A transboundary agenda for nature-based solutions across sectors, scales and disciplines: Insights from carbon projects in Southeast Asia

Abstract

Nature-based Solutions (NbS) are integral to efforts to keep global warming below 2°C in accordance with the United Nations' 2015 Paris Agreement on Climate Change. Yet the transboundary governance dimensions of NbS remain unclear and largely undocumented. In Southeast Asia, NbS have emphasised the conservation and/ or sustainable commodification of carbon sinks found in terrestrial and mangrove forests, seagrass meadows, peatlands and agricultural soils. Mostly project-driven and fixed-term, these "solutions" have often failed to meet their social and ecological objectives. Increasingly, they have added to cross-border problems of: (1) displaced carbon emissions; and (2) economic migration and societal dispossession. This perspective paper delineates a transboundary governance research agenda to mitigate these trade-offs and enhance the co-benefits of NbS in carbon sinks. Building on NbS literature, it identifies cross-sector, multi-scalar and interdisciplinary pathways to improve transboundary cooperation, inclusion and equity in carbon sink governance in varying Southeast Asian contexts.

Keywords: ASEAN; Carbon sinks; Climate change; Nature-based solutions; REDD+; Transboundary governance.

Fig. 1

Map showing distribution of main types of nature-based carbon sinks found in Southeast Asia. Adapted from Estoque et al. (2019) and Harris et al. (2021) (for terrestrial forests); Miller and Tonoto (2023) (for mangrove forests); Sudo et al. (2021) (for seagrass meadows); Miller et al. (2022) (for peatlands); and Stibig et al. (2013) (for agricultural soils)

Fig. 2

Different disciplinary dimensions that need to be integrated for effective, fair and inclusive carbon sink governance