Forest carbon tenure in Asia Pacific

Summary

Most Asia-Pacific countries do not specify ownership of sequestered carbon. Presumably, ownership, or substantive use rights of forests should be the first step for determining the entity most likely to have rights to carbon sequestered by forests. This is particularly true in Asia-Pacific, considering that many forest-dependent communities reject the notion that carbon can be divided and sold separately from other forestry rights. Therefore, a clear understanding of forest tenure and ownership in Asia-Pacific should be the first step to determine who owns carbon. This paper analyses the state of forest carbon rights on the Asia Pacific region.