Voigt, Christina --- "Introduction: the kaleidoscopic world of REDD+" [2016] ELECD 609; in Voigt, Christina (ed), "Research Handbook on REDD-Plus and International Law" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2016) 1

Book Title: Research Handbook on REDD-Plus and International Law

Editor(s): Voigt, Christina

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781783478309

Section Title: Introduction: the kaleidoscopic world of REDD+

Author(s): Voigt, Christina

Number of pages: 8

Abstract/Description:

REDD+ is a phenomenon. Arguably, no other aspect of the climate regime established under the UNFCCC is characterized by the intersection of as many and as varied international and national legal instruments. Neither has any other climate aspect attracted the attention of the legal community working with questions of regime interaction and interplay, consistency and/or fragmentation of international law and polycentricity to the extent REDD+ has. The purpose of this book is to capitalize on this work and to inquire how and to what extent REDD+ is embedded in the international legal framework. The research handbook takes a qualitative approach and looks at REDD+ from the perspective of international law. It attempts to analyze the challenges, innovations, shortcomings, and successes that are already part of the international legal framework for REDD+ or can be expected to arise. Complexity is inherent in the very idea of REDD+. Conceived as an incentive instrument under the UNFCCC for developing countries to adopt and scale up climate mitigation actions in the forest sector, it mirrors in its design the pluralistic interests – and trade-offs – that characterize that sector. Perhaps more than any other sector, the forest sector amplifies multiple objectives, ranging from resource exploitation, land management, agriculture, food and fuel production, ecosystem services, biodiversity protection to providing people with livelihoods, amenities, and sanctuaries.