Experimentalist governance in climate finance: the case of REDD+ in Brazil

Abstract

I am also grateful to FAPESP (Processes 2014/11950-2 and 2014/21877-0) and CAPES (Pró-Adm Project) for granting the scholarships and for the financial support to carry out this study. These scholarships allowed me to devote myself full-time to this research and academic activities at FEA/USP. Thank you to my parents, Dirce and Leonardo, for teaching me the value of hard work, honesty, and for always supporting me in everything that was possible, despite the difficulties.I am very proud of everything they have done for me. Thank you for all your encouragement! And last but by no means least, thank you to Daniel, the father of my two little boys and my life partner, who was the most enthusiastic person during my PhD journey. He has always believed in my ability, often more than myself, and always gave me full support and encouragement. He was also a major contributor to this study by several times reviewing my research model, making suggestions, reading and editing. Thank you! ABSTRACT Pinsky, V. C. (2017). Experimentalist governance in climate finance: the case of REDD+ in Brazil (PhD thesis). Faculdade de Economia, Administração e Contabilidade. Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo.Climate change is a daunting problem that results in actions-interactions from a number of actors in complex global systems, which require multi-level governance and a myriad of national policies. Academics and policy makers alike have been grappling with how to devise effective strategies on the international coordination of climate change policies. It is challenging because climate change problems involve actors with different positions, interests and motivation to cooperate due to the risks involved, the uncertainty and the high costs of adaptation and mitigation. Deforestation is the second largest source of GHG emissions. Success in this area can have a large impact on mitigation. This study focuses on the case of REDD+, a large scale governance experiment in climate finance and a promising costeffective mitigation mechanism to motivate developing countries to implement policy approaches to reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation. REDD+ is considered a breakthrough mechanism in international cooperation under the UNFCCC regime as it was designed to be performance-based. Brazil is the world's largest recipient and has the most important REDD+ experiment -the Amazon Fund. The lack of developed theory in this domain led to the use of grounded theory methodology to understand the REDD+ governance process in Brazil. The 'REDD+ Governance Theoretical Framework' emerged from the data. It is a substantive theory formed by seven major categories (Governance, Strategy, Financing, Implementation, Participation of stakeholders, Joint action and Collective learning) that are related to each other and explain the phenomenon. This study suggests that the lack of institutional arrangements to stimulate collective learning and incorporate lessons learned from the ground experience has been a major constraint on improving its g...

Impacts on the Legal Framework for Protecting Environmental and Human Rights in Brazil due to Ideological Antagonism: The Interrelated Cases of the Yanomami and the Amazon Fund

“…The government of Germany, the government of Norway, and Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. (Petrobras), a publicly traded company with the Brazilian government as majority shareholder, became the Amazon Fund's donors, contributing over a billion dollars. This surpassed the initial estimate in 2007, nearly doubling the anticipated funds required to combat deforestation [31].…”

Lessons from project-scale reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation: A case study in northern Lao People’s Democratic Republic

“…Looking to the future, there is an urgent need for increased collaboration between the public and private sectors with a view to strengthening the social and professional bridges between the sectors (i.e., bridging social capital). The accumulated experience obtained from REDD+ implementation at various scales in other countries should be helpful in this regard (Pinsky et al, 2019). While the private sector faces challenges addressing various technical issues, the public sector has accumulated experience and knowledge regarding ground-based activities aimed at reducing dependence on forest resources.…”

Driving governance beyond ecological modernization: REDD+ and the Amazon Fund

“…Doing so might allow for a plurality of legitimate perspectives to foster changes in how governance for the environment is currently driven. In addition to incentivize legitimate policy experimentation within REDD+ oriented mechanisms, which could well benefit from other imaginaries, epistemologies, and values (Pinsky et al, 2019). These other imaginaries may find presence…”

“…REDD+ should focus more on how funds are used, rather than the amount of total expenditure. Better yet, REDD+ could benefit from policy experimentation on viable alternatives driving government and business away from usual interests and policies (Pinsky et al, 2019). This paper builds onto the hypothesis that the Amazon Fund operated until recently based upon a nuanced integration of two main environmental governance trends: (i) the institutionalization of ecological modernization theories and (ii) the establishment of multilevel, multi-stakeholder governance.…”