The role of civil society in environmental governance and climate change policymaking- A case study of the UN-REDD in Bolivia

Bolivia was one of the first pilot countries of the UN Programme for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (UN-REDD). Over 50% of the people of Bolivia are indigenous and 10% live in or are depend on the forests. This study analyses civil society's role in environmental governance and climate change policy making. The findings show that civil society actors were actively involved in policy development in 2008-2011, through close collaboration with the government influencing the country's climate policy. In 2011-2013, the relationship between indigenous organizations and the authorities was conflict ridden, due to a protest against a road construction project through the National Park and Indigenous Territory TIPNIS. The conflict split the indigenous organizations and affected the dynamics of cooperation with the authorities. At the same time indigenous demands were the basis for the development of a new mechanism for mitigation and adaptation, for protection of forests outside the carbon market. The effort has won little support from bilateral donors, and operates with some funding from the UN-REDD. Indigenous movements in Bolivia are divided in their views on REDD, based on th e experiences with NGO projects, and the government's role in natural resource management. Different positions have been formed: 1) A resistance position that denies that forests can be reduced to carbon and a commodity, against offsets and carbon markets , and private actors control over forests, which is regarded as incompatible with indigenous rights and way of life. 2) A pragmatic position that opts for change within the existing REDD regime, with a strong focus on indigenous rights, and 3) an autonomy position in which indigenous have total authority over REDD projects in their areas, without external interference.

The aim of this project is to explore how measures to respond and adapt to climate change are designed and implemented in developing countries, through the implementation of the UN-REDD (Mechanism for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation of Forests) program in Bolivia. The project will focus on analyzing the involvement and participation of civil society actors in decision making arenas, and how it may lead to securing their rights, livelihoods and interests. Our research objectives conce rns exploring the role of civil society in the elaboration and implementation of climate change policies in Bolivia, arenas for participation and how the state responds to claims from civil society, the actor?s interests and power relations, and to what d egree indigenous and women have a voice in the processes. This is an interdisciplinary study. We use political ecology as our overarching approach to analyze human-environmental interactions, with an emphasis on power relations and governance processes, a ctors and interests that affect who has access to the resources in question and who participates in decision making processes. The study will use standard qualitative methods within the framework of a case study design. We employ a stakeholder analysis to map the actors, further analysing the use of narratives and power relations. The project will be coordinated by the Centre for Development and the Environment (SUM) at the University of Oslo in cooperation with the Norwegian University of Life Sciences ( UMB), as well as with international partners such as CIFOR and CEDLA. This project could be useful in finding ways in which the Norwegian development assistance might contribute to conserve forests for capturing CO2, protect poor and indigenous people and conserve biological diversity, as well as to assist developing countries to include climate adaptation in national development strategies and to strengthen womens participation in natural resource management.