IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v13y2021i20p11358-d656310.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Discourse and Practice of REDD+ in Ghana and the Expansion of State Power

Author

Listed:
  • Shannon Johnson

    (Rights and Resources Initiative, Washington, DC 20009, USA)

Abstract

Green market mechanisms, as part of the architecture of climate finance, have become key components of international environmental frameworks. One of the most widely known mechanisms for climate change mitigation has been the creation of Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+). The purpose of this paper is to trace global discourses and narratives throughout REDD+ official documents and compare them to the implementation on the ground to determine the extent that REDD+ meets its stated objectives in the Ghanaian context. Then, given the gaps in discourse and practice, this paper aims to define the inexplicit consequences, or rather instrumental effects, of REDD+. Discourse analysis of official REDD+ documents and land policies combined with qualitative interviews and focus groups to determine the linkages between discourse and practice of REDD+ and the impacts of these gaps. While critical civic environmentalism, highlighting environmental justice as a core principle, was somewhat incorporated into official discourse from the international to the national level, the depoliticization of the discourse and the apolitical nature of interventions make these justice concerns negligible and create gaps in discourse and practice. These gaps create disjointed, infeasible policies that establish REDD+ as a fad to bring in financial resources that expand state control of forest resources under the veil of social-ecological responsibility. As a result, state power expands into rural areas, allowing for greater control over land and forests at the expense of local communities.

