1 REDD+ and institutions: are we making the best of REDD+?

Abstract: This paper investigates the relationship between REDD+ payments and the quality of institutions in countries that are expected to receive these payments. Using graphical correlation analysis we can see that REDD+ payments are primarily flowing to countries with poor institutions. In particular, countries that receive REDD+ payments score poorly in two institutional quality indicators which are especially important from the point of view of whether these payments will help to solve environmental and social problems: Rule of Law and Control of Corruption. Although the REDD programme has evolved significantly since a similar analysis was carried out by Ebeling and Yasué in 2008, the institutional problems have remained equally important. This is also in line with a recently formulated ‘ecosystem service curse ’ hypothesis, whereby payments for ecosystem services (including those offered within REDD+) might lead to socio-economic problems in recipient countries