The Context Of Redd In Tanzania Drivers Agents And Institutions

This country profile for Tanzania provides an overview on the socioeconomic and political context within which REDD+ policies and processes emerge. It explores the Tanzanian REDD+ policy processes and strategies at the national level, identifying barriers, limits and opportunities in national REDD+ arenas to inform future REDD+ design by providing research-based options for achieving efficient, effective and equitable REDD+ (i.e. the 3Es of REDD+). Both direct and indirect drivers of deforestation and forest degradation are at work, including forest conversion to small-scale agriculture, timber extraction driven by demand from national and international markets, fuelwood and charcoal, and population growth. The prospects for REDD+ rest on improving a number of issues: tenure arrangements, forest governance, reliability of long-term funding, benefit-sharing mechanisms, and technical, human and financial capacity. We recommend the continuation of support towards decentralized sustainable forest management and utilization of the participatory forest management model as an entry point for REDD+ initiatives. Participatory land-use planning practices coupled with improved spatial planning and strengthening mechanisms against illegal activities entrenched in driving forest degradation are needed. In addition, for REDD+ to succeed it will need to challenge and overcome the powerful actors invested in and driving the business-as-usual model.

DRC has committed to reduce its emissions effectively, efficiently, and equitably from deforestation and degradation (REDD+). The country experiences complex relationships between drivers, agents, and institutions of deforestation nationally. The REDD+ policy arena is influenced by both governmental and non-governmental actors whose number have increased in the policy arena over the years; however, weak coordination among these actors remains an issue. Since 2009, the DRC has announced several reforms relating to land tenure, land-use planning and agricultural policy, to create an institutional environment that motivates the implementation of REDD+ in the DRC. By 2019, none of these reforms had materialized, due to both political changes and a lack of finance, capacity, and political will. Between 2013 and 2019, little progress has been made on REDD+ in the DRC, as a result of conflicting interests among actors both at national and decentralized levels; information asymmetry; elite capture and corruption; and the pre- and post-election situation. To date, the effectiveness of REDD+ activities in the DRC remain unclear, due to the absence of rigorous impact assessment. However, efforts can be observed on the field where there is increased number of participants to forest policy process compared to REDD+ early years; and several ongoing projects are testing policy options within and across levels. If these efforts are sustained, they can contribute in putting in place conditions to achieve REDD+ objectives.

Specifically, the paper identifies and analyzes several direct drivers of deforestation and forest degradation in Ethiopia including: forest clearance for both subsistence and large-scale agriculture; illegal and unsustainable extraction of wood mainly for charcoal and firewood; overgrazing; and recurrent forest fires. It also reviews underlying drivers including: rapid population increase and the associated growing demand for land and energy; extensive legal and institutional gaps including lack of stable and equitable forest tenure; lack of stakeholder participation in forest management and benefit-sharing schemes; and weak law enforcement. These drivers and the dominant actors behind them – ranging from small-scale subsistence farmers to national and global investors – are discussed in the context of the political economy, including the policy and institutional framework of the country. The implications of the overall forest condition to the objectives and requirements of REDD+ are evaluated, and key issues that need to be addressed for efficient, effective and equitable implementation of REDD+ are discussed. These key issues include: reconciling the apparently contradictory policies and programs, particularly those that negatively affect the forestry sector; improving the forest tenure and governance system; augmenting economic return from forests to communities and individuals; creating more efficient and effective forest institutions at all levels; and enhancing sectoral and regional coordination among implementing agencies.

