Presentation short abstract

This research traces the complex geographic, social, and political contours of REDD+ in Guatemala, and how, ultimately, the program was molded by the interests of a kleptocratic elite driving expanding agro-extractivism while vulnerable forest communities were rendered invisible.

Presentation long abstract

REDD+ is an international program focused on using financial incentives to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, exemplifying the trend towards market-based conservation and climate initiatives. This research examines the development of REDD+ in Guatemala in its many facets, from the projects seeking to sell carbon credits on the private market, to the decade-long process for the country to be deemed “REDD Ready,” to the creation of the Emissions Reduction Program to receive results-based payments under the World Bank’s Carbon Fund. Pairing contextual analysis with detailed content and discourse analysis of REDD+ documents, along with semi-structured interviews with public officials, NGOs, and affected communities, the research explores the geographic, social, and political contours of REDD+ in Guatemala. Building on extensive research on the complex effects of forest carbon initiatives, findings demonstrate the challenges in making carbon a marketable commodity, and the simplistic social ‘reality’ cultivated for compliance with international safeguard policies. Ultimately, Guatemala’s Emissions Reduction Program did not address the drivers of deforestation—but it did have other productive effects. Findings explore how politics and power shaped the program in the interests of the oligarchic elite and served to legitimate the State’s climate program, while rendering invisible communities who posed potential challenges to their political project. The research concludes with reflection on the synergies between market-based climate initiatives like REDD+ and the interests of kleptocratic groups driving deforestation and large-scale agro-extractivism, and the implications for environmental protection and the rights of marginalized communities.