ID: 2173
Presenting Author: Paula PINTO
Session: 756 - Assessing Integrity: The Role of Impact Assessment in High-Quality Nature-Based Carbon Projects
Status: pending
Authentic community-led design strengthens integrity in nature-based carbon projects.
This session explores key lessons, risks, and the role of investors in building credible participation
Participation is often treated as a checkbox in nature-based carbon projects something to document, not to embody. Yet authentic, community-led design is essential to project integrity. This presentation explores how participation models can fail, evolve, or thrive, and what makes the difference. Drawing from field experience across multiple contexts, it shares three anonymized cases: one where a community and its technical partner jointly developed and submitted the carbon project, acting as co-implementers from the outset; another where limited early communication delayed safeguards and mitigation measures, increasing complexity and cost; and a third where strong engagement faces persistent threats such as illegal mining and insecurity; showing how participation and relationship-building are not just ethical imperatives but strategic necessities for forest protection. These examples reveal that when communities are empowered to co-design and eventually lead implementation, the result is not only stronger environmental outcomes but also greater social resilience. The presentation will highlight key design elements that support meaningful participation: inclusive governance structures, transparent benefit-sharing mechanisms, and culturally competent facilitation. It will also reflect on the risks of overpromising, undercommunicating, and assuming alignment without dialogue. Finally, the session underscores the critical role of investors not only in seeking integrity, but in actively building it alongside project developers and communities.
Social specialist with 10+ years of experience in impact assessment, gender, and international safeguards.
She currently works on nature-based carbon projects in Latin America and Africa.