Polycentric governance related to climate change and biodiversity:

the case of REDD+ in South America

Abstract

The current environmental reality is marked by multiple challenges and crises that require responses. The climate crisis and the biodiversity crisis are among the main ones. The REDD+ mechanism has emerged in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) as an instrument to address the problem of carbon emissions from the forestry sector. Given its characteristics, and the polycentric character of global environmental governance, the mechanism has aroused the interest of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).

Based on the need to articulate national instruments in light of what has been worked on in international regimes such as the UNFCCC and the CBD, we intend to answer the following question: Which is the integration level of biodiversity in the REDD+ plans and strategies of South American countries? We analyze four keys aspects: identification and relevance of co-benefits in terms of biodiversity within the REDD+ plans; linkages between the REDD+ strategy, the CBD, and the Aichi Targets; articulation of REDD+ plans with national biodiversity instruments and finally; incorporation of biodiversity in actions, goals, and objectives of REDD+ plans.

We start here from a qualitative methodological approach focused on the analysis of documents. To do this, we work with the National REDD+ Strategies and plans of the South American countries that make up the case studies.