Exploring the agency of Africa in climate change negotiations: the case of REDD+

Abstract

Emerging climate change regimes, such as the mechanism for reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD?), are increasingly aiming to engage developing countries such as those in Africa, in sustainable development through carbon markets. The contribution of African countries to global climate negotiations determines how compatible the negotiated rules could be with the existing socioeconomic and policy circumstances of African countries. The aim of this paper is to explore the agency of Africa (African States) in the global climate change negotiations and discuss possible implications for implementing these rules using REDD? as a case study. Drawing on document analysis and semi-structured expert interviews, our findings suggest that although African countries are extensively involved in the implementation of REDD? interventions, the continent has a weak agency on the design of the global REDD? architecture. This weak agency results from a number of factors including the inability of African countries to send large and diverse delegations to the negotiations as well lack of capacity to generate and transmit research evidence to the global platform. African countries also perceive themselves as victims of climate change who should be eligible for support rather than sources of technological solutions. Again, Africa's position is & Joanes Odiwuor Atela fragmented across negotiation coalitions which weakens the continent's collective influence on the REDD? agenda. This paper discusses a number of implementation deficits which could result from this weak agency. These include concerns about implementation capacity and a potential lack of coherence between REDD? rules and existing policies in African countries. These findings call for a rethink of pathways to enhancing Africa's strategies in engaging in multilateral climate change negotiations, especially if climate change regimes specifically targeted at developing countries are to be effective.

“Special Circumstances” and the Politics of Climate Vulnerability: African Agency in the UN Climate Change Negotiations

“…In doing so, it allows for a distinctly African concern to be the object of analysis. In other studies of African agency in the climate negotiations, claimed African successes are not significantly distinguishable from those shared by most, if not all, other developing country groups -such as on a second commitment period for the Kyoto Protocol (Vickers, 2013: 687-688) or on deforestation (Atela et al, 2017). From the AGN perspective, the basis of Africa's special circumstances that differentiates the continent from other negotiating groups or regions of the world is the combination of its climate vulnerability with its development progress and reliance on carbon-rich, natural resource extraction (Esipisu, 2019; personal interview with AGN negotiator, 2020).…”

“…This article contributes to this debate by examining African agency in the UNFCCC context on a specific item on the negotiating agenda over categorisations of being "vulnerable." It provides a single-case historical study that complements more general discussions of African contributions to the overall design of the international climate architecture (Vickers, 2013;Zondi, 2013) as well as those on specific issues such as deforestation (Atela et al, 2017). The type of agency explored in this case is also different to types often focused upon elsewhere in the literature, which has often been considered vis-à-vis former colonial powers or the Global South emerging powers, especially China (i.e.…”

Getting ready for REDD+: Recognition and Donor-country Project Development Dynamics in Central Africa

“…Their integration in REDD+ can be central to achieving climate change mitigation. However, African governments have been weak in influencing REDD+ agendas, often finding themselves on the receiving end of information (Atela et al 2016), something that the Project analysed in this article sought to address. The effectiveness of REDD+ projects remains to be seen, for example, in how much they can influence changes in land tenure (Larson et al 2013) or other aspects related to forests.…”

Climate justice: priorities for equitable recovery from the pandemic

“…It should be recognized that the poorest and most vulnerable, particularly from the Global South, have been historically under-represented within debates on mitigation, adaptation and resilience-building to climate change (Atela et al, 2017;Gereke & Brühl, 2019;Madziwa et al, 2014;Roger & Belliethathan, 2016). This lack of representation of those most affected by climate change undermines the pursuit of sustainable development and, by extension, equitable climate action.…”