Special Issue: Symposium on climate change, governance and environmental services

This special issue discusses how governance, institutions and environmental service activity have to respond to issues of climate change in order to mitigate its effects. The issue consists of six papers. The attendant implementation challenges in protecting the global environmental commons are addressed in the first paper with reference to Brazil's experience, against the backdrop of considerations also applicable to other developing countries. The second paper provides a comparative institutional analysis of the clean development mechanism (CDM) in China and India. Using Vietnam as a case study, the third paper explores the roles, progress and likely impact of the government and the administration in the design and implementation of pro-poor payments for environmental services (PES). The article focuses on the extent to which it is possible to address the high transaction costs involved and the issue of insecure land tenure, as two major constraints to pro-poor PES. The fourth paper addresses the following questions and the challenges inherent in them with reference to a significant initiative involving the community management of landscape fire to reduce annual GHGE from savanna burning: (1) if mostly indigenous and socio-economically disadvantaged people living in such regions can develop institutions to contribute significantly to the mitigation of GHGE, yet pursue regional development; an (2) if national policies will adequately recognise the special needs and potential contributions of such communities. The fifth paper addresses issues and principles involved in the recognition of reduced emissions from deforestation and degradation (known as REDD), along with reference to two possible REDD opportunities in northern Australia. The sixth paper addresses possible approaches to solving the problem of climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions (GHGE).