamp

Director of Graduate Studies

December 1, 2014
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Countless individuals and organizations have assisted me in completing this dissertation.
First and foremost, my appreciation goes to AMBIO, to the two communities who collaborated
with me in this research, and to the Fulbright Foundation and Inter-American Foundation who
provided funding for this dissertation research. Without your generosity and support this
dissertation would never have been completed. I am indebted to AMBIO for allowing me to
research their organization and their program. You opened your doors to me and shared your
time, and for that I am extremely grateful. To the families in the two communities who
generously welcomed me into their homes, and who taught me so much more than this
dissertation could ever reflect, thank you. Finally, thank you to the Fulbright Foundation and
Inter-American Foundation which provided me with generous funding for this research, and
which connected me to dear friends, accomplished scholars and professionals who both inspire
and motivate me. It is my hope that this research facilitates and encourages the continued pursuit
of development and environmental conservation projects that are truly enriching and empowering
for all who are involved.
I am extremely grateful to my dissertation advisor, Tad Mutersbaugh, for his dedication
to my growth as a scholar and for shaping how I know and think about Mexico. Tad’s
commitment to my research was unending, and his energy and enthusiasm were constant.
Moreover, his feedback and insights were central to the completion of this dissertation. Tad, this
dissertation would not have been completed without you. I am also grateful to my dissertation
committee - Sue Roberts, Morgan Robertson and Lisa Cliggett – for their support and feedback
throughout the research process.
Thank you to my family for your love and support. You were patient with me throughout
the process, and you believed in me even when I did not believe in myself. The dissertation
research and writing process would have been unimaginable without you. I love you and am
forever grateful for your presence in my life.
Finally, thank you to my friends in Mexico and Kentucky who made the dissertation
research ever more gratifying. Over the course of six years you very graciously and generously
shared your lives, homes and time with me. You provided me sanctuary in times of need and
encouragement in the face of doubt. I will never forget the horse rides, Ultimate Frisbee games
and salsa dancing.
To all who accompanied me on this journey: you have inspired me and enriched my life.
You were both the catalyst that sparked this endeavor, and the source of energy that encouraged
its completion. I can only hope that the next adventure will be equally rewarding.
iii
TABLE OF CONTENTS

Acknowledgements ......................................................................................................................... iii

List of Tables .................................................................................................................................. vi

List of Figures ................................................................................................................................ vii

Chapter 1: Introduction: Carbon Forestry and the Undermining of Social Relations ...................... 1
Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 1
Argument 1: Carbon Forestry Market Integration Undermines Social Relations
by Pushing Risk on Participant Labor ................................................................... 5
Argument 2: Carbon Forestry Threatens Farmer Standing Within Participating
Communities .......................................................................................................... 6
Argument 3: Carbon Forestry Reshapes Farmer Relationships to Land and
Undercuts their Relationships to AMBIO and Scolel’ Te ..................................... 8
Contextualizing Scolel’ Te Within Regional Development Practice .................................. 9
Case 1: Cacao in Southeastern Mexico ................................................................ 10
Case 2: Highway Development in Chiapas ........................................................ 13

Chapter 2: Contextualizing Carbon Forestry: Situating Scolel’ Te within Carbon Markets and
Chiapas’ Social History of Development....................................................................................... 19
Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 19
Market-based Environmental Conservation ........................................................ 20
Development as Neoliberalism ............................................................................ 23
Voluntary Carbon Markets ............................................................................................... 25
Compliance Markets ............................................................................................ 26
Differences Between Voluntary and Compliance Markets .................................. 27
Carbon Markets: The Mexico Context ................................................................ 30
Development and the Sierra Madre of Chiapas ................................................................ 32
Farming in the Sierra Madre ................................................................................ 34
Changing Attitudes Toward Rural Life ............................................................... 36
Health and Education ........................................................................................... 37
Chiapas’ Development History ............................................................................ 39
Phase 1: Colonial Chiapas and the Post-Colonial 19th Century ........................... 40
Phase 2: Post-Revolutionary Development, 1910 – 1993.................................... 41
Phase 3: Counterinsurgency and Contemporary Development ........................... 44
Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 47

Chapter 3: Expanding the Carbon Credit Commodity Chain: Assessing Risk and Inequality in
Carbon Credit Production .............................................................................................................. 48
Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 48
Labor, Chains, Networks and Transactions: Understanding the Carbon Economy .......... 49
Extended Labor Processes and the Extended Division of Labor ......................... 50
Chains Framework ............................................................................................... 51
Transactions Costs ............................................................................................... 54
Market Risks: The Great Recession, and the Twin Challenges of Too Much Biodiversity
and of Not Being Poor Enough ......................................................................................... 56
Increasing Value through Biodiversity and Social Indicators ............................. 61
Extended Labor Processes, Unequal Cost and Risk Distribution and the Expansion of
Scolel’ Te in the Sierra Madre .......................................................................................... 63
iv
Preliminary Phases of Project Expansion: Research and Networking Costs ....... 63
Project Implementation/Project Permanence: Cheap Técnico Labor and the
Management of Market Risk and Project Costs .................................................. 66
Non-Técnico Work and the Implementation of Scolel’ Te .................................. 70
Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 72

