REDD+ finance: policy making in the context of fragmented institutions

• Published in: Climate policy 2017-08, Vol.17 (6), p.687-707
• Main Authors: Well, Mareike, Carrapatoso, Astrid
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Access; Architecture; Climate; Climate change; Climate policy; climate regime; Conservation; Coordination; Deforestation; Degradation; Developing countries; Differentiation; Emissions control; Environmental governance; Environmental policy; Feedback; Finance; financial mechanisms; Financial support; Financing; Forest degradation; Forest management; Forests; Fragmentation; Frameworks; Funding; Governance; Heterogeneity; Implementation; institutional framework; international cooperation; Institutions; Integration; Intellectuals; International finance; LDCs; Legitimacy; Momentum; Natural resource management; Negotiations; Paris Agreement; Policy making; Recurrent; REDD; Segmentation; Stocks; Sustainability; UNFCCC
• ISSN: 1469-3062; 1752-7457
• DOI: 10.1080/14693062.2016.1202096

This article analyses the current institutional architecture of international finance for REDD+ (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) and aims at a better understanding of the complementary or contradictory nature of existing funding mechanisms. Through the integration of REDD+ into the Paris Agreement of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the scene is set for countries to use this political legitimacy and momentum to further REDD+ implementation. How REDD+ is and will be financed is still a defining question for its successful implementation. This study shows that the heterogeneity of international financial support for REDD+ is an illustrative case for the phenomenon of institutional fragmentation. It explores to what extent the current setting of REDD+ finance can be seen as a rational response to earlier governance challenges, and whether a setting of co-governing institutions may evolve towards a functional differentiation of governance tasks. By discussing the specific case of REDD+ finance in Indonesia, the possible feedback effects of institutional fragmentation at the national level are also considered. The study finds that a strengthened coordination of the existing financing efforts is decisive for making the most of the strong commitment to REDD+ reflected in the Paris Agreement. By including the perspective of functional differentiation, the article zooms in on the practical effects and opportunities of institutional fragmentation, thereby advancing current reasoning on this aspect of global environmental governance. Policy relevance Finance has been an issue for the success of REDD+ since its inception and is a recurrent theme in international negotiations. Funding sources, access modalities and disbursement remain points of contestation between recipient and donor countries and financial arrangements are often perceived as inadequate. By delineating extant types of REDD+ finance and access modalities, as well as discussing the practical implications of institutional fragmentation, this study is relevant for both practitioners as well as scholars interested in REDD+ finance.