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Resources and Rules of the Game: Participation of Civil Society in REDD+ and FLEGT-VPA Processes in Lao PDR

Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) aims to achieve its purpose by working across multiple sectors and involving multilevel actors in reducing deforestation and forest degradation in tropical countries. By contrast, the European Union (EU) Action Plan on Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) and its Voluntary Partnership Agreements (VPAs) focus on forestry and functions at a bilateral state level. The FLEGT Action Plan specifically aims to tackle illegal logging and improve forest governance in countries exporting tropical timber to the EU. Since illegal logging is just one driver of forest degradation, and legalisation of logging does not necessarily reduce deforestation and forest degradation, the two instruments differ in scope. However, by addressing the causes of forest degradation and their underlying governance issues, the FLEGT VPAs and REDD+ share many functional linkages at higher levels of forest policy and forest governance. The contribution and participation of civil society organisations (CSOs) and other actors are imperative to both processes. Our study is based on a survey of key actors (national and international) in REDD+ and FLEGT VPA processes in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR). Our analysis was guided by the theoretical perspectives of the policy arrangement approach and examination of two specific dimensions of this approach, namely resources and rules of the game. This paper argues that participation of CSOs in both processes is crucial because it facilitates and nurtures much needed cooperation between other national and international actors. The paper concludes that participation of CSOs could bring valuable information and knowledge into REDD+ and FLEGT VPA processes, thus contributing to increased legitimacy, justice and transparency.

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Additional Info

Field Value
Document type Reports, journal articles, and research papers (including theses and dissertations)
Language of document
  • English
Topics
  • Forest industry
  • Forest policy and administration
  • Forest products
  • Logging and timber
Geographic area (spatial range)
  • Lao People's Democratic Republic
Copyright Yes
Access and use constraints

© 2017 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

Version / Edition 2017
License Creative Commons Attribution
Contact
  1. Irmeli Mustalahti1, Mathias Cramm, Sabaheta Ramcilovic-Suominen Department of Geographical and Historical Studies, University of Eastern Finland, Yliopistokatu 7,80100 Joensuu, Finland; m.cramm@gmail.com (M.C.); sabaheta.ramcilovik-suominen@uef.fi (S.R.-S.)
  2. Yitagesu T. Tegegne, European Forest Institute, Yliopistokatu 6, 80100 Joensuu, Finland; yitagesu.tekle@efi.int

*Correspondence: irmeli.mustalahti@uef.fi; Tel.: +358-505-632-071

Author (individual) Irmeli Mustalahti
Co-author (individual) Mathias Cramm, Sabaheta Ramcilovic-Suominen, and Yitagesu T. Tegegne
Publication place http://www.mdpi.com/journal/forests
Publisher MDPI
Publication date 2017
Pagination 21
Keywords V4MF,FLEGT,REDD+,VPA,Civil Society Organizations,Participation,Resources,Rules of the Game,Policy Arrangement Approach,Forest governance
Date uploaded December 12, 2018, 21:53 (UTC)
Date modified May 28, 2020, 16:03 (UTC)