REDD+ for the poor or the poor for REDD+? About the limitations of environmental policies in the Amazon and the potential of achieving environmental goals through pro-poor policies

Summary

Once again, the international community focuses on the preservation of Amazonian forests, in particular througha bundle of initiatives grouped under the term of REDD+. Initially focusing on reducing carbon emissions, the REDD+ processbecame increasingly linked with developmental goals that represent the primary interest of all Amazon countries. In consequence,REDD+ can be seen as another attempt to achieve the twin goals of environmental protection and rural development, andconsequently, relies on the strategies and tools of past efforts. Against this background, we explore past experiences with keystrategies for environmental protection and poverty alleviation in the Amazon to critically reflect about the potential of REDD+to contribute to sustainable local development in the region. The analysis demonstrates that initiatives that pursued environmentalgoals mostly led to more restrictions and bureaucratic barriers to local forest users, while the prevailing approaches to promoterural dwellers showed ambivalent environmental outcomes. Reasons for these unsatisfactory results include the sectoralalignment of the measures and the poor coordination and lack of coherence with decisive policy areas. Most critically, theenvironmental and social initiatives themselves rely on the classic development approach widely disregarding smallholders'capacities to contribute to local development. The manifold pilot activities emerging under the new REDD+ framework tend torepeat these shortcomings, thereby further accelerating the replacement of local socio-productive schemes with unsustainableland uses. In view of the growing consensus about the ecological incompatibility, social limitations and economic risks of classicdevelopment, an alternative vision of development is needed, which more consciously takes into account the immense socialand environmental potential of the region. Considering that REDD+ is still at the start, there might be possibilities to re-adjustthe framework and thereby turn it into a real contribution to the sustainable development of rural Amazon.