Reducing deforestation and forest degradation in Democratic Republic of Congo: market-based conservation in a context of limited statehood

Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) is an international mechanism linked to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. It has been described in the field of political ecology as the panacea of neoliberal nature conservation policies, in particular though the decreasing role of the state in the definition and implementation of forest policies in favour of market-based-mechanisms and non-governmental actors. The article explores the links between the privatisation of forest conservation and national sovereignty in the context of limited statehood through a case study in the Mai Ndombe province of the Democratic Republic of Congo. It proposes an original approach combining African political anthropology with Franz Neumann's political economy analyses of the power of authoritarian states. It argues that this model of forest conservation uses carbon accounting and results-based payment, which privileges private actors for the design and implementation of REDD+ activities; it also paradoxically strengthens Congelese state legitimacy.