Skip to main content
Research article - Peer-reviewed, 2016

Questioning the use of 'degradation' in climate mitigation: A case study of a forest carbon CDM project in Uganda

Hajdu, F; Penje, O; FIscher, K

Abstract

An urgent need to stop degradation is frequently cited as support for climate mitigation efforts involving forests. However, lessons learnt from social science research on degradation narratives are not taken into consideration. This creates a risk of problematic degradation narratives being used to legitimise forest carbon projects. This study examined a Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) forest plantation in Uganda, where incomplete and partly contradictory evidence on land use change was interpreted in a way that overemphasised degradation. This interpretation was in line with the interests of the forestry company proposing the CDM activity and with national interests in Uganda, and was stimulated by CDM guidelines and regulations. Our investigation revealed a more complex picture of land cover change in the area that did not support the narrative of an area undergoing continuous degradation. We therefore recommend that close scrutiny of the degradation narrative presented be included in every type of forest carbon project. (C) 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Keywords

Degradation; Narrative; Deforestation; Climate change; CDM; Remote sensing

Published in

Land Use Policy
2016, volume: 59, pages: 412-422

Authors' information

Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Urban and Rural Development
Penje, Oskar
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Urban and Rural Development
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Urban and Rural Development

UKÄ Subject classification

Social Sciences Interdisciplinary

Publication Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2016.09.016

URI (permanent link to this page)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/79707