Page 36 - Governing Congo Basin Forests in a Changing Climate • Olufunso Somorin

Chapter 1
The number of studies on REDD+ in the Congo Basin is growing, and several authors have investigated different aspects of the REDD+ policy debate in the Congo Basin forests: institutional arrangements (Dkamela, 2011; Ngendakumana et al., 2014); actor networks (Alemagi et al., 2014); safeguards and benefits (Fobissie et al., 2012); implementation capacity (Robiglio et al., 2012; Brown et al., 2011); governance concerns (Brown et al., 2011; Karsenty and Ongolo, 2012); and tenure and property rights (Sama and Tawah, 2009; Freudenthal et al., 2011; Awono et al., 2014). Unlike mitigation, studies on adaptation in the Congo Basin have been limited; a few of these studies looking at adaptation needs and options include: Sonwa et al. (2009); Brown et al. (2010 & 2013); Nkem et al. (2010); and Bele et al. (2011). However, interactions between adaptation and REDD+ have not received scientific attention. At the same time, compared to the Amazon and Borneo-Mekong regions, the Congo Basin has been less studied in literature. While the thesis seeks to contribute to the growing scholarship on adaptation and REDD+ in the Congo Basin, particularly on the actor networks, policy discourses and institutional arrangements, it takes a further step into investigating potential interactions towards synergy building.
1.2.1 Research Objectives and Questions
Following the aforementioned, it is evident that managing the use of the Congo Basin forests to respond to climate change presents a governance challenge for policy actors involved. The multiplicity of actors, institutions, interests, instruments and ideas involved in both policy spheres (forest and climate) makes an interesting and necessary governance study.
Specifically, the objective of this thesis is twofold. First, it seeks to gain better understanding of the governance processes of adaptation and mitigation in terms of the actors involved, the overarching discourses and the existing or emerging institutions. Second, it aims to contribute to scientific analysis of governance of a forest-climate nexus using the case of a region that is relatively less studied in literature. Based on the fact that responding to climate change (through adaptation and mitigation) poses a governance challenge for the policy actors, the thesis specifically investigates: (i) the frames and discourses shaping the policymaking processes of adaptation and mitigation strategies in the Congo Basin region; and (ii) the interactions between policy
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