Representing Nature: WWF, REDD, and the Politics of ‘Science’

Earlier this month, political ecologists Betsy Beymer-Farris and Thomas Bassett published “The REDD Menace: Resurgent Protectionism in Tanzania’s Mangrove Forests” in the journal Global Environmental Change. The article critically examines the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF)’s involvement in both climate adaptation and Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) activities in the Rufiji Delta, Tanzania. Various commentators have noted that the WWF’s response has been rather perplexing (I recommend Chris Lang’s take, here). Rather than rehashing these arguments, though, I’d like to examine some of the broader implications of this debate, and similar controversies over the representation of carbon forestry projects elsewhere in Sub-Saharan Africa to consumers and donors in the West.... read further here