Finding Common Ground: A Critique of Subsumption Theory and Its Application to Small-Scale Forest Carbon Offsetting in Uganda

ABSTRACT

Carbon markets as a policy tool to mitigate emissions of greenhouse gases continue to be controversial, especially in developing countries. It is thus refreshing that Carton and Andersson (2017) undertook a field investigation of a transnational forest carbon offset project in Uganda. However, I am concerned that assumptions of structural Marxism that underwrite subsumption theory may have led the authors to see the project as inherently conflict ridden and exploitative and to neglect actual benefits. Their presentation of the project’s local impact jarred with my own empirical research into this project, undertaken in 2009, as well as more recent news accounts. While my field effort preceded the authors’ by 6 years, I attribute our different interpretations largely to theoretical and methodological differences. Evidence I present below suggests considerable alignment between the interests of transnational carbon markets and Ugandan smallholder farmers. Additional fieldwork might be able to resolve these differences in interpretation.

KEYWORDS:

• Carbon offsetting
• Marxism
• political economy
• research methods
• subsumption theory
• Uganda

Acknowledgments

The author recognizes the support provided by the Faculty of Forestry and Nature Conservation at Makerere University, the Environment for Development Initiative—Tanzania (EfD-Tanzania) as well as Université de Montréal Department of Political Science. Field assistance in 2009 was provided by Arinaitwe Euzobio. Mark Purdon also serves in a pro bono capacity on the Plan Vivo Technical Advisory Group.

Notes

Bitereko Subcounty, Interview UD13, 26 May 2009.

Bitereko Subcounty, Interview UD13, 26 May 2009.

Bitereko Subcounty, Interview UD13, 26 May 2009.

Bitereko Subcounty, Interview UD13, 26 May 2009; Bitereko Subcounty, Interview U15, 27 May 2009; Bitereko Subcounty, Interview U16, 27 May 2009.

Bitereko Subcounty, Interview U15, 27 May 2009; Bitereko Subcounty, Interview U16, 27 May 2009; Bitereko Subcounty, Interview U21, 27 May 2009.

Bitereko Subcounty, Interview U16, 27 May 2009.

Bitereko Subcounty, Interview U21, 27 May 2009.

Bitereko Subcounty, Interview UD13, 26 May 2009.

Additional information

Funding

This research received financial support from the Canadian Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) through a SSHRC Postdoctoral Award, CGS Doctoral Scholarship, an International Development Research Center (IDRC) Doctoral Research Award.