Leading rural land conflict as citizens and leaving it as denizens : Inside forest conservation politics in Burkina Faso

Based on an empirical study of struggles concerning access to land and political inclusion (and exclusion) in the context of a forest conservation project in rural Burkina Faso, this paper analyses environmental politics through the lens of citizenship. In Centre-east Burkina Faso, a peasant resistance to a newly demarcated forest conservation zone turns into an identity and political conflict involving an international conservation organization, the state, decentralized and customary authorities. Based on shared history and residency, a new citizenship of migrants had emerged. These new citizens, finding their given lands within the new forest conservation area, rejected the project-proposed forest boundaries, put forward their citizenship entitlements and engaged in resistance. Eventually they also found themselves in conflict with their polity, lost their claims along with their still-fragile citizenship. Consequently, they were evicted from the forest and labelled as les deguerpis, denied citizenship and became denizens. Beyond confirming the fragile, processual, nature of citizenship these findings also bear theoretical and conceptual implications, challenge the mainstream way environmental politics are analysed and suggest the need to understand political belonging and citizenship as the very basis of environmental struggles.Peer reviewe

The Performance of REDD+: From Global Governance to Local Practices

Whilst ‘REDD’ is the acronym for reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, ‘REDD+’ refers to efforts to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, foster conservation, promote the sustainable management of forests, and enhance forest carbon stocks [...

The Performance of REDD+: From Global Governance to Local Practices

Whilst ‘REDD’ is the acronym for reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, ‘REDD+’ refers to efforts to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, foster conservation, promote the sustainable management of forests, and enhance forest carbon stocks [...

Beyond dichotomies: Gender and intersecting inequalities in climate change studies

Climate change and related adaptation strategies have gender-differentiated impacts. This paper reviews how gender is framed in 41 papers on climate change adaptation through an intersectionality lens. The main findings show that while intersectional analysis has demonstrated many advantages for a comprehensive study of gender, it has not yet entered the field of climate change and gender. In climate change studies, gender is mostly handled in a men-versus-women dichotomy and little or no attention has been paid to power and social and political relations. These gaps which are echoed in other domains of development and gender research depict a ‘feminization of vulnerability’ and reinforce a ‘victimization’ discourse within climate change studies. We argue that a critical intersectional assessment would contribute to unveil agency and emancipatory pathways in the adaptation process by providing a better understanding of how the differential impacts of climate change shape, and are shaped by, the complex power dynamics of existing social and political relations

REDD+ politics in the media : A case study from Vietnam

Special Issue: Shifting global development discourses - Implications for forests and livelihoods ( Vol. 19, Supplement 1, December 2017)Reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD+) is an international effort to create financial value for the carbon stored in forests, offering incentives for developing countries to reduce emissions from land uses. Vietnam is engaged in the international REDD+ debate and is a partner to numerous multi- and bilateral agreements. Different actors have diverse interests in the REDD+ agenda, and in Vietnam, even though an authoritarian state, different views exist on what REDD+ should achieve. Through the analysis of media articles this study intends to understand how public debates on REDD+ are framed in the Vietnamese policy domain and how actors use the media to promote their interests. Reporting about a diversity of actors and interests, in particular related to expressions of equity concerns in media frames could reflect a growing inclusive political space. Our findings show that while state actors dominate REDD+ media frames, some limited space is present for non-state actors’ interests, but equity issue discussed still reflect predominantly state mediated concerns. However, caution is still required due to the limitations these findings come with.Peer reviewe

Discourses in Finnish forest policy : Cherry-picking or sustainability?

Publisher Copyright: © 2022 The AuthorsWith the rise of the concept of a forest-based bioeconomy over the past decade, sustainability is simultaneously an underlying assumption and a key expectation. However, can we assume that a bioeconomy is sustainable simply because it emphasizes the use of forests as a renewable resource? And will a forest-based bioeconomy indeed lead to a more sustainable – and prosperous – Finnish society? In light of these questions, it is important to understand the relationship between Finnish forestry and sustainability as articulated in current and past forest policy documents. We ask how the concept of sustainability is framed and translated in forest policy objectives, and what ambitions are put forward when challenges and problems are defined, specific methods are proposed, and emphasis is given. Our findings indicate that although the language used in the policies generally refers to sustainability, the various dimensions of sustainability are not equally considered, with economic ambitions being particularly valued. There is a risk that a forest-based bioeconomy will simply continue forestry business-as-usual if current problematizations and proposed solutions reflected in forest policy remain unchallenged. Our aim is to provide a more nuanced understanding of possible opportunities and risks for sustainability linked to a forest-based bioeconomy as currently promoted in Finland and elsewhere. We do this by analysing the meta-discourses which have been present in Finnish forest policy documents over time. Furthermore, we identify and discuss possible trade-offs and their implications for Finnish forests and society in informing current and future forest policy reviews and increasing transparency.Peer reviewe

‘We are not bad people’ bricolage and the rise of community forest institutions in Burkina Faso

From a critical institutionalism and institutional bricolage perspective, this article analyses what drives institutional change in the commons and the outcomes for forest and people. It builds on the comparison of three neighbouring villages in Burkina Faso that in 1989, expecting higher returns, agreed to release their common lands for the creation of a community forest called Chantier d’Aménagement Forestier (CAF) within an international forestry project. The project created new bureaucratic institutions to replace the pre-existing customary and socially embedded system. Decades later, the three villages display different institutional change pathways and outcomes: one village abandoned the CAF, converted, and sold its forest and land; another maintained the CAF; and a third operates in-between. Using qualitative research methods, we ask why and how these different change trajectories and outcomes occurred among villages of identical cultural and sociopolitical background. The results show that poor design and implementation of the new bureaucratic institutions, as well as their disrespect of customary and socially embedded rules, led to forestland disputes between the villages. The bureaucratic institutions failed to solve those disputes, effectively manage the forest, and share the benefits equitably. This caused local people’s discontent and prompted actions for change. Actors in diverse ways made use of their social networks, agency, and power relations within and between the villages to either reshape, re-interpret or reject the new forest institutions. These processes of institutional bricolage led to highly diverse trajectories of change. The findings demonstrate the crucial role of locals as agents of change from below and question universal claims in institutional theory on how institutions induce rule-guided behaviour and create path dependencies.Peer reviewe