Halting forest loss and achieving sustainable development in an equitable manner require state, non-state actors, and entire societies in the Global North and South to tackle deeply established patterns of inequality and power relations embedded in forest frontiers. Forest and climate governance in the Global South can provide an avenue for the transformational change needed—yet, does it? We analyse the politics and power in four cases of mitigation, adaptation, and development arenas. We use a political economy lens to explore the transformations taking place when climate policy meets specific forest frontiers in the Global South, where international, national and local institutions, interests, ideas, and information are at play. We argue that lasting and equitable outcomes will require a strong discursive shift within dominant institutions and among policy actors to redress policies that place responsibilities and burdens on local people in the Global South, while benefits from deforestation and maladaptation are taken elsewhere. What is missing is a shared transformational objective and priority to keep forests standing among all those involved from afar in the major forest frontiers in the tropics.

阻止森林流失并以公平的方式实现可持续发展需要国家、非国家行为者和全球南北的整个社会解决根深蒂固的不平等和权力关系模式。全球南方的森林和气候治理可以为所需的转型变革提供一条途径——然而，是吗？我们分析了缓解、适应和发展领域四个案例中的政治和权力。我们使用政治经济学的视角来探索当气候政策遇到全球南方的特定森林边界时发生的转变，在那里国际、国家和地方机构、利益、想法和信息都在发挥作用。我们认为，持久和公平的结果将需要在主导机构内部和政策参与者之间进行强有力的话语转变，以纠正将责任和负担置于全球南方当地人民身上的政策，而从森林砍伐和适应不良中获益的政策将被转移到其他地方。缺少的是一个共同的转型目标和优先事项，即在热带主要森林边界的所有远距离参与的人中保持森林的地位。