Abstract
Reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+) is a financial mechanism aimed at providing incentives to reduce carbon emissions from forests and enhance carbon stocks. In most forest-rich developing countries, policy actors, i.e., state and nonstate as well as international and national, are designing national REDD+ policies. Actors' interests and beliefs shape patterns of interactions, ranging from cooperation to conflict, and these interactions influence a country's direction and progress in REDD+ policy formulation and implementation. We used a comparative policy network approach to analyze the power structures in national REDD+ policy domains in seven countries. We drew on the typology of power structures defined by two dimensions, namely the distribution of power in the policy arena and the dominant type of interaction, cooperative or conflictual, among actors, and we mapped the progress of national REDD+ decision-making processes against these power structures. We tested three hypotheses and found that (1) national ownership over the policy process is a prerequisite for progress. In addition, (2) the level of concentration of power in an actor group can facilitate progress in REDD+; however, particularly when concentration of power is high, progress will be possible only if the interests of the most powerful are aligned with the objectives of REDD+ and address the drivers of deforestation and forest degradation. Furthermore, (3) although cooperation is perceived as ideal in any collective decision-making setting, a certain level of conflict is necessary for progress in REDD+ decision making. This applies particularly in more advanced national REDD+ domains, where, following a honeymoon phase during which most policy actors embrace the broad idea of REDD+, policy decisions must deal with difficult realities associated with negotiating established business-as-usual interests, which entails high political costs.
Highlights
The idea of reducing carbon emissions through avoided deforestation, or RED, was first proposed in 2005, at the 11th Conference of the Parties (COP 11) in Montreal
National ownership of the REDD+ policy process The role of international actors is an important aspect of the power structure of national REDD+ policy domains
The policy formulation process entails larger reforms, a major risk that characterizes REDD+ domains where power is highly concentrated among key state actors is the exclusion of the claims and demands of other stakeholders, domestic civil society; this clearly seems to be the case in Vietnam (Pham et al 2011) and, to a lesser extent, in Indonesia (Indrarto et al 2012)
Summary
The idea of reducing carbon emissions through avoided deforestation, or RED, was first proposed in 2005, at the 11th Conference of the Parties (COP 11) in Montreal. REDD+, initially seen as a cheap and easy marketbased mechanism, became highly complex both because of the multiple objectives associated with it and because of the shift away from the original market-based idea with results-based payments toward financing through overseas development aid and attached conditionalities (Seymour and Angelsen 2012, Angelsen 2013) Countries such as Norway, Australia, and the United Kingdom supported the initiative through bilateral agreements with Indonesia, Vietnam, and Brazil, among others. Multilateral initiatives to support strategy formulation and capacity building were established in 2008 through the FCPF and the UN-REDD Programme, which were joined by the Forest Investment Program (FIP) in 2009 (Westholm 2010) These actors influence national REDD+ policy agendas through funding and attached conditionalities, e.g., the Letter of Intent between Norway and Indonesia, and, together with international conservation NGOs, shape REDD+ pilot projects at the local level. Examples include the Nature Conservancy working in Brazil and Indonesia; the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) in Peru; the Kalimantan Forest Carbon Partnership in Indonesia, funded by the Australian Agency for International Development; and the Netherlands Development Organization (SNV) in Vietnam
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