Costs of “Green Economy”

This dossier explores the connections, between carbon credit programs, such as initiatives in organic and biodiversity conservation, and their impact, on the traditional practices and land rights of indigenous Lepcha communities. It uncovers the consequences of carbon trading and government-backed "green economy" policies. The dossier highlights the dynamics of land acquisition disguised as preservation by examining the establishment of Khangchendzonga National Park (KNP) in Sikkim, Eastern Himalaya. This investigation aims to analyze the drawbacks of carbon trade and government-promoted "economy" approaches while showcasing how local land rights and customs are linked with environmental goals and financial incentives. It critiques the current development model adopted in the Indian Himalayas, which focuses on a conservation-pastoral eviction-carbon credit coupling. This quantifies and puts monetary value into the natural ecosystem service and carbon sequestration. Here, the state government restricts the land access of the underclass, thereby benefiting from international carbon trading platforms. 

The dossier starts by introducing Sikkim's context and analyzing the historical transition of the Sikkim State government’s strategies for carbon credit initiatives and green economy policies. The first section introduces the current development mode from carbon credit generating production and gaining funding from global carbon market trade, as well as their impact on indigenous communities and land rights. The following section analyzes specifically organic farming and carbon forestry, as carbon credit-generating projects, lead to land appropriation and economic coercion in Sikkim. This in turn calls for discussing the role of developed countries in supporting these production modes for carbon credit trade. The third section examines the exclusionary approach of establishment and management of Khangchendzonga National Park (KNP), as a UNESCO-recognized site, because of the governmental effort to promote biodiversity conservations to offset carbon emissions and earn carbon credits on the global market.

Sikkim is a state situated in the eastern Himalayas region of India, despite comprising a mere 0.2% of India's total land area. The state has been designated as one of the 34 global biodiversity hotspots. Hotspots for biodiversity are considered crucial locations for sequestering carbon and supporting conservation efforts that can help balance off carbon emissions from other parts of the globe. Since the mid-1990s, Sikkim's state government has attracted carbon funding for biodiversity conservation, eco-tourism, and other "climate-resilient" projects in several sectors.   As explained in “Carbon Sequestration through Carbon Farming to Earn Carbon Credit,” landowners are encouraged to implement sustainable land management techniques that mitigate climate change while generating new revenue streams through the purchasing and selling of carbon credits in carbon farming.   In “Land Grabbing and Carbon Quisling,” the author introduces the concept of "Carbon Quisling,"   which refers to a type of hegemonic accumulation where a "parasitic" state profits from global carbon trading platforms by curbing subaltern access to land. These “green” projects aiming to conserve biodiversity and promote production provide an opportunity for “developed” nations, who struggle to reduce their carbon emissions earn tradable credits for reducing carbon emissions. This helps the “developed” nations meet their Kyoto targets. The focus is often on the intentions of industrialized nations to help less fortunate agrarian nations. They justify their interests by using concepts of biodiversity conservation and eco-tourism.

As a major component of the Eastern Himalayan Biodiversity hotspot, Sikkim is one of the top states in India with a pro-conservation strategy. Sikkim implemented a policy of grazing exclusion in 1998 due to the increasing human demand for forest ecosystems and the resulting swift degradation of these systems. The government then introduced and replaced the traditional livelihood with ecotourism and organic farming. The bulk of the population in this Himalayan state relied on pastoral and agro-pastoral livelihoods, making the carrying out of the program a difficult undertaking.

The focus on generating revenue through carbon trading significantly influences the decision-making process of governments. The carbon market uses the REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) credit system. By providing incentives for developing nations to cut emissions from forested areas and invest in low-carbon routes to sustainable development, REDD+ gives a monetary value to the carbon contained in forests. Government agencies from industrialized nations like the United States government and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) use such a carbon trade plan to invest in Sikkim's biodiversity conservation. REDD+ promotes land use practices that align with carbon trading regulations, imposing extra-economic coercion in the name of climate resilience building, including organic farming and carbon forestry. Sikkim is the first state in India to proclaim itself entirely organic, and it is entitled to receive cash from the carbon trade for encouraging "organic" farming techniques. Regenerative agriculture techniques are often used in organic farming for carbon credits. These include reduced use of synthetic fertilizers, minimal or no-till farming, agro-forestry, and multi-species cover crops. These methods aim to enhance soil health, store carbon, and even produce extra revenue via carbon credits. 'Additionality' is a big obstacle when switching to organic farming for carbon credits. This is a reference to the need that the amount of carbon sequestration activities must exceed their projected levels in the absence of carbon credit incentives. This can make it more difficult to certify and validate carbon credits, which may prevent some farmers from taking part in the carbon credit markets.   Similarly, Sikkim's REDD+ initiative intends to incentivize communities in the state to conserve and enhance their forests by valuing enhanced and ongoing management of the carbon stocks in the state's forests. This involves implementing measures to protect existing forests, prevent deforestation and forest degradation, and sustainably manage forest resources to maintain or increase the amount of carbon stored in the forests over time. Such measures aggravated land appropriation and monopolization of forests by the state for biodiversity conservation.

