Stakeholder Participation in REDD+ Program: The Case of the Consultation Process in Laos

Soukphavanh Sawathvong, Kimihiko Hyakumura () and Taiji Fujisaki
Additional contact information
Soukphavanh Sawathvong: Department of Forestry, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Xiengyuen Village, Chanthaboury District, Vientiane P.O. Box 2932, Laos
Kimihiko Hyakumura: Institute of Tropical Agriculture, Kyushu University, 744 Motooka, Nishi-ku, Fukuoka 819-0395, Japan
Taiji Fujisaki: Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES), 2108-11 Kamiyamaguchi, Hayama, Kanagawa 240-0115, Japan

Land, 2024, vol. 13, issue 8, 1-20

Abstract: REDD+ aims to mitigate climate change by reducing deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries while ensuring social and environmental benefits through the involvement of diverse stakeholders. While several studies evaluate stakeholder participation in various aspects of REDD+, such as the level and type of stakeholder participation at both the project and national context level, there is a lack of research on how the government conducted the consultation meetings across all administrative levels. The objective of this study is to evaluate the participation of different stakeholders in REDD+ in Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR), or Laos, funded by the World Bank, with a focus on analyzing government consultation processes to identify drivers of deforestation and forest degradation. The study applied both a literature review and online interviews, conducted with government officials and representatives of CSOs, which took place from March to April 2020. The results indicate significant involvement from cross-sectoral stakeholders. However, central government agencies and development partners dominated stakeholder participation, potentially influenced by government ownership. Non-state stakeholders, though invited to the consultations, had limited participation, highlighting the need for greater emphasis on their roles to ensure the integration of diverse interests and views in the REDD+ initiative.

Keywords: role of stakeholders; multi-stakeholders; top-down; developing country; consultation process; REDD+ program; Laos (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/13/8/1137/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/13/8/1137/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jlands:v:13:y:2024:i:8:p:1137-:d:1442724

Access Statistics for this article

Land is currently edited by Ms. Carol Ma

More articles in Land from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().