Optimism, hopes and fears: local perceptions of REDD+ in Nepalese community forests

Bastakoti, Rishi R.; Davidsen, Conny

doi:10.1505/146554817820888627

Cited by 5 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 54 publications

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“…This group disagrees with oversimplification of deforestation and calls for a sustained discussion on various issues such as tenure, the rights of indigenous peoples, and biodiversity instead of focusing solely on financial incentives for carbon [7,15]. These storylines focus on co-benefits, non-carbon benefits, human rights, and transformative change in governance through the management of forests which falls broadly under "civic environmentalism".…”

Section: Discussion: Connecting the Storylines To Broader Climate Chamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…They are deeply invested in ensuring sustainability of their forest, reaping private and collective benefits from forest resource management and participating in the decision-making process to ensure maximum benefit from REDD+. The local elites are particularly interested in-and capable of-influencing local decision-making toward expanding alliances with non-place-based actors for their personal benefits [15]. The private sector is another category of policy actors in REDD+ with a relatively weak presence.…”

Section: An Experienced Environmental Policy Expert From Civil Societymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Framing REDD+ at National Level: Actors and Discourse around Nepal’s Policy Debate

Bastakoti

Davidsen

2017

Forests

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Forests and carbon sequestration have become fundamental themes in climate change mitigation. The idea of Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD+) has generated significant interest in forest governance from United Nations (UN) climate strategies over the past decade. REDD+ was initially hailed as a smart and cost-effective way to mitigate climate change. As it is rolling out, ambiguities and controversies are increasingly surfacing to the stakeholders at different levels. Examining the forest governance of Nepal in detail, this research examines how relationships between national and local forest actors have changed, and how REDD+ discourses have evolved among them at the interface between global interests in carbon commodification on one hand, and local realities of community forestry on the other hand. To better understand these competing positions, the study uses a post-structural political ecology perspective with elements of discourse analysis. Using data from interviews with policy actors and members of three local community forest user groups, focus group discussions, policy event observations, and document reviews, this paper highlights how global forest carbon commodification has been affecting community forestry governance. It also illustrates different storylines that actors employ to influence policy discourse and REDD+ debates, indicating a considerable range of problem definitions and policy solutions of climate change among the actors. The analysis highlights the connection between power relationships and the evolution of discourses surrounding REDD+, and how an external discourse can reinforce or challenge local governance and the centralization of forest authority. As such, the research also offers a new application of discursive storylines to climate change discourse analysis across national and local scales. The findings emphasize the importance of a more open and transparent dialogue across Nepal's forest governance and management levels to ensure actual benefits for healthy forests, strong communities, and effective climate change mitigation. Nepal's findings also suggest highly relevant lessons to other developing countries with significant community forest governance, and a strong planned focus on REDD+.

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Section: Discussion: Connecting the Storylines To Broader Climate Chamentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: An Experienced Environmental Policy Expert From Civil Societymentioning

confidence: 99%

Framing REDD+ at National Level: Actors and Discourse around Nepal’s Policy Debate

Bastakoti

Davidsen

2017

Forests

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“…Many of these studies are future-focused, in that they (i) review the possible compatibility between CFM and hypothetical REDD+ institutional arrangements [43,44], (ii) describe people's perceptions and expectations of anticipated REDD+ projects [45,46], or (iii) examine what is lacking in current arrangements that is needed for effective REDD+ implementation in the future [46][47][48]. Studies point to the following areas for improvement to enhance the probability that REDD+ and CFM institutions can work synergistically: resolving conflicting de jure and de facto community rights [49]; greater involvement of secondary-level institutions that act as brokers between communities and other levels of governance [50];…”

Section: Redd+ and Cfmmentioning

confidence: 99%

Research frontiers in community forest management

Hajjar

Oldekop

2018

Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability

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Community forest management (CFM) has been promoted worldwide as a means to conserve forests, recognize community rights, and improve local livelihoods. Here, we synthesize findings across recent CFM studies and identify two thematic and one methodological trend at the forefront of CFM scholarship. The first thematic trend is an examination of community forest enterprises as hybrid business models. The second is the increase of studies examining how REDD+ can contribute to the goals of CFM, and vice versa. The key methodological trend is the use of secondary data sets to determine outcomes of CFM policies at regional and national scales. These three trends add new perspectives to the debate on the effectiveness of CFM as a forest policy and institutional intervention.

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“…As Sherpa and Brower (2015) noted, elite members of communities intend to control benefits. Evidence of the increased elite capture, corruption, and the alliance of local elites with external actors have been reported by other studies (Bastakoti and Davidsen 2017). Also, support on animal husbandry through REDD+ payment in Chitwan appeared to be ineffective in Chepang communities as they do not have grazing lands.…”

Section: Consequences Of the Interventionsmentioning

confidence: 56%

REDD+ and Community Forestry in Nepal: Strengthening or Paralysing Decentralised Governance?

Khatri

Maskey

Adhikari

2018

J. Forest & Livelihood

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At a time when community forestry has become a prominent mode of forest governance in many developing countries, REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest degradation) has emerged as a new conservation policy to contribute to climate change mitigation by incentivising such countries to conserve forest. While the proponents of REDD+ claim that it can help to strengthen decentralised forest governance through an increased flow of resources of fund and knowledge, the critics evince that there are negative consequences of REDD+ implementation to the decentralisation process, local control, and access to forests. Drawing on the ongoing engagement of the authors in the national REDD+ policy process and an ethnographic study of the REDD+ initiatives in Nepal, this paper demonstrates that REDD+ might paralyze Nepal’s long-standing community forestry policy rather than strengthening it. Findings show the instrumental use of participation in REDD+ policy development and limited representation of local voices in the policy processes. The piloting project implemented on community forestry suggest that REDD+, if implemented at full scale, can put new demand(s) to the long-standing community forestry policy and practices resulting in threatening of local uses of forests by smallholders. The implementation of REDD+ is likely to reshape community forest management practices driven from the priority of generating revenue which in turn undermines the need to manage forests to meet diverse needs of the smallholders. This analysis indicates the need for paying greater attention to represent local voices in developing national policies and programs, and align REDD+ objectives to the core principles of community forest management, local access, and control of forests.

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Optimism, hopes and fears: local perceptions of REDD+ in Nepalese community forests

Cited by 5 publications

References 54 publications

Framing REDD+ at National Level: Actors and Discourse around Nepal’s Policy Debate

Framing REDD+ at National Level: Actors and Discourse around Nepal’s Policy Debate

Research frontiers in community forest management

REDD+ and Community Forestry in Nepal: Strengthening or Paralysing Decentralised Governance?

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