Analyzing multilevel governance in Mexico: Lessons for REDD+ from a study of land-use change and benefit sharing in Chiapas and Yucatán

Mixed Effectiveness of REDD+ Subnational Initiatives after 10 Years of Interventions on the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico

“…In that respect, our study also confirms the importance of evaluating REDD+ effectiveness at the local scale or project levels, using counterfactuals and quasi-experimental methods such as BACI and SCM [6,10,12,15]. Moreover, our results also corroborate that local funding and community-based projects may be more effective in reducing deforestation than regional jurisdictional interventions with government institutions [15,18,41].…”

“…With some caveats, our results echo the Skutsch and Turnhout [41] analysis which considers that REDD+ is not effective at tackling the most important drivers of deforestation and forest degradation. In the region, REDD+ is more often effective in locales with already low deforestation rates, particularly in those with community forest management and subsistence agriculture, where much of the REDD+ effort has concentrated [18]. Conversely, our results suggest that REDD+ is more often ineffective in communities with significant presence of industrial agriculture and cattle ranching where opportunity costs may be higher and low emissions development initiatives compete with business-as-usual incentives [44], illegal activities [80], and disproportionately larger agricultural subsidies [18].…”

“…In 2010, Mexico embarked on its implementation of REDD+ programs [16], with subnational initiatives focused on early action priority regions, including the Yucatan Peninsula [16,17]. A handful of REDD+ evaluations have assessed multi-level governance capacity and its implications in REDD+ priority regions [18]; the design of pro-poor REDD+ interventions and distribution systems for the Yucatan Peninsula [19]; and challenges and requirements for establishing functional REDD+ monitoring, reporting, and verification systems (MRV) in Mexico [20,21]. Nevertheless, after 10 years since its outset, here, we present the first assessment of REDD+ effectiveness in reducing forest cover loss in the Yucatan Peninsula, a region with the largest tropical forest area in Mexico.…”

“…A variety of research have evaluated the REDD+ mechanism in Mexico and the Yucatan Peninsula region at the national and subnational levels. However, the majority of evaluations have focused on how multi-level governance has functioned towards achieving REDD+ goals [18,20,43], reporting disjointed and limited subnational level jurisdiction which reduces the efficacy of REDD+ implementation in Mexico. Other research describes how well land use and cultural diversity, social equity, and pro-poor strategies are integrated into its initial actions and the implications on its success [19,44].…”

Experiencias de gobernanza multinivel en México: innovación para la reducción de emisiones de carbono de los ecosistemas terrestres

“…interesante notar que el gobierno ejidal o la comunidad agraria asumen una posición relevante, lo cual refleja su poder de facto en las decisiones cotidianas en torno al uso de suelo, además de ser una consecuencia de los apoyos de la Conafor al sector social. Los resultados de la figura 2 confirman que el gobierno municipal desempeña un papel marginal en la toma de decisiones sobre el uso del suelo (Trench et al, 2018). Por otra parte, el pequeño productor individual sigue siendo dependiente de otros actores para la reproducción social de la vida campesina.…”