Scales of Governance in Carbon Sinks Global Priorities and Local Realities

with effects at different scales, local to global. An increasing number of environmental issues exhibit such linkages, both in effect and in driving force, including loss of biodiversity, land degradation, and climate change. It is typically recognized that management of all commons, including the global atmosphere and forests, requires robust institutions to coordinate and cooperate at different scales (Ostrom and Ahn 2003). This involves interactions among institutions both horizontally (spatially) and vertically (across levels of organization), from the global to the local. In recent years, global environmental agreements have proliferated. There have been some two hundred global environmental agreements and protocols, including the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) and its Kyoto Protocol. The Kyoto Protocol is the first legally binding commitment by nations to curb greenhouse gas emissions to 5 percent below 1990 levels. Under the Protocol, the so-called flexible mechanisms have been established to combat greenhouse gas emissions cost-effectively. One of these mechanisms, the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), allows developed countries to offset emissions through energy or forest projects that mitigate carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and allows developing countries to voluntarily participate in efforts to reduce greenhouse gases in return for payments from developed countries. The CDM is considered by many developing countries an important and attractive opportunity Chapter 6