This paper attempts to contribute to the discussion of scaling-up the recognition of tenure rights within the efforts to reduce forest carbon emissions and to put the costs of recognizing tenure rights in a broader perspective. It is organized into threee sections: first, an examination of the role of tenure in reducing forest carbon emissions and enhancing carbon sequestration capacities; second, an overview of lessons
learned from legally recognizing customary tenure rights, and; third, an analysis of the costs of recognizing tenure and the projected costs of an international REDD scheme.