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

ABSTRACT

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.

RÉSUMÉ

La réduction des émissions liées à la déforestation et à la dégradation des forêts (REDD+) est un mécanisme international lié à la Convention-Cadre des Nations-Unies pour le Changement Climatique. Il a été décrit dans le champs de l’écologie politique comme la panacée des politiques néolibérales de conservation de la nature, en particulier à travers la diminution du rôle de l’état dans la définition et la mise en place des politiques forestières au profit des mécanismes de marché et des acteurs non-gouvernementaux. Cet article explore le lien entre la privatisation de la conservation des forêts et la souveraineté nationale dans le contexte des « états défaillants » à travers une étude de cas dans la province du Mai Ndombe, en République démocratique du Congo. Il propose une approche originale combinant l’anthropologie politique africaniste avec les analyses en économie politique de Franz Neumann sur l’exercice du pouvoir dans les états autoritaires. Il argumente que ce modèle de conservation des forêts utilise la comptabilisation carbone et les payements basés sur les résultats, ce qui privilégie les acteurs privés pour la conceptualisation et la mise en œuvre des activités REDD+, mais renforce aussi paradoxalement la légitimité de l’état dit défaillant.

KEYWORDS:

• REDD+
• Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)
• market-based instruments
• forest governance
• statehood
• deforestation

MOTS-CLÉS:

• REDD+
• République démocratique du Congo (RDC)
• instruments basés sur le marché
• gouvernance forestière
• souveraineté
• déforestation

Acknowledgements

I sincerely thank the Sheffield Institute for International Development (SIID) which provided me with valuable support during my stay at Sheffield University, and in particular the director of SIID, Professor Dan Brockington. I am also very grateful to Dr Theodore Trefon for his relevant comments on the paper.

Disclosure statement

While the author now works in the federal public service of the environment in Belgium, the research was carried out before this employment; the views in this article do not necessarily reflect those of the ministry.

Notes

1 Some authors reported that only 10% of the 500 REDD+ projects developed all over the world have received funds from the voluntary carbon market (IIED 2015). The remaining 90% are funded by multilateral or bilateral funds, mainly from the World Bank, the UN-REDD programme and the government of Norway (Ibid.), meaning that the market logic is mainly driven by public actors.

2 Author’s translation from Englebert and Tull (2013), p. 5: ‘un état gigantesque où la multitude d’acteurs rivalisent avec des institutions faibles (pour créer une atmosphère constante d’incertitude et de chaos apparent)’.

3 The DRC’s constitution of 2005 provided for 26 ‘new provinces’ to be established from 2015.

4 The Ecosystem Restoration Associates (ERA) Mai Ndombe project is a private REDD+ initiative developed in a 300,000-hectare forest conservation concession, and should not be confused with the Mai Ndombe Emission Reduction Program, which is the Congolese government’s proposal for the transformation of Mai Ndombe province (12.3 million hectares) in a REDD+ jurisdictional project undertaken with the World Bank’s Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF).

5 ERA: Ecosystem Restoration Associates was co-created by a Congolese person who studied agroforestry in Laval University, Canada, and a Candian. It was originally conceived to undertake forest restoration in a timber concession. In 2012, ERA merged with Offsetters and changed its name to Era Ecosystem Services. However, the project was known as ERA and this designation remained in the common language.

6 Author’s translation of Blundo’s (2011) title term, ‘administration à deux vitesses’.

7 The adjustment factor allows for the adaptation of the Emission Reference Level of tropical countries with a low historical rate of deforestation, such as African countries. These countries are allowed to give a positive weighting to their historical rate of deforestation in order to be competitive with other tropical countries.

Additional information

Funding

I am grateful to both the National Fund of Scientific Research of Belgium (FNRS) and the Free University of Brussels, which funded and framed this research.

Notes on contributors

Camille Reyniers

Camille Reyniers is a PhD student in multidisciplinary research combining anthropology, political ecology and sustainable land management. Her research focuses on climate governance and livelihood practices in the context of REDD+ in the Congo Basin.