Anticipating social equity impacts in REDD+ policy design: An example from the Democratic Republic of Congo

Pelletier, Johanne; Horning, Ned; Laporte, Nadine; Samndong, Raymond Achu; Goetz, Scott J.

doi:10.1016/j.landusepol.2018.03.011

Cited by 24 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…The single most important driver of forest loss across Africa is shifting agriculture 14 . Millions of people in rural communities depend on shifting agriculture and the direct use of forest products for their livelihoods 15 . Shifting agriculture is extending into many forest areas that have been opened up by logging activities, which also leaves behind large areas of disturbed forest to potentially regenerate 16,17 .…”

Section: Take Down Policymentioning

confidence: 99%

Road expansion and persistence in forests of the Congo Basin

et al. 2019

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Roads facilitate development in remote forest regions, often with detrimental consequences for ecosystems. In the Congo Basin, unpaved logging roads used by timber firms, as well as paved and unpaved public roads, have expanded greatly. Comparing older (before 2003) and newer (2003-2018) road datasets derived from LandSat imagery, we show that road networks inside logging concessions in Central Africa have doubled in length since 2003, whereas roads outside concessions increased by 40%. We estimate that 44% of all roads within concessions were abandoned by 2018, following logging operations, whereas just 12% of roads outside concessions were abandoned. Yearly deforestation rates (2000-2017) near (<1 km) roads rose dramatically during the course of this study, and were highest for older roads, lowest for

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Section: Take Down Policymentioning

confidence: 99%

Road expansion and persistence in forests of the Congo Basin

et al. 2019

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“…Rather than addressing a range of costs and benefits linked to local values and practices, including loss of cultural and place attachments, distribution issues themselves tend to be reduced to technical exercises for distribution of monetary benefits [67]. These distribution-centric and technocratic approaches to delivering justice also permeate downwards to national-level policy debates through the influence of international donors [54,68], as evidenced through analyses of safeguard approaches in numerous countries developing REDD+ structures, including Indonesia, Mexico, Peru, Tanzania, Vietnam [69] and the Democratic Republic of Congo [70].…”

Section: Barriers To Effective Mobilisation and Upward Travel Of Justmentioning

confidence: 99%

Norm Entrepreneurs Sidestep REDD+ in Pursuit of Just and Sustainable Forest Governance

et al. 2018

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This paper explores the dissonance between conceptions of justice among forest-adjacent communities and their representation in global forest policies, a persistent barrier to delivering just sustainability. We empirically track justice claims of rural villagers upwards through specific intermediaries or 'justice brokers': civil society, state, or private sector actors operating at local to international levels, who navigate different institutions to advance various social and ecological interests. We draw on interviews with 16 intermediaries in each of Nepal and Uganda and find that recognition of local values and practices such as customary tenure systems are key justice concerns of forest-adjacent communities in each country. However, intermediaries perceive a low likelihood of advancing those claims through national or international climate and forest policy debates, such as REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation), in large part because deliberations on justice are subordinated to concerns such as carbon accounting and arrangements for distributing monetary benefits. This suggests these policy processes must be modified to offer potential for transformational pathways. Intermediaries who pursued recognition justice issues developed innovative tactics in alternative forums. These 'norm entrepreneurs' adopted a suite of complementary strategies to attain influence, including: (1) formation of associations at the grassroots level; (2) media and advocacy campaigns through national coalitions to reach powerful international donors, and; (3) drawing on international support networks for advice, training and to influence national government. In both Uganda and Nepal these strategies were evidenced to enhance recognition for local values and practices.

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“…Indeed, as documented throughout the papers in this review, benefit-sharing arrangements are prone to a multitude of problems when implemented, including elite capture (Lammers et al 2017;Moyo et al 2017), disempowerment (e.g. Mbaiwa et al 2011), dispossession of natural resources (Moscoe and Emshwiller 2016; Suiseeya 2014), and exacerbation of poverty (Pelletier et al 2018). In some cases, unequal outcomes result from the interaction of new governance arrangements with existing social inequalities (Torpey-Saboe et al 2015).…”

Section: The Failed Promise Of Benefit-sharingmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…On the latter, Hendrickson and Corbera (2015) find that political inequalities are so deeply engrained in most Mesoamerican societies that PES schemes are likely to reinforce the existing power structures and deepen existing inequalities in both decisionmaking and in gaining access to resources. Pelletier et al (2018) reveal the predictable inequity of social impacts through a REDD+ pilot project in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Andersson et al (2018), in a cross-national analysis, show how REDD+ funding can exacerbate wealth inequalities. The disproportionate consequences for the poorest of access restrictions are also central for the analysis of biodiversity offsetting projects in Madagascar by Bidaud et al (2018).…”

Section: The Failed Promise Of Benefit-sharingmentioning

confidence: 97%

Access and allocation in global biodiversity governance: a review

Coolsaet

Dawson

Rabitz³

et al. 2020

Int Environ Agreements

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Access and allocation is one of the five analytical themes of the science plan of the Earth System Governance (ESG) project. Concerns over access and allocation are at the core of struggles and conflicts brought about by the often ineluctable trade-offs related to biodiversity conservation and the global, national and local governance systems that aim to contribute to global biodiversity conservation. Access and benefit-sharing mechanisms, integrated conservation and development projects, payments for ecosystem services or community conservation programmes have all tried balancing environmental objectives with concerns for the allocation of natural resources and associated rights within society, and for access to basic human needs. As a contribution to this special issue on access and allocation, this paper aims to contribute to the analysis of the relevance of questions of access and allocation to ESG by providing an in-depth review of the literature on access and allocation in biodiversity conservation at different scales. We describe how the concepts of access and allocation have been used and conceptualized in the literature produced between 2008 and 2018, and we discuss the two key issues which dominate the literature (1) benefit-sharing; and (2) the role of local institutions. By drawing on the trends and evidence from the literature, we consider the lessons for the next generation of ESG scholars and draw out some key policy implications to be included in the debates on the post-2020 strategic plan for biodiversity.

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Anticipating social equity impacts in REDD+ policy design: An example from the Democratic Republic of Congo

Cited by 24 publications

References 38 publications

Road expansion and persistence in forests of the Congo Basin

Road expansion and persistence in forests of the Congo Basin

Norm Entrepreneurs Sidestep REDD+ in Pursuit of Just and Sustainable Forest Governance

Access and allocation in global biodiversity governance: a review

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