Multi-level governance, REDD+ and synergies between climate change mitigation and adaptation

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

It is only recently that the international community has recognised the importance of exploring the linkages between climate change mitigation and adaptation. Investigating such complementarities is particularly relevant for forest-based mitigation and adaptation in the developing world, because forests serve both as carbon sinks and as a source of livelihood for local communities. Despite this until recently, forest mitigation and adaptation have been considered separately by global negotiators and national policymakers. The main mechanism for forest mitigation is a market mechanism called REDD+ (reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation - plus). At the moment a number of developing country governments are developing national REDD+ strategies. At the same time the same governments are formulating national policies for climate change adaptation. A study that investigates the synergies between forest mitigation and adaptation and how policy processes should be integrated is therefore timely and important. This research project seeks to understand the extent to which policy processes related to forest mitigation and adaptation should be integrated at different scales (global, national and local) in order to deliver effective emission reductions and development compatible outcomes. It will identify existing governance constraints to such integration and explore how they can be overcome.Policy processes addressing forest mitigation and adaptation of forest dependent communities to climate change operate at multiple scales. In addition, the scale dimension differs across the two policy domains. REDD+ policies are developed at the national level, yet need to be informed by local level realities in order to be effectively implemented. Adaptation of local communities occurs locally, yet national policies need to be in place in order to support adaptive capacity of these communities and reduce their vulnerability. In investigating multi-level governance processes, this research contributes originally to the interdisciplinary literature on multi-level forest governance as well as the literature on climate change mitigation and adaptation. In examining the governance constraints and opportunities for integration, this project will inform ongoing global and national policy processes about how to improve effectiveness of policy formulation and implementation. The study will be undertaken in two countries - Brazil and Indonesia - that are at the forefront of REDD+ policy formulation and that contain among the most extensive remaining tropical forests in the world. Methods include: a) a multi-level policy network analysis of the forest mitigation and adaptation domains; b) discourse analysis of semi-structured interviews with policy actors at different scales; c) the analysis of policy documents. The discourse analysis will be used to understand the meaning of network relations among policy actors and identify policy coalitions. The integration of social networks and discourse analysis will help to understand the complexity of political relations among actors, and the interaction between political and institutional structure and agency. These elements will allow opportunities for and constraints to policy integration to be identified.The project will be the first comparative political study investigating how to better integrate national forest mitigation and adaptation strategies in Brazil and Indonesia. It will inform global and national policies that aim to deliver effective carbon emission reductions from forests as well as reduce the vulnerability of forest dependent communities. The study will shed new light on the synergies in these two policy areas and will help to identify how to overcome current political constraints and take advantage of existing opportunities to deliver more effective carbon emission reductions while enhancing adaptive capacity of forest dependent communities.