REDD+ integration, implementation, and interaction in the Congo basin: Evidence from Cameroon

The outcome of global environmental policies is contingent on their integration into domestic policies and implementation at the grassroots level. This thesis scrutinises the deployment of the UNFCCC-led Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) programme in the Congo basin. Taking Cameroon as a case study, it assesses the extent of REDD+ integration into land use sectors driving deforestation and probes the potential for REDD+ organisational arrangements to facilitate the integration process. It further investigates the contextual factors shaping local REDD+ outcomes and interactions with existing forestry institutions, building on qualitative research methods and the frameworks for environmental policy integration, organisational structures for environmental integration, policy implementation and institutional interactions. The findings indicate that REDD+ integration has been derailed by the limited will of forest actors to transfer forest-related responsibilities to other sectors, as well as competence and interest deficits within land use sectors. REDD+ integration has also been compromised by dysfunctional policy instruments and the predominance of horizontal organisational arrangements underlying sectoral resistance and funding challenges. The study further reveals that local REDD+ implementation epitomises political and experimental implementation, suggesting that cultural understanding, local knowledge and social capital would matter for REDD+ outcomes. The latter have also been affected by rules regarding community forests, reforestation and timber processing. The thesis posits that a disincentive instrument internalising carbon costs in the costbenefit analysis of land use projects would support REDD+ integration into land use sectors. The study has contributed a hybrid organisational design featuring horizontal and vertical integration mechanisms to enhance sectoral REDD+ integration and recommends further analyses on its applicability to other settings. The thesis equally submits that local REDD+ institutions need to be grounded in customary institutions, and that efforts to expedite the decentralisation of forest governance and promote local timber processing would improve local REDD+ implementation.