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REDD is one of the latest additions to a series of incentive-based mechanisms for reducing carbon emissions. Many developing and emerging countries have started engaging in REDD. Peru, the country with the world's fourth largest area of tropical forest, is no exception here – with an obvious motivation: about half of Peru's annual greenhouse gas emissions are currently caused by deforestation. Over the last years, public and private initiatives have led to a complex multi-level REDD governance architecture in Peru. This architecture faces challenges in terms of social inclusion and coordination. This study identifies and analyses key issues, some of which are merely teething problems, while others are deeply rooted in socio-economic imbalances and political culture, such as insufficient financial, technical and human capacities of ministries and regional governments; legitimacy gaps; and information and participation asymmetries across public actors, NGOs, companies and forest users. The study presents policy recommendations for addressing some of these challenges. These include: streamlining REDD processes with policies of other sectors; formalizing channels of communication and consultation; and providing a clear legal and institutional framework that encompasses the push and pull factors driving deforestation in Peru.

REDD is one of the latest additions to a series of incentive-based mechanisms for reducing carbon emissions. Although international negotiations have not eliminated uncertainties regarding its social, economic and political implications, many developing and emerging countries have begun to engage in REDD. Peru, the country with the world's fourth largest tropical forest area has good reason to participate in REDD: deforestation currently causes about half of Peru's annual greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.In the last eight years, public and private actors across scales have undertaken various initiatives – resulting in a multi-level governance patchwork with top-down and bottom-up processes and institutions that operate in parallel. Our study addresses this hotchpotch and its challenges to key aspects of good governance.First, we mapped Peru's complex REDD governance architecture and the role of major stakeholders. At the national level, we scrutinized Peru's readiness preparation proposal (R–PP) and its plan for the Forest Investment Programme (FIP), the REDD stakeholders roundtable, decentralization of forest-related competencies, and the dif cult birth of new national laws on forests and full, prior and informed consent (FPIC). At the regional level, the study focuses on the two key regions of San Martín and Madre de Dios, mapping their most important forest policies and forms of stakeholder self- organization. Finally, we investigated four pilot projects with very different legal status that re ect the broad scope of REDD projects in Peru.Second, we conducted a stakeholder-based assessment of different dimensions of social inclusion in Peruvian REDD governance. Despite the exibility offered by the numerous processes, we found areas that need improvement. In some cases these are merely teething problems; others are deeply rooted in socio-economic imbalances and political culture. The challenges include: the insuf cient nancial, technical and human capacities of ministries and regional governments; a legitimacy gap due to the dominance of certain NGOs and companies; information and participation asymmetries of forest users in REDD projects, which can cause social tension; insuf cient consideration of informal settlers; and insecurity regarding the distribution of REDD revenues among investors, NGOs and forest users.Third, we introduce and discuss options for addressing some of these challenges, including:• Streamlining REDD processes with policies from other sectors such as agriculture and mining, and improving spatial planning;• Formalizing channels of communication and consultation to ensure fair and equal opportunities for exchanges between civil society and the ministries;• Establishing an independent entity as part of a multi-stakeholder safeguard information system (SIS) that will frequently provide forest users with in-depth information about REDD processes and help users to develop their own ideas about REDD;• Integrating forest users – not just as bene ciaries but rather as co-implementers of REDD projects;• Encompassing push and pull factors, for example, through a levy that channels a portion of REDD revenues towards eradicating poverty in the Andean highlands in an effort to stem migration into forested areas.REDD can only be as socially inclusive as the political, legal and social systems in which it is implemented. In Peru, this implies enhancing the overarching policies of social inclusion in the country, disentangling land titles and their governance, and improving mechanisms for veri cation and enforcement.

REDD is one of the latest additions to a series of incentive-based mechanisms for reducing carbon emissions. Although international negotiations have not eliminated uncertainties regarding its social, economic and political implications, many developing and emerging countries have begun to engage in REDD. Peru, the country with the world's fourth largest tropical forest area has good reason to participate in REDD: deforestation currently causes about half of Peru's annual greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.In the last eight years, public and private actors across scales have undertaken various initiatives – resulting in a multi-level governance patchwork with top-down and bottom-up processes and institutions that operate in parallel. Our study addresses this hotchpotch and its challenges to key aspects of good governance.First, we mapped Peru's complex REDD governance architecture and the role of major stakeholders. At the national level, we scrutinized Peru's readiness preparation proposal (R–PP) and its plan for the Forest Investment Programme (FIP), the REDD stakeholders roundtable, decentralization of forest-related competencies, and the dif cult birth of new national laws on forests and full, prior and informed consent (FPIC). At the regional level, the study focuses on the two key regions of San Martín and Madre de Dios, mapping their most important forest policies and forms of stakeholder self-organization. Finally, we investigated four pilot projects with very different legal status that re ect the broad scope of REDD projects in Peru.Second, we conducted a stakeholder-based assessment of different dimensions of social inclusion in Peruvian REDD governance. Despite the exibility offered by the numerous processes, we found areas that need improvement. In some cases these are merely teething problems; others are deeply rooted in socio-economic imbalances and political culture. The challenges include: the insuf cient nancial, technical and human capacities of ministries and regional governments; a legitimacy gap due to the dominance of certain NGOs and companies; information and participation asymmetries of forest users in REDD projects, which can cause social tension; insuf cient consideration of informal settlers; and insecurity regarding the distribution of REDD revenues among investors, NGOs and forest users.