Land Use Change, Carbon Sequestration and Poverty Alleviation

Leslie Lipper and Romina Cavatassi
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Leslie Lipper: Agricultural and Development Economics Division, Food and Agriculture Organization

No 03-13, Working Papers from Agricultural and Development Economics Division of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO - ESA)

Abstract: Land use change is a key requirement for improving rural incomes and making a significant reduction in poverty levels globally. Over 70% of the world’s poor are located in rural areas, with land use as a major source of subsistence. Improving the productivity of their land use systems is essential for increasing incomes and food security among them. Land use change is also a relatively low cost and rapidly implementable means of climate change mitigation. To the extent that the land use changes required for poverty alleviation coincide with that required for carbon sequestration, significant synergies can be harnessed in meeting both objectives. Estimates of predicted supply costs and demand prices indicate that several types of land use change appropriate for small and low income landusers will be a competitive source of emission reduction credits, although again there is considerable uncertainty in the final form of the market. However, even where there is significant potential for sequestration payments to contribute to poverty alleviation, considerable effort will be required to move from the objectives to the reality. In some cases this may be made through the structure of carbon sequestration payment programs, to address the investment and insurance needs of poor producers and provide adequate incentives for participation. In other cases larger institutional and policy reforms may be necessary in order to create the conditions necessary for poor landusers to benefit from carbon sequestration payments.

Keywords: Agrarian reform; Carbon cycle; Climatic change; Incentives; Income; Innovation adoption; Land; Land administration; Land economics; Land management; Land ownership; Land policies; Land use; Poverty; Rural development; Rural population; Subsistence farming; Carbon Sequestration; Land Use; Land Use Change; Poverty Alleviation; Technology Adoption (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O0 O13 Q12 Q2 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 22 pages
Date: 2003
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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Working Paper: Land use change, carbon sequestration and poverty alleviation (2003)
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