Submitted by Rosina Valeria Lanzellotti Mattiussi Teixeira (rosina.teixeira@unisantos.br) on 2015-05-29T14:16:36Z No. of bitstreams: 1 FLAVIA MARTINS DA SILVA.pdf: 497417 bytes, checksum: 0a7e626a4d3f5de72fb63eb68446fdeb (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-05-29T14:16:36Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 FLAVIA MARTINS DA SILVA.pdf: 497417 bytes, checksum: 0a7e626a4d3f5de72fb63eb68446fdeb (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-05-16 / The problem of climate change is one of the major challenges faced by mankind. The situation of the greenhouse effect and the ozone layer hole is the foremost threat to human life. One of the key causes for this situation was the exploration and fossil fuels usage and the high rates of deforestation in the world, mainly in Brazil. The Kyoto Protocol, created during the Conference of the Parties nº III held in the city of Kyoto, Japan in 1997 with the purpose of supplementing the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and establish a quantitative emission reduction limit of greenhouse gas (GHG) for countries under such Convention. At the present time the Kyoto Protocol is the only international climate agreement. The Protocol created flexibility mechanisms to achieve the ultimate goal of the Framework Convention, which is highlighted by the Clean Development Mechanism, which generated the carbon credits market. The mechanism for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation with increasing forest carbon stocks in developing countries (REDD) is currently a voluntary mechanism suggested by some countries that take part in the Convention, and recommended to assist developing countries to combat deforestation and degradation especially in tropical forests. The present paper aims to provide an overview of the trajectory of the Kyoto protocol in international environmental law, as well as demonstrate the importance and urgency of the matter of the problem of climatic changes. / O problema das mudanças climáticas é um dos maiores desafios enfrentados pelo ser humano. A situação do efeito estufa e do buraco na camada de ozônio é uma grande ameaça para a vida humana. Uma das maiores causas para esse panorama foi a exploração e uso de combustíveis fósseis e as taxas elevadas de desmatamento no mundo, principalmente no Brasil. O Protocolo de Quioto, criado durante a Conferência das Partes n° 3, realizada na cidade de Quioto, Japão, em 1997, com a finalidade de complementar a Convenção Quadro das Nações Unidas sobre o Clima e estabelecer de maneira quantitativa limites de redução de emissão de gases de efeito estufa (GEE) para os países comprometidos pela Convenção. Atualmente o Protocolo de Quioto é o único Protocolo internacional climático. O Protocolo criou mecanismos de flexibilização para alcançar o objetivo final da Convenção Quadro, dos quais destacamos o Mecanismo de Desenvolvimento Limpo, que gerou o mercado de créditos de carbono. O mecanismo de Redução de Emissão do Desmatamento e Degradação Florestal com aumento de estoques de carbono florestal em países em desenvolvimento (REDD+) é atualmente um mecanismo voluntário sugerido por alguns países partes da Convenção, e recomendado para auxiliar os países em desenvolvimento a combaterem o desmatamento e degradação em especial nas florestas tropicais. O presente trabalho pretende fornecer um panorama sobre a trajetória do Protocolo de Quioto e do problema das mudanças climáticas, bem como mostrar a importância e urgência do tratamento do tema em questão.

The main objective of this study is to evaluate climate change mitigation strategies in the forestry and energy sectors in the SADC with emphasis on the DRC and the RSA. This study is evaluative and cross-sectional. Its results were got through interviews of 56 key informants using the interview guide, and four focus group discussions in the DRC based on the focus group guide. The non-probability sample, mainly the purposive sample and the snowballing sampling were used. After the data analysis, the following results were found: In terms of the strategies for fighting drivers of deforestation both in the DRC and in RSA, it was revealed that the DRC focuses more on the REDD+ projects and NGO activities while the RSA protects its small existing natural forests through Acts, laws, advanced research and establishment of commercial plantations. The results which are related to the contribution of REDD programmes and NGOs to climate change mitigation in the RSA and the DRC have revealed that there are no REDD programmes in the RSA for carbon stock. In the DRC, the NOVACEL REDD+ pilot project has a carbon stock of 60 000 tons which continues to grow with 8 tons of CO2 /ha/year; 210 tons/ha/year on the left side of the Congo River, and on the right side 195 tons/ha/year is generated by the Isangi Geographically Integrated REDD+ pilot project. The WCS Mambasa Forestry REDD+ pilot project has 230 tons/ha/year, while 16 000 tons of CO2/year are stocked under the Luki REDD+ pilot project. The Eco-Makala and Equatorial REDD+ pilot projects have not yet estimated their carbon stocks. Regarding the involvement of the civil society in activities of climate change mitigation in the DRC, people are more involved in REDD’s alternative activities which are funded by the projects. However, in the RSA, people are used as labour in commercial plantations. The RSA derives its major energy from coal (94%) but the DRC has a high potential in hydropower that can generate up to 100 000 MGW. On the use of remote sensing, both the DRC and the RSA employ remote sensing but the RSA has a Spatial Agency while the DRC does not / College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences / D. Litt. et Phil. (Environmental Science)

