Abstract

Balancing agendas for climate mitigation and environmental justice continues to be one of the key challenges in climate change governance mechanisms, such as Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD+). In this paper we apply the three-dimensional environmental justice framework as a lens to examine the REDD+ process in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Laos) and the REDD+ social safeguards. We focus particularly on challenges to justice faced by marginalized communities living in forest frontier areas under an authoritarian regime. Drawing on policy analysis and open-ended interviews across different policy levels, we explore procedural, distributional, and recognitional justice across the REDD+ policy levels in Laos. We find that REDD+ social safeguards have been applied by both donors and state actors in ways that facilitate external control. We underscore how authoritarian regime control over civil society and ethnic minority groups thwarts justice. We also highlight how this political culture and lack of inclusiveness are used by donors and project managers to implement their projects with little political debate. Further obstacles to justice relate to limitations inherent in the REDD+ instrument, including tight schedules for dealing with highly sensitive socio-political issues under social safeguards. These findings echo other research but go further in questioning the adequacy of safeguards to promote justice under a nationally driven REDD+. We highlight the importance of recognition and political context, including aspects such as power relations, self-determination and self-governance of traditional or customary structures, in shaping justice outcomes.

Highlights

  • IntroductionReducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD?) is a nationally driven, performance-based climate mitigation and finance mechanism negotiated under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)

  • REDD1 SOCIAL SAFEGUARDS AND THE IMPORTANCE OF JUSTICE IN REDD1Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD?) is a nationally driven, performance-based climate mitigation and finance mechanism negotiated under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)

  • We first highlight the contradictions between the REDD? social safeguards agenda and the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Laos) political and administrative culture that limits public participation of non-governmental actors and that limits, or does not recognize, the cultural and political self-determination of ethnic minorities

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Summary

Introduction

Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD?) is a nationally driven, performance-based climate mitigation and finance mechanism negotiated under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Is to leverage international public and private sector finance to compensate the REDD? May come from diverse sources, including multilateral and bilateral aid agencies and international finance institutions, as well as private sector engagement in carbon markets and other market-based activities. Is ‘performance-based’, meaning that payments are based on results in the form of verified reductions in forest emissions. It is ‘nationally driven’, meaning that national governments in REDD? In order to receive resultsbased funds, national governments should first engage in a range of donor-supported ‘readiness’ activities, such as developing national REDD?

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