Voices in the Forest: Unraveling REDD+ Discourse and Narratives in the Bale Eco-region, Ethiopia
Additional Files
REDD+ projects are viewed in environmental discourse as a centralized framework to assist ongoing initiatives to stop deforestation and forest degradation and to advance sustainable forest management. This case study captures the intricacy of REDD+ narratives and their practical implications through a qualitative methodology that includes in depth interviews and document analysis. We used snowball sampling to identify participants with diverse perspectives on REDD+ discourses. The interviews were conducted with 25 key informants who represented a variety of stakeholder groups. Discourse analysis was applied to examine contrasting perspectives of ecological modernization and civic environmentalism storylines and narratives on REDD+ implementation. Additionally, it utilized content analysis to explore diverse viewpoints on REDD+ key dimensions and strategic aspects to gain valuable insights from different stakeholder coalitions. We identified three primary discourse coalitions: promoters, moderators, and opponents. The promoters, predominantly consisting of government agencies and international organizations, view REDD+ as a market-driven, technocratic solution to climate change. The moderators, comprise mostly of regional authorities, universities and local institutions, who tend to advocate for a more balanced approach, emphasizing social justice, local empowerment, and sustainable livelihoods. Opponents primarily include the private sector, civil society networks, scholars, indigenous communities and small-scale farmers, express concerns about the potential negative impacts of REDD+, including on land tenure, cultural disruption, and increased inequality. Our analysis reveals the power dynamics at play, with dominant discourses often overshadowing local perspectives. We argue that a more nuanced understanding of these competing narratives is crucial for effective REDD+ implementation. By considering the diverse perspectives of stakeholders and addressing underlying power imbalances, it makes it possible to harness the potential of REDD+ to promote both environmental conservation and social equity in the Bale Eco-region.
Andoh, J., & Lee, Y. (2018). National REDD+ strategy for climate change mitigation: a review and comparison of developing countries. Sustainability, 10(12), 4781. https://doi.org/10.3390/su10124781
Asiyanbi, A. P. (2016). A political ecology of REDD+: Property rights, militarised protectionism, and carbonised exclusion in Cross River. Geoforum, 77, 146-156. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2016.10.016
Bäckstrand, K., & Lövbrand, E. (2006). Planting trees to mitigate climate change: Contested discourses of ecological modernization, green governmentality and civic environmentalism. Global Environmental Politics, 6(1), 50–75. https:// doi.org/10.1162/glep.2006.6.1.50
Bailey, I., Gouldson, A., & Newell, P. (2011). Ecological modernisation and the governance of carbon: a critical analysis. Antipode, 43(3), 682-703. https:// doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8330.2011.00880.x
Bastakoti, R. R., & Davidsen, C. (2017). Framing REDD+ at national level: actors and discourse around Nepal’s policy debate. Forests, 8(3), 57. https://doi.org/ 10.3390/f8030057
Bayrak, M. M., & Marafa, L. M. (2016). Ten years of REDD+: A critical review of the impact of REDD+ on forest-dependent communities. Sustainability, 8(7), 620. https:// doi.org/10.3390/su8070620
Bekele, M., Tesfaye, Y., Mohammed, Z., Zewdie, S., Tebikew, Y., Brockhaus, M., & Kassa, H. (2015). The context of REDD+ in Ethiopia: Drivers, agents and institutions (Vol. 127). CIFOR.
Birhan, E., Assefa, E., & Petrova, M. A. (2021). Challenges of forest governance in addressing REDD+: Status, effects and prospects. The case of Bale Eco-Region, Oromia Regional State, Ethiopia. Geography, Environment, Sustainability, 14(1), 185-195. https://doi.org/10.24057/2071-9388-2020-108
Brown, D., & MacLellan, M. (2020). A multiscalar and justice-led analysis of REDD+: a case study of the Norwegian–Ethiopian partnership. Global Environmental Politics, 20(1), 11-37. https://doi.org/10.1162/glep_a_00536
Central statistical agency of Ethiopia. (2012). Map of Ethiopia, the Oromiya Regional State and the Bale Mountain Eco-Region. Central statistical agency of Ethiopia.
Corbera, E. (2012). Problematizing REDD+ as an experiment in payments for ecosystem services. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 4(6), 612–619. https:// doi.org/10.1016/j.cosust.2012.09.010
Den Besten, J. W., Arts, B., & Verkooijen, P. (2014). The evolution of REDD+: An analysis of discursive-institutional dynamics. Environmental Science and Policy, 35, 40–48. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2013.03.009
Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia [FDRE]. (2011). Ethiopia’s Climate Resilient Green Economy Strategy. Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia [FDRE].
Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia [FDRE] Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change National Redd+ Secretariat. (2018b). National REDD+ Strategy. Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia [FDRE].
Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia [FDRE]. (2018a). Forest Development, Conservation, and Utilization Proclamation [Proclamation No. 1065/2018. Negarit Gazeta No. 21]. Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia [FDRE].
