Local perspectives on REDD in comparison with those at the international negotiation tables and their representation in quantitative scenario models. Project Report

The international REDD + debate has so far focussed on 1) the scope (RED, REDD, REDD + ) of efforts to reduce emissions from a subset of wider land - use issues; 2) the financial incentives ($/tCO 2 e) and associated accounting and disbursement mechanisms; and 3) safeguards that local perspectives be taken into account (‘free and prior informed consent’) and biodiversity co - benefits be achieved. From the local perspective of stakeholders livin g in tropical forest margin, the REDD + debate is an addi tional complication in an already complex relationship that they have with central governments and forest authorities. Can they make use of the REDD + interest of their national government to further their livelihoods strategies and development aspirations Or will the REDD + implementation measu res set them back in their conflicts over resource access We provide a number of case studies of two high carbon emission provinces in Indonesia, the land wit h the highest land - based carbon emis sions. Conflicts over land are shown to be aggravated by a large REDD + pilot project in Central Kali mantan, but new forms of accommodating forest - edge villages in stabilising forest margins through ‘village - forest’ agr eements in Jambi are promising to become a major part of the solution. A deeper analysis of the community - level motivation for resource protection and household decisions about preferred land uses revealed the importance of social context in land use decis ions. The model representation of ‘agents’ interacting in dynamic land - use models have not so far captured the richness of influences and ‘bounded rational ity’ beyond household level economic optimisation. A nesting of models is proposed that will describe interactions between natural, social, human, financial and physical capital at multiple scales, with the primary cross - scale interactions restricted to the various capital types, and the cross - capital interactions restricted to an identical scale. A stake holder analysis of REDD + perspectives at provincial scale will be used in such models.

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