"No queremos vender oxígeno" : the implementation of a REDD pilot project in the Bolivian Amazon

Abstract

Based on a six month fieldwork in an indigenous community in an indigenous territory, TCO, this thesis explore the initial stages of the implementation of a REDD pilot project in the northern Bolivian amazon. Since the establishment of the indigenous territory, there has been increasing pressure from logging companies and illegal logging, which has caused forest degradation in these areas. The REDD pilot project seek to reduce forest degradation in this area, and through monitoring this reduction, the project is testing out the possibilities for making profit from a future sale on carbon credits through REDD, Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation in developing countries. With a starting point in the community the thesis discuss what happens in the meeting between a global initiative and the local realities in the forest. The thesis takes the reader from REDD meetings to the local community meetings and discussions on Brazil nuts. From the strategically planned forestry management plan to the search for illegal loggers in the forest. Through themes like participation, tenure and governance the thesis discusses important aspect of REDD. The thesis argues that the REDD pilot project, as observed in the initial stage, lacked a broad participation of the people in the communities and that the structure or the design of the REDD Project did not allow for a broad participation of the people in the community and that the project structure in many ways set the frame for knowledge, interaction and goals of the project.