The UNFCCC in the REDD: Compliance through Transnational Legal Process in Decentralised Indonesia

This thesis is an examination of the capacity of the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) in developing nations, a forest incentive scheme agreed under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), to induce the compliance of developing nations with the Convention. It focuses on the implementation of REDD in the context of Indonesia’s decentralised governmental structure. REDD is examined through the lens of several compliance theories such as “managerial theory”, “three Rs”, “domestic political coalitions”, “fairness theory” and “transnational legal process”. The analysis considers the assumptions made by these theories to explain compliance, and considers how the character of REDD can fit within these theories’ assumptions. This thesis reveals that the most relevant theory that can explain the capacity of REDD to induce compliance is the transnational legal process. REDD offers national and sub-national mechanisms which can engage various actors, public or private, in a global climate effort under the Convention. This characteristic of REDD fits with the transnational legal process, which explains the importance of the interaction of various actors to transform norms from the international level into the domestic legal system. By using a transnational approach, the Convention does not solely focus on the state through national government but enables the engagement of more actors such as companies, international organisations, civil society organisations, and lower government units. Through REDD, these actors can interact and create substantive legal obligations to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions for developing nations that host REDD projects, through the use of both public and private legal instruments. Such obligations then become similar to the substantive obligation of the developed nations under the Kyoto Protocol. As shown in Indonesia’s decentralised case, this thesis suggests that the engagement of various actors through the transnational legal process of REDD can induce Indonesia’s compliance with the Convention. This capacity of REDD is helped by changes in Indonesia’s governmental structure. Indonesia has experienced a dramatic process of decentralisation since 1999, which transfers most governmental authority to lower governmental units such as provinces and local governments. This change, in turn, has allowed the transnational legal process of REDD to work. This thesis contributes to the understanding of the capacity of an MEA to induce compliance. As an international law instrument that was agreed and is continually negotiated by state parties, the Convention demonstrates that mechanism to engage many different actors in global climate efforts is important, and a proper scheme to maximise their involvement is critical in securing compliance with the substantive aim of the Convention