Agro-forestry had been the practiced form of farming, proving to be effective in the past in reducing agricultural risks and preserving biodiversity in Sikkim. The communities primarily involved in this practice were Lepcha, Bhutia and Sherpa who cultivated a variety of plants and essential food crops within the agroecosystem zone situated between 3000 and 4300 meters in altitude. Additionally, lower agro-ecological zones ranging from 300 to 2500 meters also embraced native agro-forestry systems. Overall, the implementation of agro-forestry techniques had played a role in mitigating biodiversity loss, soil erosion, carbon emissions, landslides, and other natural disasters. Later, the policy of grazing exclusion and replacing organic farming and carbon forestry led to a decrease in activities causing deforestation and degradation of forests in the region. This provided a chance for the forest ecosystems to recover and resulted in a net positive impact on forest carbon stocks. The state and NGOs proactively engage in carbon stock exchange but sometimes act as “carbon sell-outs” to international aid agents of industrialized nations.  

While these programs intend to provide income opportunities to communities, they often overlook the challenges faced by marginalized farmers. These new economic strategies further marginalize these farmers, who have already experienced the loss of their forest resources, their traditional agrarian practices, and their land rights.

Prioritizing the outcome of the carbon trade and exploitation disguised as conservation over the livelihood of indigenous communities, explained the establishment of Khangchendzonga National Park as a UNESCO-recognized site. Established in 1977, KNP territorializes Mount Khangchendzonga, the third-highest peak in the world, and its surrounding area, covering 850 sq. kilometers. In 1997, KNP was extended to cover 1784 sq. kilometers of land. In 2000, the Khangchendzonga Biosphere Reserve designated surrounding areas of KNP for wildlife protection. This biosphere reserve covers 2619.92 sq. kilometers and makes up 30.77% of the total geographical area in Sikkim. 

The state's goal to get Khangchendzonga National Park (KNP) recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage site was made possible in large part by the financing provided by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) for biodiversity conservation. In July 2016, KNP, along with Mt. Khangchendzonga, was listed by UNESCO (2016) as India’s first mixed category (for both natural and cultural heritage) World Heritage Site.  

The Sikkim government’s involvement in maintaining control over a portion of Sikkim’s forests using armed forces is evident. This resulted in the creation of the national parks, at the cost of limiting indigenous peoples’ access to Sikkim forests and disrupting traditional herding practices that had been carried out for centuries in this mountainous state. Starting in 1998, pastoralists were no longer allowed to graze their animals, including yaks, sheep, and cattle within the protected areas of Sikkim. Between 2000 and 2002 there were forced evictions of pastoralists from protected areas across Sikkim. To promote eco-development and ecotourism initiatives the state government formed eco-development committees around these protected areas in 2002. The grazing ban was one example in a series of events that became a conservation model for the Himalayan region. Today the property acquired by displacing communities remains under the control of the state government within Khangchendzonga National Park (KNP). While indigenous people had to give up their access to Sikkim forests, those who benefited from these actions were capitalists, rent-seeking entities within the state government, carbon trading organizations, promoters of ecotourism, armed forces personnel involved in conservation efforts, and various conservation-focused non-governmental organizations.

As stated in “Conservation Policies, Eco-Tourism, and End of Pastoralism in Indian Himalaya?”, the strategy of using a grazing ban to make way for ecotourism resulted in the marginalization of indigenous people and favored the elites.   The livelihood of the communities in the region drastically changed, especially in the Yuksam community, at the starting point of the Yuksam-Dzongri trek to the base of Mount Khangchendzonga. With the influx of tourists, the elites within the local community established the hotel and restaurant business, while ex-herders and farmers centered their livelihood around tourism, taking temporary, low-paying jobs such as trekking guides, yak men, and cooks. Regional entanglements of development, tourism, and conservation policies degraded the Khangchendzonga landscape from a pastoral cultural landscape to a tourism hotspot with exclusive, restricted access to tourism and associated livestock species. 

The landscape of picturesque and grandeur of Sikkim Himalaya renders a model of state-driven accumulation by dispossession, and extra-economic coercion around carbon. The Khangchendzonga National Park (KNP) visualized the political economy accelerated by global carbon trading funded biodiversity conservation and eco-tourism that comes at the expense of the native population’s rights and livelihood. It is neither an inclusive engine of development, nor does it always help conservation. Instead, it recreates a landscape favoring the state’s interests, produces exclusions, and erases the landscape clean from agency, access, and indigenous narrative.