Suchergebnisse

The Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) mechanism has been framed as a "win-win"-solution by donors, conservation organizations and corporate actors facilitating simultaneously forest conservation, rural development and cost-effective climate change mitigation. But the expansion of protected areas is seldom a conflict-free process, especially when local communities have to cope with the simultaneous expansion of agro-industrial estates. This dissertation aims to unravel the causes and the scalar dimension of conflictive and unequal access and property relations in the context of an emerging transnational framework for forest conservation to mitigate climate change (REDD+). While empirically focusing on conflictive forest and land tenure in Indonesias REDD+ pilot province Jambi (Sumatra) this dissertation seeks to contribute to the deconstruction of REDD+ as a "win-win" solution. The overarching research question of this dissertation is: How are multi-scalar land conflicts on access and property in REDD+ target areas structured and how can this be explained? Conceptually this study is guided by political ecology and by the interrelated politics of scale literature. For investigating multi-scalar land conflicts on access and property in REDD+ pilot areas this study builds on a multi-sited qualitative approach (multi-sited ethnography). Empirical research has been conducted mainly in villages' located within or adjacent to two REDD+ pilot projects and at transnational nodes of REDD+ and land tenure governance in the province of Jambi (Sumatra), in Jakarta, Germany and elsewhere. The findings show that social conflict has changed scales of meaning and regulation and led to the construction of new scales (e.g. village scales of land tenure regulation). In Indonesia resistance was made possible because of changing power constellations after regime change at the end of the 1990s and has further changed the power constellation in place. Changing power constellations and rescaling facilitated access to the state forest (kawasan hutan) for local elites. The studied conflicts on access and control of forests within REDD+ projects in Jambi indicate that REDD+ has transnationalized and has changed meanings and implications of pre-existing land conflicts. REDD+ links greenhouse gas emitters in the global North to peasants and indigenous groups struggling for land and property in the global South. REDD+ rescales conflicts and provides entry points for a spatial expansion of resistance linking peasants to transnational climate justice groups in North and South. Thus, REDD+ pilot projects in Jambi financed by private and public donors changed the dialectical relationships between structure and agency. They reduced the ability to access land for some actors, provided additional opportunities for others and additional agency for transnational resistance campaigns. The ongoing land conflicts on access and control of forests in Jambi as well as experiences from other countries implementing REDD+ such as Peru indicate that forest carbon offsetting is a very risky strategy to mitigate climate change. Instead of avoiding emissions forest carbon offsetting could lead to additional greenhouse gas emissions if conflictive access and property relations undermine the integrity of forest areas designated for conservation and carbon offsetting.

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.