Suggested Citation

  • Shannon Johnson, 2021. "Discourse and Practice of REDD+ in Ghana and the Expansion of State Power," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(20), pages 1-21, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:20:p:11358-:d:656310
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/20/11358/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/20/11358/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. OECD & World Bank & UN Environment, 2018. "Financing Climate Futures," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 32517.
    2. Kathleen McAfee, 2012. "The Contradictory Logic of Global Ecosystem Services Markets," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 43(1), pages 105-131, January.
    3. Murat Arsel & Bram Büscher, 2012. "Nature™ Inc.: Changes and Continuities in Neoliberal Conservation and Market-based Environmental Policy," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 43(1), pages 53-78, January.
    4. Jen Iris Allan & Peter Dauvergne, 2013. "The Global South in Environmental Negotiations: the politics of coalitions in +," Third World Quarterly, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(8), pages 1307-1322.
    5. Cecilia Tortajada, 2016. "Nongovernmental Organizations and Influence on Global Public Policy," Asia and the Pacific Policy Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 3(2), pages 266-274, May.
    6. Mucahid Mustafa Bayrak & Lawal Mohammed Marafa, 2016. "Ten Years of REDD+: A Critical Review of the Impact of REDD+ on Forest-Dependent Communities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(7), pages 1-22, July.
    7. Cecilia Tortajada, 2016. "Nongovernmental Organizations and Influence on Global Public Policy," Asia and the Pacific Policy Studies 201623, Crawford School of Public Policy, The Australian National University.
    8. Constance L. McDermott & Kelly Levin & Benjamin Cashore, 2011. "Building the Forest-Climate Bandwagon: REDD+ and the Logic of Problem Amelioration," Global Environmental Politics, MIT Press, vol. 11(3), pages 85-103, August.
    9. Lund, Jens Friis & Sungusia, Eliezeri & Mabele, Mathew Bukhi & Scheba, Andreas, 2017. "Promising Change, Delivering Continuity: REDD+ as Conservation Fad," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 124-139.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Aryal, Kishor & Maraseni, Tek & Rana, Eak & Subedi, Bhishma Prasad & Laudari, Hari Krishna & Ghimire, Puspa Lal & Khanal, Sudarshan Chandra & Zhang, Han & Timilsina, Ramesh, 2024. "Carbon emission reduction initiatives: Lessons from the REDD+ process of the Asia and Pacific region," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 146(C).
    2. Adam P. Hejnowicz & Jessica P. R. Thorn, 2022. "Environmental Policy Design and Implementation: Toward a Sustainable Society," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(6), pages 1-10, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Skutsch, Margaret & Turnhout, Esther, 2020. "REDD+: If communities are the solution, what is the problem?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 130(C).
    2. Morgan, Edward A. & Buckwell, Andrew & Guidi, Caterina & Garcia, Beatriz & Rimmer, Lawrence & Cadman, Tim & Mackey, Brendan, 2022. "Capturing multiple forest ecosystem services for just benefit sharing: The Basket of Benefits Approach," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 55(C).
    3. Chambers, Josephine M. & Massarella, Kate & Fletcher, Robert, 2022. "The right to fail? Problematizing failure discourse in international conservation," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 150(C).
    4. Ezzine-de-Blas, Driss & Corbera, Esteve & Lapeyre, Renaud, 2019. "Payments for Environmental Services and Motivation Crowding: Towards a Conceptual Framework," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 156(C), pages 434-443.
    5. Helmut Breitmeier & Sandra Schwindenhammer & Andrés Checa & Jacob Manderbach & Magdalena Tanzer, 2021. "Aligned Sustainability Understandings? Global Inter-Institutional Arrangements and the Implementation of SDG 2," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 9(1), pages 141-151.
    6. Singh, Neera M., 2015. "Payments for ecosystem services and the gift paradigm: Sharing the burden and joy of environmental care," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 53-61.
    7. Obey Dzomonda, 2022. "Environmental Sustainability Commitment and Access to Finance by Small and Medium Enterprises: The Role of Financial Performance and Corporate Governance," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(14), pages 1-20, July.
    8. To, Phuc & Dressler, Wolfram, 2019. "Rethinking ‘Success’: The politics of payment for forest ecosystem services in Vietnam," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 582-593.
    9. Muradian, Roldan & Rival, Laura, 2012. "Between markets and hierarchies: The challenge of governing ecosystem services," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 1(1), pages 93-100.
    10. Mucahid Mustafa Bayrak & Lawal Mohammed Marafa, 2017. "Livelihood Implications and Perceptions of Large Scale Investment in Natural Resources for Conservation and Carbon Sequestration: Empirical Evidence from REDD+ in Vietnam," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(10), pages 1-23, October.
    11. Satyal, Poshendra & Corbera, Esteve & Dawson, Neil & Dhungana, Hari & Maskey, Gyanu, 2020. "Justice-related impacts and social differentiation dynamics in Nepal's REDD+ projects," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 117(C).
    12. Helmut Breitmeier & Sandra Schwindenhammer & Andrés Checa & Jacob Manderbach & Magdalena Tanzer, 2021. "Aligned Sustainability Understandings? Global Inter-Institutional Arrangements and the Implementation of SDG 2," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 9(1), pages 141-151.
    13. Anna S. Artamonova, 2022. "Financial resources management and assessment of the non-profit sector’s social efficiency," Journal of New Economy, Ural State University of Economics, vol. 22(4), pages 97-115, January.
    14. Wim Carton & Adeniyi Asiyanbi & Silke Beck & Holly J. Buck & Jens F. Lund, 2020. "Negative emissions and the long history of carbon removal," Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 11(6), November.
    15. Eero Palmujoki & Pekka Virtanen, 2016. "Global, National, or Market? Emerging REDD+ Governance Practices in Mozambique and Tanzania," Global Environmental Politics, MIT Press, vol. 16(1), pages 59-78, February.
    16. Andreas Scheba, 2018. "Market-Based Conservation for Better Livelihoods? The Promises and Fallacies of REDD+ in Tanzania," Land, MDPI, vol. 7(4), pages 1-18, October.
    17. Niaz Ahmed Khan & Junaid Kabir Choudhury & A. Z. M. Manzoor Rashid & Mohammad Raqibul Hasan Siddique & Karishma Sinha, 2022. "Co-Management Practices by Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) in Selected Coastal Forest Zones of Bangladesh: A Focus on Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(22), pages 1-21, November.
    18. Michael Pröpper, 2015. "Emerging Markets for Nature and Challenges for the Ecosystem Service Approach," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 46(2), pages 247-268, March.
    19. Timothy Cadman & Lauren Eastwood & Federico Lopez-Casero Michaelis & Tek N. Maraseni & Jamie Pittock & Tapan Sarker, 2015. "The Political Economy of Sustainable Development," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 15773, March.
    20. Vijge, Marjanneke J., 2015. "Competing discourses on REDD+: Global debates versus the first Indian REDD+ project," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 38-47.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:20:p:11358-:d:656310. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.