When reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD) became an international concern a decade ago, the focus was mainly on the scientific ways to do it. In most countries, the REDD policies and programmes implemented were led by a technocratic approach of the issue, which did not involve the local – often indigenous – population actually living in the forest areas.

When reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD) became an international concern a decade ago, the focus was mainly on the scientific ways to do it. In most countries, the REDD policies and programmes implemented were led by a technocratic approach of the issue, which did not involve the local – often indigenous – population actually living in the forest areas. Closely implicating local communities in the management of the forests in which they live is not only a matter of respecting their human rights: it is intrinsically linked to the human development of the concerned region and the preservation of the forest environment itself. Indeed, an official and systematized participation in their forest regeneration and conservation at all levels of the process – from decision making to implementation – would prevent these communities from falling into poverty and at the same time ensure the sustainability of the forest.

 

In this context, democratic governance assessments as an inclusive policy-feeding process can bring an efficient solution to bridge technocracy with community participation. UN-REDD, the United Nations Collaborative Programme on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries, has recently asked the Oslo Governance Centre (OGC) for cooperation to assess forest governance in a number of countries. In June 2009, UN-REDD presented its plan to build a forest governance assessment framework based on UNDP’s approach to country-led governance assessments developed by the OGC. The cooperation will potentially result in supporting more than 20 pilot countries to do governance assessments of their forest situation. A  UNREDD programme specialist is currently being recruited to the OGC governance assessments team for this purpose.