Browsing by Author "Nyström, Martina"

This study looks at how national readiness policies to implement Reductions from Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation and carbon enhancement (REDD+) in Peru reflect previous governance modes of international forest governance. While tropical developing countries have been eager to pursue REDD+ readiness activities there is a gap in knowledge of how these policies reflect and link to previous content areas of international forest governance with current research focusing on experiences from pilot projects, the role of REDD+ in international climate negotiations and the mechanism’s potential risks and opportunities. Following McDermott’s (2014) categorization of modern international forest governance into three distinct but overlapping eras this case study analyses how sustainable forest management (SFM), illegal logging and governance are incorporated in Peru’s key national readiness policy papers, the R-PP and FIP, and by doing so explores some of the strengths and weaknesses of these documents and the ongoing national REDD+ process. The data consist of two key national readiness policy papers, the Readiness Preparation Proposal (R-PP) submitted to the Forest Carbon Partnership Fund and the Forest Investment Plan (FIP) submitted to the Climate Investment Funds. Due to delays in the preparation of the national REDD+ strategy it was not included in the data. In order to gain more nuanced information on the ongoing REDD+ process in Peru seven semi-structured interviews were done with key informants in Lima during March-April in 2014. Both the documents and interviews were analysed using qualitative content analysis. The findings of this study reveal that SFM and principles of good governance are included in the policy papers as important intervention areas while illegal logging and forest law enforcement are largely overlooked. However, the ways how to achieve SFM and ‘good governance’ are vague and links to other sectors and national development plans are not explicit, which raises the question of the effectiveness of planned interventions. While REDD+ is figured to play an important role in international climate negotiations, the results of this study show that more detail need to be given to assess and strengthen the links to other initiatives and mechanisms in order for REDD+ to achieve efficient, effective and equitable outcomes.