Page 63 - Governing Congo Basin Forests in a Changing Climate • Olufunso Somorin

Chapter 7 presents the main conclusions, discussion and reflections on the governance process of adaptation and REDD+ in the Congo Basin. The first part presents the conclusions based on the empirical findings and are structured along the four research questions. The conclusions include: (1) The three dominant discourses on adaptation and REDD+ reveal the differences in how actors frame the use of Congo Basin forests to respond to climate change. The main discursive contention is whether adaptation and REDD+ should be separated or integrated in their policy design and implementation. (2) Policy debates on adaptation are ongoing at the national level, although with lesser diversity of actors compared to REDD+, the constraints of developing a national adaptation strategy are enormous. Nevertheless, local communities are already coping with or adapting to climate variability by innovatively modifying their livelihood systems. These local adaptation practices are influenced by the communitarian forestry institutions. (3) Deliberations toward a national RED+ strategy are fairly more advanced than adaptation due to more engagement of diverse actors who have been assigned specific roles and responsibilities in the policy process. Institutional structures are being negotiated for REDD+ by actors on how to govern REDD+ to deliver the desired opportunities (poverty reduction, biodiversity conservation and economic development) it promises. (4) Interactions between adaptation and REDD+ are recognized through exchange of knowledge and ideas to promote inter-institutional learning; and through cooperative behaviour between the two actors. Managing the interactions in Cameroon is through the creation of an overarching institutional framework called ONAAC. The chapter further discusses a number of insights such as the divergences in the discursive framing of issues; the influences of resources (finances, knowledge and capacity) on the policy process; the local- global dimension of ideas, resources and knowledge; agency-institutions dynamics; and the politics of synergy. Furthermore, the chapter also presents a reflection on the analytical framework of discursive institutionalism (actors, discourses and institutions) in explaining the governance process of adaptation and REDD+ in the Congo Basin. It further reflects on governance trajectories for adaptation and REDD+ by combining the diversity of actors with quality of institutions in a single matrix. It also reflects on the research methodology used in this study. In addition, the chapter explores personal reflections on: the framing of ‘complex’ adaptation and REDD+; the priority-opportunity dichotomy between adaptation and REDD+ within the forest-climate nexus;
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