Kakamega forest, Kenya. CC image courtesy of Michal Hrabovec
Can Strategical Environmental Assessment (SEA) of REDD+ improve policy making and forest governance - Lessons learned from the World Bank pilot program on SEA in policy and sector reform
An article written by the Focali researcher Anders Ekbom among others. It was presented at the 2nd UNITAR-Yale Conference on Environmental Governance and Democracy the 17-19th of September.
The Forest Carbon Partnership Facility has recently proposed the application of strategic environmental social assessment (SESA) for incorporating environmental and social considerations in the preparation of REDD+ initiatives. This paper discusses the potential contribution of SESA to REDD+ initiatives drawing on experiences from earlier attempts to large scale forestry sector reforms and a recent World Bank pilot program on SEA. The paper suggests that SESA can be a useful approach for strengthening institutions and governance needed for managing diverse environmental and social impacts related to REDD+. More specifically, SESA can enhance policy making and governance through raising attention to environmental and social priorities, strengthening constituencies for policy change and improving social accountability. In order for SESA to contribute to these outcomes it needs to be assured that broad national “ownership” is achieved and that it becomes part of a long-term policy learning process with repeated and sustained stakeholder interaction. Through strengthening constituencies for policy change SESA can potentially reduce the risk of regulatory capture of REDD+ by vested interests. An analysis of Kenya‟s process of preparing a national REDD+ strategy is used to illustrate our case in the paper.
