Transcending Challenges of Attaining Distributive Justice in Pro-Poor Activities of Redd-Plus (REDD+): Justice in Brazil, Vietnam and Tanzania

Abstract

Climate change is a phenomenon whose data has set a base for discussion, debates and research, all influential to policy and action restructuring at all levels of natural resource use and governance. Often issues of justice have been highlighted only in justification of conservation and global sharing of costs and benefits of actions proposed. Little attention has been drawn to locals' perceptions of justice or rather distributive justice. The question of mitigation and abatement actions, currently promoted, encourage and exercise incentive based motivational participation. Payment for environmental (ecosystem) services (PES) is one of the topped market instruments promoted with believe to ably address participation issues in conservation and climate change mitigation processes. This payment is also hoped to cause poverty alleviation and satisfaction (justice and equity) within all participants and concerned stakeholders in the climate change agenda. Issues of low education, poor/bad relationships, and unclear property rights arrangements influence perceptions of distributive justice and choice of distribution channels. Consequently they will present implications for efforts towards reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation plus conservation (REDD+). The main objectives of this thesis are; to illustrate variance in perceptions of justice i.e. the preferred payment formats and channels of distribution, relate to participants’ education, property (tenure/land) rights and relationships with leaders, and to harness the likely implications for REDD+. The main question asked is; what are the locals’ perception of distributive justice and how could these influence REDD+ initiatives? This thesis continues to examine persistent challenges of using PES schemes whilst need to attain equity, herein expressed as distributive justice illustrated as preferred payment formats. An elaborated background, inclusive of key concepts held in the REDD+ agenda, is made to better understanding of the operations of REDD+ and its justification for use of PES schemes. A crosscontinental comparative analysis of PES, experimented in REDD+ piloted in Brazil, Viet Nam and Tanzania, is made to illustrate perceptions of distributive justice in relation to the status of the participants’ education, relationships and property rights arrangements. From the literature reviewed, a theoretical understanding of variance in perceptions and definitions of justice is drawn from a Pluralists approach to distributive justice. This will then be applied as a base for understanding and justifying the variance in the locals’ perceptions of distributive justice The findings herein emphasize that focus on these factors; education, property rights, relationship (good leaderships and/ good governance) and test preferences, will yield viable solutions especially towards achievement of perceived distributive justice. Distributive justice is a challenge attracting much attention at global spheres of sharing costs and benefits. However, the attention is here drawn towards justice in a local participant's perspective. Therefore, this thesis' main contribution, to REDD+ architectural planning and designing of particularly PES schemes, is to show the perceived distributive justice/equity at local-participant level. It subsequently emphasizes that distributive justice is attainable by tackling the above mentioned factors influential and related to one's choice of payment format and channel of distribution, hoped to deliver distributive justice in benefit sharing schemes such as PES schemes. The write up here is a comparative desk-top study, based on scholar publications and interactive opinions from reviewers and the writer.