1. REDD-ALERT: Linking global climate
arrangements to local land-use behaviour
Robin Matthews
James Hutton Institute
Aberdeen AB15 8QH
UNFCCC COP-18, Doha, Qatar, 29 Nov 2012

2. Issue-attention cycle theory of Downs
1. Pre-problem phase, the problem exists but is not the subject of public discussion
2. Alarmed discovery and euphoric enthusiasm: The public is alarmed and constructively aims to deal with the problem thinking
that this is possible ‘without any fundamental reordering of society itself’ (Copenhagen)
3. Social actors become aware of the costs of dealing with the problem (currently)
4. Public attention declines as the problem is seen as too complex or expensive to address, or requiring major structural overhaul
of societies
5. Post problem - twilight realm of lesser attention or spasmodic recurrences of interest
(Downs, 1972)

3. Is the window of opportunity closing?
 Forest-related emissions declining as % of total emissions : 20%  17% 
10% due to increase in fossil fuel emissions
 Cap-and-trade system in developed countries slow – no demand for credits
 Hostage to vagaries of international finance and variations in commodity
prices (food)
 Supply of credits from big players (e.g. Brazil) may swamp the market
 Realisation of costs
 Transaction costs high – 80-90% of total?
 Use of ODA funds at expense of other devt objectives – also declining due to
recession – payments moving from definite to conditional
 Seen as unfair – license for northern countries to continue to emit
 Too complicated

4. Forest Carbon Partnership Facility
 World Bank Independent
Evaluation Group (IEG):
“REDD+ is a more
expensive, complex, and
protracted undertaking
than was anticipated at
the time of the FCPF’s
launch”

5. Drivers of the Forest Transition curve
Around 80% of
deforestation from
clearing for
agriculture
(Gupta et al., 2012)

6. Food demand
 Global demand by
2050:
 Calories: +100%
 Protein: +110%
(Tilman et al., 2011, PNAS)

7. Competition between global land uses
 Some countries have increased forest area
and food production – Costa Rica, El
Salvador, Bhutan, Vietnam
 agricultural intensification
 land use zoning
 forest protection
 creation of off-farm jobs
 foreign capital investments
 remittances
 But - 39% of regrowth of Vietnam’s forests
through increasing food & wood imports
 Factors influencing global land use change:
 Displacement and cascade effects
 Rebound effect
 Remittance effect
Lambin & Meyfroidt (2011), PNAS 108:3465

8. Drivers and REDD+ instruments
 Regulatory instruments
 Trade restrictions
 Protected areas
 Reporting
 Land rights
 Economic and market instruments
 Trade liberalisation
 Funds, grants & loans
 Forest C offsetting
 Forest certification
 Suasive instruments
 Concepts & principles
 Targets
 Information and education
 Research

9. Economy-wide modelling
 Complex relationship between the
3Es (effectiveness, efficiency,
equity) not evident in more
aggregate analyses
 Landowners benefit but local
subsistence demands would raise
their opportunity costs
 Rent and wage changes create net
costs for most private stakeholders
 REDD+ mechanisms should avoid
general formulas by giving local
authorities the necessary flexibility
to address the trade-offs involved
Dyer et al, 2012. PLoS (in press)

10. Encouraging behaviour change
 van Vugt’s 4Is framework
 Incentives (self-improvement)
 Information (understanding)
 Identity (belonging, pride, shame)
 Institutions (trust)
 Altruism index:
A = c + w*(t-c) + e*(1 – (c + w*(t-c)))
 c = communication
 e = equity
 w = welfare
 t = threat from environmental
damage

11. Systems thinking
 Socio-ecological systems:
 Livelihoods, recreation, health Agriculture
(arable,
 Fluxes of carbon, water, grasslands)
nutrients, energy, labour &
capital
 Organisation, governance,
conflict resolution
 Resilience to change Communities
Forests Wetlands
 Should REDD fund agricultural research and reduction in food chain
waste?: 34% more GHGs since 1961 if Green Revolution had not
occurred - cost around only $4/tCO2e (Burney et al, 2010)
Matthews & De Pinto, 2012. Carb. Mgt 3:117-120

12. Agricultural intensification
 Borlaug hypothesis: agricultural
intensification relieves pressure on forests
 Closed system – increased productivity
decreases prices, no clearing
 Open system – increased income
incentivises further clearing
 In/out-migration
 Guinea rain forest - if fertiliser/ shade tree Pucallpa, Peru
intensification of cocoa adopted in 1960s
 21,000 km2 less deforestation
 1.4 billion tCO2 saved
Lambin & Meyfroidt (2011); Gockowski & Sonwa (2011)

13. What has REDD+ achieved so far?
 Better understanding of the drivers of deforestation
 Progress in methodologies
 Baselines
 Monitoring, reporting, verification
 Emissions from tropical peatlands
 Realisation that deforestation is a landscape problem –
need to deal with underlying drivers – NAMAs
 It’s not all economics – range of solutions needed
 Has created awareness of importance of forests – concept
of the ‘global forest’

14. A global forest transition?
 Supply - shift production to more productive lands
 Expanding the area of natural forests managed sustainably
 Supporting natural regeneration through land zoning, forest
extraction regulations, and plantations on degraded land
 Increasing production and productivity from tree plantations
 Promoting agroforestry in areas unsuitable for large-scale intensive
farming
 Sparing land for forests through agricultural intensification combined
with land zoning in high-potential agricultural areas
 Demand
 Create a demand for carbon credits in cap-and-trade systems
 Ecoconsumerism
 Corporate environmentalism