Environmental positive externalities from public provision, such as the benefits yielded from the public measure of nature conservation, are often not internalized. Potential sub-optimal public service provision can be expected from such a condition, leading to inefficiency, if the benefits at a greater territorial scale are not acknowledged. This holds particularly true for intergovernmental fiscal relations in a decentralizing multi-tiered governmental system. Moreover, in developing countries the fiscal capacities to perform measures of ecological public functions are limited with their fiscal needs for these functions often appearing to outweigh their fiscal capacities. Research at the interface of the economic theory of fiscal federalism, the sustainability concept, and policies related to conservation and the environment is relatively new. Furthermore, in the literature on environmental federalism the emphasis tends to be comparatively less on the benefits of positive environmental externalities. The essential contribution of this study is an extension of this research field that is still in its infancy by applying the specific case of Indonesia as the context, on account of this tropical country‟s ecological significance as well as its recent developments during the fiscal decentralization process. The overall aim of this study is to assess the possibilities of ecological fiscal transfers as a set of instruments in the public sector to internalize environmental externalities. To this end, the study traces the development as well as the current state of intergovernmental fiscal transfers in Indonesia in terms of ecological purposes. On the basis of this knowledge, the study offers new policy perspectives by proposing a number of policy options for ecological fiscal transfers in the context of the functioning fiscal transfer system and institutions between the national and the subnational (province and local) governments as well as among jurisdictions at the same governmental level. The incorporation of an explicit ecological indicator into general-purpose transfers is the first option. The second option is derived from a revenue-sharing arrangement. In this arrangement, two sub-options are proposed: first, shared revenues from taxes are distributed on the basis of the ecological indicator and, second, shared revenues from natural resources are earmarked for environmental purposes. Finally, the third option suggests an extension of existing specific-purpose transfers for the environment. The potential and limitations of the respective options are addressed. Additionally, a short treatment is given to the discourse on the possible mobilization of fiscal resources in the context of tropical deforestation and global climate change. The research concentrates mainly on the first option, namely the incorporation of an ecological indicator into the structure of general-purpose transfer allocation. In order to substantiate an explicit ecological dimension in the transfer, it extends the present area-based approach by introducing a protected area indicator while maintaining the remaining socio-economic indicators in the fiscal need calculation. The parameter values of area-related indicators are adjusted and subject to the properties of the existing formula. The simulation at the provincial level yields the following results. First, more provinces lose rather than gain from the introduced ecological fiscal transfer when compared to the fiscal transfer that they received in the reference fiscal year. Second, on average the winning provinces obtain a higher level of transfer from the introduction of an ecological indicator in the fiscal need calculation. The extent of the average decreases for the losing provinces, however, it is lower compared to the extent of the average gain by their winning counterparts. In terms of spatial configurations of the general-purpose transfer with an ecological indicator, provinces in Papua would benefit most from the new fiscal regime whereas provinces in Java and Sulawesi, with a few exceptions, would suffer a transfer reduction. Kalimantan and Sumatera show a mixed pattern of winning and losing provinces. The analysis on the equalization effects of the general-purpose transfers makes the following important contributions. It suggests that, first, the transfers are equalizing and, second, the introduction of the protected area indicator into the structure of these transfers plays a significant role in the equalizing effect, particularly in the presence of provinces with a very high fiscal capacity and when the area variable is also controlled. All of these new insights are imperative in the design of fiscal policy which intends to integrate explicit ecological aspects into the instruments of intergovernmental fiscal transfers. Since a formula-based fiscal transfer distribution is intrinsically zero-sum, the aforementioned configuration of winning and losing jurisdictions is conceivable. Among other future perspectives, it is the task of further research to explore ecological fiscal transfer instruments and associated measures that on the one hand seek to induce the losing provinces to join their winning counterparts and, on the other hand, are still subject to the requirements of the rational fiscal transfer mechanism.

No description available.