Vietnam is acknowledged to be REDD+ pioneer country, having adopted REDD+ in 2009. This paper is an updated version of Vietnam’s REDD+ Country Profile which was first published by CIFOR in 2012. Our findings show that forest cover has increased since 2012, but enhancing, or even maintaining, forest quality remains a challenge. Drivers of deforestation and degradation in Vietnam, including legal and illegal logging, conversion of forest for national development goals and commercial agriculture, weak law enforcement and weak governance, have persisted since 2012 up to 2017. However, with strong political commitment, the government has made significant progress in addressing major drivers, such as the expansion of hydropower plants and rubber plantations.Since 2012, Vietnam has also signed important international treaties and agreements on trade, such as Voluntary Partnership Agreements (VPAs) through the European Union’s (EU) Forest Law Enforcement. These new policies have enhanced the role of the forestry sector within the overall national economy and provided a strong legal framework and incentives for forestuser groups and government agencies to take part in forest protection and development. Nevertheless, new market rules and international trade patterns also pose significant challenges for Vietnam, where the domestic forestry sector is characterized by state-owned companies and a large number of domestic firms that struggle to comply with these new rules.The climate change policies, national REDD+ strategy and REDD+ institutional setting has been refined and revised over time. However, uncertain and complex international requirements on REDD+ and limited funding have weakened the government’s interest in and political commitment to REDD+. REDD+ policies in Vietnam have shown significant progress in terms of its monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) systems, forest reference emission levels (FREL), and performance-based and benefit-sharing mechanisms by taking into account lessons learnt from its national Payment for Forest Environmental Services (PFES) Scheme. Evidence also shows increasing efforts of government and international communities to ground forestry policies in a participatory decision-making processes and the progress on developing safeguarding policies in Vietnam between 2012 and 2017 affirms the government’s interest in pursuing an equitable REDD+ implementation. Policy documents have fully recognized the need to give civil society organizations (CSOs) and ethnic groups political space and include them in decision making. Yet, participation remains token. Government provision for tenure security and carbon rights for local households are still being developed, with little progress since 2012.The effectiveness of REDD+ policies in addressing drivers of deforestation and degradation has not be proven, even though the revised NRAP has recently been approved. However, the fact that drivers of deforestation and degradation are outside of the forestry sector and have a strong link to national economic development goals points to an uneasy pathway for REDD+. The business case for REDD+ in Vietnam has not been proven, due to an uncertain carbon market, increasing requirements from donors and developed countries, and high transaction and implementation costs. Current efforts toward 3Es outcomes of REDD+ could be enhanced by stronger political commitment to addressing the drivers of deforestation from all sectors, broader changes in policy framework that create both incentives and disincentives for avoiding deforestation and degradation, cross-sectoral collaboration, and committed funding from both the government and developed countries.

This publication offers an overview of REDD+ strategy in Mozambique through a synthesis of the current knowledge about the causes of forest carbon changes, a review of the legal and institutional context, and a description of the current political process of REDD+. The objective of the study is to collate data and relevant information, and to offer a preliminary analysis of the fundamental aspects that can help promote efficiency, efficacy, and equity in REDD+ policy. Specifically, this study concludes that some of the major problems for REDD+ in Mozambique are the lack of data about deforestation and forest degradation, institutional weakness (regarding monitoring and propriety rights), and gaps in human and technical capacity to fulfil demands associated with REDD+. Therefore, efficient results will depend on the degree to which REDD+ policies are oriented toward real mitigation of the sources of forest carbon changes. In Mozambique, REDD+ policy tends to originate outside the timber sector. The cost-effectiveness of the results will depend on identifying and addressing the fundamental causes of forest carbon changes through more viable REDD+ policy options; government capacity to respond to REDD+ demands, especially at the sub-national level; the capacity of civil society and other institutions; and the strength of the institutional framework. The degree of success of equitable outcomes and the generation of co-benefits will depend on the inclusion and appropriateness of the processes at the national level; if those who support REDD+ costs are also being compensated; and on the general definition of carbon rights and environmental services.

