Focali has previously commissioned a case study of an ongoing local forest project in Cambodia. During 2011 Focali will release national case studies addressing the context of REDD in Bolivia, Burkina Faso and Cambodia. The lessons learned from the case studies will be communicated through reports, policy briefs and through a number of seminars.

Previous studies

Cambodia

Focali commissioned a case study in Cambodia describing the Oddar Meanchey REDD project, which has sought to make REDD work for the poor by linking a federation of existing community forestry projects to REDD funding via the voluntary carbon market. The report provided recommendations and called attention to important issues, like the distribution of REDD funds in local communities and the question of geographical scale.
More information can be found in the report Communities and Carbon - Establishing a Community Forestry-REDD project in Cambodia.

National Case Studies

Cambodia

In Cambodia forest are of high value but poverty is widespread. Deforestation is driven by external (non-local) actors and there is little hope for the local community to affect deforestation. Forest-dwelling people, some part of minority groups, are all poor and seldom influential or active politically.
Central themes for the study are:

• To what degree can successful community forestry initiatives be transformed to successful REDD projects and benefit the poor.
• To what degree do REDD and poverty dynamics in small scale projects represent large scale REDD and poverty dynamics?

Bolivia

Bolivia is another country with forests of high value where external actors have a large influence. In contrast to Cambodia, aid and REDD is controversial in the national political debate. The poor living close to or in the forest is represented in politics and are often actively involved in discussing national processes. A central theme for the study is:

• To what degree do the poor benefit from participation and representation in political processes relating to REDD.

Burkina Faso

Burkina Faso is a country with relatively small areas of forest. The forest is dry and of low value. Local actors have a relatively strong role and influence when forest resources are distributed. In addition, poverty is widespread. Thus, moderate REDD investments have the potential to have a significant effect on poverty alleviation. Central themes for the study are:

• In countries where the forests are dry and poverty widespread, can REDD investments be enough to significantly decrease poverty?
• To what degree is it possible to support decentralisation as a means of assuring that “common property regimes” replace “open access regimes” and lead to sustainable local forest management?