ABSTRACT

This study investigates the interplay between different environmental governance discourses to assess to what extent each discourse finds ground for implementation. This study sheds light on the constituencies for broader transformational changes in global forest governance and, more emphatically, explores how different discourses built around forest and environmental governance employ different mechanisms (discursively and through policy instruments) within the operation of the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) debate. The focus of the analysis is the case of the jurisdictional REDD+ program in the state of Acre, in Brazil's Western Amazon. The underlying assumption in this research rests in the belief that REDD+ operation is linked to coupled social-political and economic contexts, which tend to follow social contingencies, and historical dependencies. Through documental analysis and the assessment of local stakeholders´ narratives, the research highlights the overall dominance of discourses built on to concepts of efficiency in contrast to a minor presence of discourses of social justice. In more broader terms, this study suggests that path dependencies place barriers which condition the extent to which transformations are rendered possible (or desirable) through program design and implementation.

摘要

本研究调查了不同环境治理话语之间的相互作用，以评估每种话语在多大程度上为实施找到了基础。本研究揭示了全球森林治理更广泛的转型变革的支持者，并更着重地探讨了围绕森林和环境治理建立的不同话语如何在减少森林砍伐造成的排放和森林退化 (REDD+) 辩论。分析的重点是巴西亚马逊西部阿克里州的管辖 REDD+ 项目案例。本研究的基本假设是相信 REDD+ 运作与耦合的社会政治和经济环境相关联，这往往遵循社会偶然事件和历史依赖性。通过文件分析和对当地利益相关者叙述的评估，该研究强调了建立在效率概念之上的话语的整体主导地位，与社会正义话语的次要存在形成鲜明对比。从更广泛的角度来看，这项研究表明，路径依赖性设置了障碍，这些障碍限制了通过程序设计和实施使转型成为可能（或可取）的程度。