Chapter 4: Carbon Forestry and the Social Effects of Participation: Community Experiences of
Carbon Forestry in Chiapas, Mexico ............................................................................................. 74
Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 74
Case #1 ................................................................................................................. 74
Case #2 ................................................................................................................. 75
NGO Approaches to Mobilizing Project Labor ................................................... 79
Interdependence and the Relational Nature of Social Life in Mexico ................. 81
Ejidos, Ejidatarios and Prestige in Community Development .......................................... 87
Ejidal Authority, Social Standing and Access to Development Projects ............. 91
Viewing Scolel’ Te from the Prestige Angle .................................................................... 92
Monitoring ........................................................................................................... 93
Payments as a Source of Tension ........................................................................ 96
Threat to Prestige: Late Payments, No Payments ................................................ 99
Threat to Prestige: Charges of Conspiracy and Corruption ............................... 105
Conclusion ...................................................................................................................... 108

Chapter 5: Managing Labor and Generating Buy-In: Participatory Carbon Forestry in Chiapas,
Mexico ......................................................................................................................................... 110
Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 110
Mainstream and NGO Perspectives on Participation in Development .............. 111
From Participation to Buy-in: Analyzing Participation as Discourse and Labor
Process ............................................................................................................... 113
Securing the future of carbon development: AMBIO and the Plan Vivo Mapping ........ 117
Plan Vivo Mapping: Trust and the Farmer-Manager Relationship .................... 118
Plan Vivo Mapping: Reshaping Farmer Relationships to Their Land ............... 120
Plan Vivo Mapping: Shifting Farmer Relationships to Carbon Capital ............ 127
Participant Training ........................................................................................................ 129
Educating Desires, Configuring Habits and Beliefs .......................................... 130
Conclusion ...................................................................................................................... 134

Chapter 6: Conclusions ................................................................................................................ 135

Appendices
Appendix A: Dissertation Research Methods ................................................................. 141
Semi-Structured Interviews ............................................................................... 141
Participant Observation ...................................................................................... 151
Data Analysis from NGO Videos and Documents ............................................ 157

References .................................................................................................................................... 159

Vita............................................................................................................................................... 172

v
LIST OF TABLES

Table 2.1 Health Statistics for Sierra Madre Region ..................................................................... 38
Table 3.1 AMBIO Carbon Offset Transactions (MtCO e), 2008-2011 ......................................... 59
2
Table 1A Interviewees from AMBIO .......................................................................................... 142
Table 2A Coded Words and Phrases from Interviews with AMBIO Regarding Plan Vivo
Mapping, its Role in Scolel’ Te, and Justifications for Using it to Secure Community Buy-in .. 142
Table 3A Interviewees from One Community Participating in Scolel’ Te in the Sierra Madre
Region .......................................................................................................................................... 146
Table 4A Interviewees from a Second Community Participating in Scolel’ Te in the Sierra Madre
Region .......................................................................................................................................... 147
Table 5A The Single Interviewee from a Third Community in the Sierra Madre Region........... 149
Table 6A Coded Words and Phrases from Interviews with Farmers in Two Communities
Regarding Land-Use Decisions and the Factors Shaping Decision-Making Processes ............... 149
Table 7A Coded Words and Phrases from Interviews with Farmers in Two Communities
Regarding Climate Change, the Relationship of Scolel’ Te to Climate Change, and Their
Motivations for Participating in Carbon Forestry ........................................................................ 150
Table 8A Coded Words and Phrases from Interviews with Farmers in Two Communities
Indicating Farmer Attitudes Toward Scolel’ Te .......................................................................... 150
Table 9A Modes of Transportation and Travel Times Required to Travel from Communities in
the Sierra Madre Region to AMBIO’s Offices in San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas .............. 152
Table 10A Coded Words and Phrases from Field Notes from Participant Observation with
Técnicos Comunitarios While Travelling to San Cristóbal, While Participating in Reuniones
Semestrales, and While Living in Their Respective Communities .............................................. 154
Table 11A Key Words and Phrases from Analyzed Documents Illustrating the Logics and Modes
of Thinking AMBIO Sought to Diffuse to Participating Communities Through Member
Education Programs ..................................................................................................................... 157

vi
LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1.1 General Project Area of Scolel’ Te in Oaxaca and Chiapas ........................................... 3
Figure 1.2 Organizational Relations in Scolel’ Te ........................................................................... 4
Figure 1.3 Early Highway Construction between San Cristóbal de las Casas and Mitzitón ......... 14
Figure 2.1 Map of Chiapas’ Five Key Regions ............................................................................. 35
Figure 3.1 Market Sectors of Scolel’ Te ........................................................................................ 58
Figure 3.2 Market Share by Co-benefits Standard in 2012 ............................................................ 60
Figure 4.1 Monitoring Tree Plantings in the Sierra Madre ............................................................ 94
Figure 4.2 Monitoring Tree Plantings in the Sierra Madre ............................................................ 94
Figure 4.3 Unclean Tree Planting .................................................................................................. 95
Figure 4.4 Clean Tree Planting ...................................................................................................... 96
Figure 4.5 Meeting with Técnicos at AMBIO’s Offices in San Cristóbal de las Casas .............. 101
Figure 4.6 Evening Gathering of Family and Neighbors in the Sierra Madre Region ................ 107
Figure 5.1 Completed Plan Vivo Map ......................................................................................... 123
Figure 5.2 Plan Vivo Mapping with Community Mappers and Mapping Coordinators.............. 126
Figure 5.3 Carbon Capital and Risk Mitigation in Scolel’ Te ..................................................... 129
Figure 1A Cockfight in the Sierra Madre Region ........................................................................ 156

vii