Feindt, P. H., & Oels, A. (2005). Does discourse matter? Discourse analysis in environmental policy making. Journal of Environmental Policy & Planning, 7(3), 161-173. https://doi.org/10.1080/15239080500339638
Groos, A. R., Niederhauser, J., Lemma, B., Fekadu, M., Zech, W., Hänsel, F., ... & Veit, H. (2022). An hourly ground temperature dataset for 16 high-elevation sites (3493–4377 m asl) in the Bale Mountains, Ethiopia (2017–2020). Earth System Science Data, 14(3), 1043-1062. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6047457
Hailemariam, S. N., Soromessa, T., & Teketay, D. (2016). Land use and land cover change in the bale mountain eco-region of Ethiopia during 1985 to 2015. Land, 5(4), 41. https://doi.org/10.3390/land5040041
Hajer, M., & Versteeg, W. (2005). A decade of discourse analysis of environmental politics: Achievements, challenges, perspectives. Journal of Environmental Policy and Planning, 7(3), 175–184. https://doi.org/10.1080/1523908 0500339646
Hewitt, S. (2009). Discourse analysis and public policy research. Centre for rural economy discussion paper series, 24, 1-16. Newcastel University.
Johnson, S. (2021). Discourse and Practice of REDD+ in Ghana and the Expansion of State Power. Sustainability, 13(20), 11358. https://doi.org/10.3390/su1320 11358
Krasny, M. E., Russ, A., Tidball, K. G., & Elmqvist, T. (2014). Civic ecology practices: Participatory approaches to generating and measuring ecosystem services in cities. Ecosystem services, 7, 177-186. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoser.2013. 11.002
Kweka, D., Carmenta, R., Hyle, M., Mustalahti, I., Dokken, T., & Brockhaus, M. (2015). The context of REDD+ in Tanzania: Drivers, agents and institutions (Vol. 133). CIFOR.
Little, M., Jordens, C. F., & Sayers, E. J. (2003). Discourse communities and the discourse of experience. Health: An Interdisciplinary Journal for the Social Study of Health, Illness and Medicine, 7(1), 73-86. https://doi.org/10.1177/1363459 30 3007001619
Mezgebu, A., & Workineh, G. (2017). Changes and drivers of afro-alpine forest ecosystem: future trajectories and management strategies in Bale eco-region, Ethiopia. Ecological Processes, 6, 1-13. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13717-017-0108-2
Morita, K., & Matsumoto, K. I. (2023). Challenges and lessons learned for REDD+ finance and its governance. Carbon Balance and Management, 18(1), 8. https:// doi.org/10.1186/s13021-023-00228-y
Mukono, D. (2024). Beyond the REDD+ neoliberal environmentality and its discontents in Southern Tanzania. Journal of Political Ecology, 31(1), 200-2016. https:// doi.org/10.2458/jpe.5016
Nielsen, T. D. (2014). The role of discourses in governing forests to combat climate change. International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, 14(3), 265–280. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10784-013-9223-4
Pascoe, S. (2018). Interrogating scale in the REDD+ assemblage in Papua New Guinea. Geoforum, 96, 87-96. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2018.08.007
Poudel, D. P., & Aase, T. H. (2015). Discourse analysis as a means to scrutinize REDD+: An issue of current forest management debate of Nepal. Journal of forest and livelihood, 13(1), 44-55. https://doi.org/10.3126/jfl.v13i1.15365
Rantala, S., & Di Gregorio, M. (2014). Multistakeholder environmental governance in action: REDD+ discourse coalitions in Tanzania. Ecology and Society, 19(2), 66. http://dx.doi.org/10.5751/ES-06536-190266
Schulz, C. (2020). Forest conservation through markets? A discourse network analysis of the debate on funding mechanisms for REDD+ in Brazil. Environmental Communication, 14(2), 202-218. https://doi.org/10.1080/17524032.2019.16 31869
Seddon, N., Daniels, E., Davis, R., Harris, R., Hou-Jones, X., Huq, S., ... & Wicander, S. (2019). Global recognition of the importance of nature-based solutions to climate change impacts. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints201810.0203.v2
Watson, C. (2013). Forest conservation for communities and carbon: the economics of community forest management in the Bale Mountains Eco-Region, Ethiopia [Doctoral dissertation]. London School of Economics and Political Science.
Williams, D. A. (2023). The politics of deforestation and REDD+ in Indonesia: global climate change mitigation. Routledge.
Woldegiorgis, B. (2020). A history and policy analyses of Forest Governance in Ethiopia and REDD+ [Master thesis]. Uppsala University.
Copyright (c) 2025 Forest and Society
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
This is an open access journal which means that all contents is freely available without charge to the user or his/her institution. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles in this journal without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author. This is in accordance with the BOAI definition of open access.
Submission of an article implies that the work described has not been published previously (except in the form of an abstract or as part of a published lecture or academic thesis), that it is not under consideration for publication elsewhere, that its publication is approved by all authors and tacitly or explicitly by the responsible authorities where the work was carried out, and that, if accepted, will not be published elsewhere in the same form, in English or in any other language, without the written consent of the Publisher. An article based on a section from a completed graduate dissertation may be published in Forest and Society, but only if this is allowed by author's(s') university rules. The Editors reserve the right to edit or otherwise alter all contributions, but authors will receive proofs for approval before publication.
Forest and Society operates a CC-BY 4.0 © license for journal papers. Copyright remains with the author, but Forest and Society is licensed to publish the paper, and the author agrees to make the article available with the CC-BY 4.0 license. Reproduction as another journal article in whole or in part would be plagiarism. Forest and Society reserves all rights except those granted in this copyright notice