This report provides an overview of Nepal’s initiatives on readiness for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD+). It presents the status of forest cover change; identifies the drivers of deforestation, institutional and distributional factors in the country; analyses the political economy of land use change; revisits the REDD+ process; and assesses prospects for effective, efficient and equitable outcomes of the same. Nepal has a high rate of deforestation and forest degradation, though there exists no robust, comprehensive orupdated information to show the precise rate. Multiple drivers—such as high dependency on forests, over harvesting, weak governance, landlessness and high opportunity costs for agricultural expansion—contribute to deforestation. The government’s capacity to monitor and address these drivers and underlying causes appears inadequate. Forest officials, civil society organisations and donors exhibit strong enthusiasm for and active involvement in REDD+. Over half a dozen diverse REDD+ readiness initiatives are being implemented by the government and non-state actors. REDD+ implementation has adopted a participatory and multi-stakeholder process usually involving government agencies, civil society organisations and development partners. However, this process is largely detached from the complex dynamics of deforestation and appears to be limited to technical, administrative and peripheral issues. The core issues of forest tenure security and governance reform have not received adequate attention. A robust policy, legal and institutional foundation for community forestry and well-functioning community institutions provide a strong foundation for REDD implementation in Nepal. However, there are enormous challenges from the larger political and socio-economic context, the paucity and diversity of institutional arrangements and the unique nature and distribution of forest types.

This report provides an overview of the context for REDD+ in Papua New Guinea. It describes the main drivers of deforestation and degradation, the institutional and political economic context within which REDD+ is being developed, and maps the evolution of a national REDD+ strategy and associated policy and legislation during 2008–2012. It highlights the opportunities and challenges of developing policies that can provide climate-effective, cost-efficient and equitable REDD+ outcomes for Papua New Guinea. Papua New Guinea’s system of customary land tenure provides both enormous opportunities and challenges for REDD+. Gaining the free, prior and informed consent of customary landowners who own the forests that REDD+ initiatives are designed to protect and developing equitable benefit-sharing mechanisms will be a key challenge. Corruption and a lack of transparency and accountability within the government are significant problems for the country to overcome. Political instability and capacity constraints within the public service also pose challenges to the smooth and steady development and implementation of REDD+ policies. While there appears to be a growing national discourse around good governance and anti-corruption, a complex political economy has thwarted many previous attempts at forest policy reform in the country and REDD+ is likely to face significant opposition from those who currently benefit from the unsustainable exploitation of the country’s forests. But the outlook for REDD+ in Papua New Guinea need not be pessimistic. Many different stakeholder groups including government agencies, civil society organisations, donors, private sector actors and research institutes support the concept of REDD+ in Papua New Guinea. Despite some early missteps in terms of broad stakeholder engagement and national ownership over the policy process, the government has shown genuine progress in developing a transparent and accountable governance structure that can, and is, incorporating the perspectives of multiple stakeholders. Occasional Papers contain research results that are significant to tropical forest issues. This content has been peer reviewed internally and externally. Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) CIFOR advances human well-being, environmental conservation and equity by conducting research to help shape policies and practices that affect forests in developing countries. CIFOR is a member of the CGIAR Consortium. Our headquarters are in Bogor, Indonesia, with offices in Asia, Africa and South America.

This country profile reviews the drivers of deforestation and forest degradation in Indonesia, sets out the institutional, political and economic environment within which REDD+ is being implemented in Indonesia, and documents the process of national REDD+ policy development during the period 2007 – early 2012. While Indonesia is committed at the national and international level to addressing climate change through the forestry sector, there are clearly contextual challenges that need to be addressed to create the enabling conditions for REDD+. Some of the major issues include inconsistent legal frameworks, sectoral focus, unclear tenure, consequences of decentralisation, and weak local governance. Despite these challenges, however, REDD+ opens up an opportunity for improvements in forest governance and, more broadly, in land use governance. More democratic political-economic processes in general, greater freedom of civil society and the press, and heightened awareness of environmental issues can help build support and solidify policies in this direction.

REDD+ is one of the leading near-term options for global climate change mitigation. More than 300 subnational REDD+ initiatives have been launched across the tropics, responding to both the call for demonstration activities in the Bali Action Plan and the market for voluntary carbon offset credits.