Safeguards, Standards, and the Science-Policy Interfaces of REDD+: Greening Land Use Through Forest-Based Mitigation in Costa Rica?

• Author: Linda Wallbott,G. Kristin Rosendal
• Published date: 01 March 2018
• Date: 01 March 2018
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/1070496517751716
• Subject Matter: Articles

Article

Safeguards, Standards,

and the Science-Policy

Interfaces of REDDþ:

Greening Land Use

Through Forest-Based

Mitigation in Costa Rica?

Linda Wallbott

1

and G. Kristin Rosendal

2

Abstract

This article looks at the evolving concept of ‘‘Green Economy’’ and its potential

synergies and trade-offs with biodiversity governance and land use management.

By analyzing the accelerating debate and institutionalization of forest-based mitiga-

tion projects that are inclined to market-based funding in developing countries

through Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation and the

role of conservation, sustainable management of forests, and enhancement of

forest carbon stocks in developing countries (REDDþ), this study aims to critically

engage with the promises of a Green Economy that have been purported internation-

ally. We empirically analyze the global development of REDDþsafeguards and stand-

ards with a special focus on the role of science–policy interfaces and monitoring,

reporting, and verification. These outlines are projected to the exemplary case of

Costa Rica, a front-runner in developing land use approaches with a strong reputa-

tion for conservation and sustainable forestry.

Keywords

REDDþ, biodiversity, Green Economy, land use, safeguards, Costa Rica

Journal of Environment & Development

2018, Vol. 27(1) 99–125

!The Author(s) 2018

Reprints and permissions:

sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav

DOI: 10.1177/1070496517751716

journals.sagepub.com/home/jed

1

Institute of Political Science, Technische Universita

¨t Darmstadt, Germany

2

Fridtjof Nansen Institute, Norway

Corresponding Author:

Linda Wallbott, Institute of Political Science, Technische Universita

¨t Darmstadt, Dolivostraße 15,

Darmstadt 64293, Germany.

Email: wallbott@pg.tu-darmstadt.de

Introduction

This article looks at the evolving concept of ‘‘Green Economy’’ (GE) with a

focus on its meaning and implications for land use and biodiversity. We review

the ramif‌ications of this matter as it pertains to the mechanism ‘‘Reducing

Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation and the role of conser-

vation, sustainable management of forests and enhancement of forest carbon

stocks in developing countries’’ (REDDþ). By analyzing the accelerating debate

and institutionalization of forest-based mitigation projects that are inclined to

market-based funding in developing countries through REDDþ, this study aims

to critically engage with the promises of a GE that have been purported inter-

nationally (e.g., by attributing it with instantaneous sustainability qualities) and

its actual empirical manifestation at the national level. Even though there are

strong and direct links between forest protection, carbon storage, and biodiver-

sity conservation, there still seems to be no agreed understanding of how bio-

diversity f‌its within the framework of GE (Gasparatos & Willis, 2015). Hence,

our analysis speaks directly to two major concerns of this special issue: (a) What

are the possible co-benef‌its and when do trade-of‌fs and tensions occur between

policy instruments on climate change and biodiversity that are related to a GE

approach, and how are they debated in the science-policy process? and (b) How

are they responded to domestically and with which consequences, here, for con-

servation and livelihoods of local people? We argue that the negotiation of

safeguards and co-benef‌its as well as their translation into standards in the

implementation phase shape the emerging governing structure of a GE.

The empirical illustration builds on results from f‌ieldwork in Costa Rica, a

country that is both highly diverse in biodiversity and has been a front-runner

country in terms of establishing Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) and

REDDþ. Hence, it is a crucial case to investigate under which circumstances

and how REDDþmay interact with broader GE and ecosystem policies. To

approach this issue, we complement our own empirical research from 2013,

2016, and 2017 (interviews with conservationist and forest production actors,

government staf‌f, and consultants) with an additional desk study and review of

other academic and gray literature.

The of‌f‌icial mandate of REDDþis to include conservation and sustainable

management of forests alongside the fostering of their carbon storage potential.

This is a relevant issue also in a GE context, for the main drivers of deforestation

are the conversion of forests to agricultural land for commercial as well as for

subsistence use, commercial and illegal logging, and the conversion of land into

plantations to grow biofuels. This leads to an estimated annual emission of CO

2

of 5.8 billion tons (Levin, McDermott, & Cashore, 2008). However, evolving

carbon markets—which ultimately very often target indigenous peoples’ trad-

itional lands and territories—often fail to value biodiversity and local livelihood

values, presumably because there are stronger economic incentives to prefer

100 Journal of Environment & Development 27(1)