CoCooR Project: International workshop on REDD+ conflict and ... - UEA

CoCooR Project: International workshop on REDD+ conflict and cooperation University of East Anglia 4 - 6 July 2017 Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD+), and the enhancement and sustainable use of forest carbon stocks, is an international policy framework promoted to align forest governance in developing countries with climate change mitigation objectives and to contribute towards poverty reduction and biodiversity conservation, through both national policies and concrete projects. DEV’s CoCooR (Conflict and Cooperation over REDD+) project (2014-2018), funded by DFID and NWO Netherlands, has analysed the extent to which REDD+ has resulted in increased conflict or cooperation in Mexico, Nepal and Vietnam. The project is led by Dr Esteve Corbera and Dr Poshendra Satyal and consists of these partners: Dr Hari Dhungana (Nepal), Dr Horacio Almanza (Mexico), Dr Cam Hoang (Vietnam), Dr David Gritten (RECOFTC – The Centre for People and Forests) and Theresa Tepe (Winrock). The project team have identified divergent claims about REDD+ across the three studied countries at both policy and project levels, resulting in grievances around how much focus should the government put on carbon accounting and monitoring as a means to generate economic incentives for participant communities, and who should control such revenues. The team have also found that the necessary level of participation and informed consent that is required for REDD+ to be legitimate has been uneven, with more related conflict observed in Vietnam and less so in Mexico and Nepal. Overall, the project has unearthed diverse instances of conflict related to either historical struggles over land and forest rights (Vietnam) or unsettled debates about procedural fairness in forest and rural development policies that REDD+ has not yet contributed to resolve. In order to share the team’s findings, the CoCooR project is organizing a 3-day international workshop on REDD+ conflict and cooperation: Understanding linkages and outcomes at UEA, 4-6 July 2017. This workshop will bring together academic researchers, policy-makers and civil society practitioners to discuss how REDD+ national strategies and (pilot) programmes and projects have brought about, resolved or transformed conflict and cooperation in the management of landscapes and natural resources. The workshop brings together new (i.e. not yet published) theoretical and empirical studies focusing on conflict, conflict transformation or cooperation in the context of REDD+, including analytical approaches to better understand such dynamics and identify the most relevant research questions and required data, as well as detailed accounts from early implementers of how conflict or cooperation have been reinforced as a result of REDD+ early implementation. The workshop also brings first-hand experience of policy-makers and practitioners in the design and implementation of REDD+ strategies and projects, and their reflection. For more information about the workshop and project, contact Poshendra Satyal: [email protected].