A critical study of Kenya's REDD readiness process and the feasibility of Carbon Removal Strategies

Carbon removal strategies and negative emissions technologies have in later years been emphasised as mechanisms that can help human-kind halt rising temperatures and fight climate change. However, such mechanism has been shown to have negative impacts on local communities. As a result, scholars of political ecology argue that carbon removal projects and offset mechanisms needs to be critically studied in order to develop further understanding of the feasibility concerns and socio-political consequences. This thesis aims to contribute to this conversation through a critical study of Kenya’s REDD readiness process. Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD) is one of the existing carbon offset mechanisms, and I argue that important lessons can be learned from critically assessing this this negative emission mechanism. This thesis uses the case of the REDD readiness process in Kenya in combination with the Mau Forest complex conservation project to illuminate how carbon removal strategies can facilitate to a process of accumulation in contrast to benefit sharing. This theoretical framework of accumulation by dispossession is a useful perspective when aiming to understand how policies of conservation, afforestation and reforestation can ultimately lead to appropriation of landscapes to the benefit of powerful actors like private companies and state agencies. To be able to answer the research question, a qualitative content analysis of relevant policy documents was applied. The findings show that the policy framework does not directly facilitate accumulation by dispossession. Nevertheless, in the Kenyan context, and without a strong framework for including and protecting communities and indigenous people, the policy opens up for misuse by more powerful actors.M-I

Alt er IKKE helt utrolig : Et studie av kampanjen som endte LEGO’s partnerskap med Shell

There is an on-going discussion in public relation scholarship surrounding the implication of critical theory on the study of activists’ utilization of public relations tools. One side believes that the mainstream theoretical models are sufficient for explaining the situation in which conflicts and negotiations between activists and corporations are happening, the other believes that critical theory needs to be applied. The purpose of this thesis is to provide an example that sheds light on this type of situation. It will study the 2014 conflict between Greenpeace and LEGO to see if orthodox theories are applicable, or if not, how and why critical theory should get more attention from public relations scholars.   The aim of the thesis is to solve the conflict through studying a case. To solve the dispute two research questions are aiming to scrutinize the negotiation situation between LEGO and Greenpeace. The questions are asking what images of the Greenpeace campaign was most frequently used by the media, and how these frame LEGO. A method triangulation was applied to answer these questions. First, a quantitative study identified what images that were most frequently used by the media to cover the story. Later a qualitative text analysis in the form of semiotics was used to analyse how these images framed LEGO. The result shows that almost 90% of the images used by mass media was directly illustrating Greenpeace’s campaign. The messages in these images framed LEGO on one hand, as a passive player that would stand by and watch as their business partner polluted both the earth and kids’ imaginations.  On the other hand the company was portrayed as an almighty institution that would not take stakeholders wishes and opinions into consideration.   The study serves as an example on the negotiation situation between activists and corporations. The conclusion relates the thesis back to the problem definition. The public relation communication utilized by Greenpeace, and studied in this thesis, is evidence that the scholarship needs broaden the intellectual domain by incorporating activism and critical theory into the academic field

A critical study of Kenya's REDD readiness process and the feasibility of Carbon Removal Strategies

Carbon removal strategies and negative emissions technologies have in later years been emphasised as mechanisms that can help human-kind halt rising temperatures and fight climate change. However, such mechanism has been shown to have negative impacts on local communities. As a result, scholars of political ecology argue that carbon removal projects and offset mechanisms needs to be critically studied in order to develop further understanding of the feasibility concerns and socio-political consequences. This thesis aims to contribute to this conversation through a critical study of Kenya’s REDD readiness process. Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD) is one of the existing carbon offset mechanisms, and I argue that important lessons can be learned from critically assessing this this negative emission mechanism. This thesis uses the case of the REDD readiness process in Kenya in combination with the Mau Forest complex conservation project to illuminate how carbon removal strategies can facilitate to a process of accumulation in contrast to benefit sharing. This theoretical framework of accumulation by dispossession is a useful perspective when aiming to understand how policies of conservation, afforestation and reforestation can ultimately lead to appropriation of landscapes to the benefit of powerful actors like private companies and state agencies. To be able to answer the research question, a qualitative content analysis of relevant policy documents was applied. The findings show that the policy framework does not directly facilitate accumulation by dispossession. Nevertheless, in the Kenyan context, and without a strong framework for including and protecting communities and indigenous people, the policy opens up for misuse by more powerful actors