Exploratory Study of the Development of REDD Incentives in Bolivia

<p>International climate change mitigation efforts have been establishing strategies and programs to achieve Reduction of Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) in developing countries like Bolivia. This research aims to assess these developments and examine the major challenges in the conceptualisation, planning and implementation of these strategies in Bolivia. A review of international negotiations and of current literature on various surrounding issues supplied this research with the needed secondary data. Primary data on Bolivian perspectives and visions on the arising challenges of REDD developments were gathered in January and February 2008. The semi-structured interviews aimed to cover a cross societal range of participants from govt to local forest-inhabitant level. Partially, due to climatic instability, the field-research was hampered by a national flood disaster that challenged the gathering of local forest-inhabitant's visions and perspectives. Through this methodology this research defined key issues in the development of international REDD funding governance and in the challenges of national and local policy and project implementation measures. These are evaluated in consideration of global and local equity and climate-justice issues, offer earthcentric considerations in the evolution of REDD and therefore attempt to contribute to the underlying discourse on ecological ethics in climate change mitigation and adaptation.</p>