REDD+ and Forest Governance in Indonesia

Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) represents the strategic linkage between a climate change regime and international forest policy. But the future success of REDD+ will depend, in part, on how policy makers perceive the challenges and opportunities it offers stakeholders. This study investigated perceptions toward REDD+ based on interviews with 60 Indonesia-based key-informants influencing REDD+ policy. Interviewees cited “governance reform,” “network building,” “conservation,” and “economic development” as opportunities. The perceived challenges included “REDD+’s complexity,” “uncertainty of REDD+ decisions,” “REDD+ is a tool of developed countries,” and problems inherent within existing forest governance related to coordination, lack of capacity, ambiguity of legal system, and corruption. Adopting a clientelist perspective we draw attention to the underlying causes of these problems and the implication for REDD+. Despite highlighting significant challenges, most informants viewed the REDD+ mechanism as a potentially useful instrument to improve forest governance. Based on our findings, we suggest that identifying governance reforms that do not require major structural changes in the bureaucratic system in the short-term hold the best chance of success for capitalizing on the opportunities REDD+ may offer in the future.