Institutional layering in climate policy: Insights from REDD+ governance in Indonesia

Silvio Hermawan, Moch Faisal Karim and Lena Rethel

Forest Policy and Economics, 2023, vol. 154, issue C

Abstract: Climate change adaptation in low- and middle-income countries has magnified the urgency of transforming forest governance. Despite the increased international pressure, progress is hampered by inefficiencies in forest-related state institutions that struggle with coordination, mediating political interests, and strategic policy formulation. Focusing on Indonesia's Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) program, this article offers a novel perspective on the institutionalization of the climate agenda within the forestry sector and its implications for forest governance transformation. We posit that Indonesia's forest institutions have internalized the climate agenda via layering, a process where climate objectives are embedded within existing structures. While this assimilation approach potentially restricts transformative capacity, we argue that it demonstrates greater resilience for long-term climate agenda, especially in non-climate consensus nations like Indonesia. Our study accentuates the necessity to incorporate domestic political contexts in examining the institutionalization process of climate objectives. The dynamic relationship between politics and institutions provides a crucial lens to understand limitations and pathways to transformative forest governance. This analysis hopes to shed light on more efficient and transformative climate governance in the forestry sector.

Keywords: Institutional transformation; Redd+; Forest governance; Institutional layering; Climate institutions; Institutional change; International political economy; International relations (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:forpol:v:154:y:2023:i:c:s1389934123001326

DOI: 10.1016/j.forpol.2023.103037

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