The political economy of Readiness for REDD+

The emergence of payments and other economically relevant incentives for ecosystem services in
recent years has increased the scope of options for managing natural resources, especially forests
(van Noordwijk et al., 2012). Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation plus sustainable
management of forests, conservation and enhancement of carbon stocks (REDD+ ) through
economic incentives has been under negotiation within the United Nations Framework Convention
on Climate Change (UNFCCC) for over nine years. REDD+ is an evolving mechanism that aims at
making forests more profitable standing rather than destroyed, by rewarding governments, individuals,
and forest managers in developing countries for keeping or restoring forests. The REDD+ mechanism
has evolved from reducing emissions from deforestation (RED) to reducing emissions from
deforestation and forest degradation (REDD), to the present-day REDD+ , which goes beyond REDD
to include ‘reducing emissions from deforestation’, ‘reducing emissions from degradation’, ‘conservation
of forest carbon stocks’, ‘sustainable management of forests’, and ‘enhancement of carbon stocks’
(UNFCCC, 2010). Given that REDD+ is a new phenomenon, countries have also been engaged in technical,
policy, and institutional preparations (‘Readiness’) to implement any agreed mechanism. This
article introduces a special issue on the political economy of Readiness for REDD+