abstract
- Our findings show that despite high hopes and some promising developments, REDD + has not yet fully succeeded in creating transformational change. Ideas of REDD + remain focused on efficiency and technical aspects of implementation and do not question business as usual and the current political economic conditions favoring deforestation. The changing structure of the REDD + policy network and exchanges between actors and groups over time suggest government actors and large funding organizations are becoming increasingly dominant, potentially indicating a return to established patterns of project-based governance.
- Reducing Emission from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD +), was adopted in Indonesia with an ambitious vision to promote a new mode of governance for Indonesia's forest, replacing a mode of 'projectification'. Projectification, as described by (2016), is understood as a process through which plans for systematic long-term change collapse into incremental, simplified technical solutions. These proposals often fail to address complex socio-economic problems and political-economic contexts, allowing large-scale deforestation drivers to persist.
- We analyze whether Indonesia is on track toward transformational change or is conversely locked into projectification. We construct our analysis using results from a long-term study comprising surveys in 2012, 2015, and 2019 analyzing the evolving role of REDD + in Indonesian forest governance. Combining qualitative and quantitative analysis, we examine changes in (i) discursive practices and policy beliefs; (ii) institutions and power relations; and (iii) informal networking relationships.