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India in international climate governance: Through soft power from REDD to REDD+ policy in favor of relative gains

Forest and Society · Vol. 2 No. 1 (2020) · pp. 47–64

DOI
10.24259/fs.v2i1.3584
ISSN
2549-4333, 2549-4724
Published
2020-09-14
Publisher
Forestry Faculty, Universitas Hasanuddin
Language
en
License
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

Abstract

This paper seeks to examine India’s role in the politics of a specific climate change mitigation policy called “Reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, and enhancing forest carbon stocks in developing countries (REDD+)”. It explores India’s strategic behaviour towards the development of REDD policy. The paper argues that India had pushed for the remodelling of the global REDD negotiations by expanding its scope to conservation activities, which entails more direct benefits for India. This is largely due to differences in India’s rates of forest cover and deforestation as compared to high forest - high deforestation countries such as Brazil and Indonesia. To substantiate its argument, the paper uses the main underpinnings of relative gains theory in international relations and applies them toward interpreting India’s behaviour in negotiating REDD+ at global level. Further, the paper analyses the Indian strategies used to remodel the REDD mechanism using insights from soft power theory and its more recent amendments. Thematic analysis of the REDD-relevant documents as well as exploratory expert interviews have been employed for showing India’s proactive role in the politics of REDD+. It is concluded that India indeed played a central role in critical past decisions, which lead to re-shaping REDD due to relative gains concerns and mainly by means of soft power strategies.

Keywords

Collaboration network of the authors

18 authors · 47 co-authorship links

Hover or tap a name to highlight its co-authors. Double-click to open the author's page.

  • Gunadarma University
  • Affiliation unknown
  • Different organisations
  • Same organisation
  • Affiliation unknown
  • Thicker line = more joint articles · bigger circle = more articles
Show as table
Co-authorOrganisationJoint articles
Ahmad MaryudiAffiliation unknown2
Carsten SchusserAffiliation unknown2
Agung WibowoGunadarma University1
Micah R. FisherAffiliation unknown1
Dwi LaraswatiAffiliation unknown1
Max KrottAffiliation unknown1
Emma SorayaAffiliation unknown1
Sari RahayuAffiliation unknown1
Md Faisal Abedin Khan KhanAffiliation unknown1
Md Saifur RahmanAffiliation unknown1
Lwin Thuzar NyeinAffiliation unknown1
Daniel KartheAffiliation unknown1
Mukand Singh BabelAffiliation unknown1
Pradip Kumar SarkerAffiliation unknown1
Md Faisal Abedin KhanAffiliation unknown1
Fredy Polo VillanuevaAffiliation unknown1

Affiliations come from OpenAlex; journal OAI-PMH metadata carries none. Authors without an OpenAlex ID are matched by name, which can merge or split people.

Metadata source: OAI-PMH (metadata jurnal) https://journal.unhas.ac.id/index.php/fs/oai, first harvested 5 Nov 2026, last seen 5 Nov 2026.
Original metadata (oai_dc)
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	<dc:title xml:lang="en">India in international climate governance: Through soft power from REDD to REDD+ policy in favor of relative gains</dc:title>
	<dc:creator xml:lang="en">Negi, Swati</dc:creator>
	<dc:creator xml:lang="en">Giessen, Lukas</dc:creator>
	<dc:subject xml:lang="en">REDD </dc:subject>
	<dc:subject xml:lang="en">India</dc:subject>
	<dc:subject xml:lang="en">international governance</dc:subject>
	<dc:subject xml:lang="en">relative gains</dc:subject>
	<dc:subject xml:lang="en">soft power</dc:subject>
	<dc:subject xml:lang="en">forest cover change</dc:subject>
	<dc:subject xml:lang="en">forest management</dc:subject>
	<dc:subject xml:lang="en">forest policy</dc:subject>
	<dc:subject xml:lang="en">deforestation rates</dc:subject>
	<dc:subject xml:lang="en">forest carbon stocks</dc:subject>
	<dc:description xml:lang="en">This paper seeks to examine India’s role in the politics of a specific climate change mitigation policy called “Reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, and enhancing forest carbon stocks in developing countries (REDD+)”. It explores India’s strategic behaviour towards the development of REDD policy. The paper argues that India had pushed for the remodelling of the global REDD negotiations by expanding its scope to conservation activities, which entails more direct benefits for India. This is largely due to differences in India’s rates of forest cover and deforestation as compared to high forest - high deforestation countries such as Brazil and Indonesia. To substantiate its argument, the paper uses the main underpinnings of relative gains theory in international relations and applies them toward interpreting India’s behaviour in negotiating REDD+ at global level. Further, the paper analyses the Indian strategies used to remodel the REDD mechanism using insights from soft power theory and its more recent amendments. Thematic analysis of the REDD-relevant documents as well as exploratory expert interviews have been employed for showing India’s proactive role in the politics of REDD+. It is concluded that India indeed played a central role in critical past decisions, which lead to re-shaping REDD due to relative gains concerns and mainly by means of soft power strategies.</dc:description>
	<dc:publisher xml:lang="en">Forestry Faculty, Universitas Hasanuddin</dc:publisher>
	<dc:date>2020-09-14</dc:date>
	<dc:type>info:eu-repo/semantics/article</dc:type>
	<dc:type>info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion</dc:type>
	<dc:format>application/pdf</dc:format>
	<dc:identifier>https://journal.unhas.ac.id/index.php/fs/article/view/3584</dc:identifier>
	<dc:identifier>10.24259/fs.v2i1.3584</dc:identifier>
	<dc:source xml:lang="en">Forest and Society; Vol. 2 No. 1 (2018): APRIL; 47-64</dc:source>
	<dc:source>2549-4333</dc:source>
	<dc:source>2549-4724</dc:source>
	<dc:language>en</dc:language>
	<dc:relation>https://journal.unhas.ac.id/index.php/fs/article/view/3584/pdf</dc:relation>
	<dc:rights xml:lang="en">Copyright (c) 2019 Forest and Society</dc:rights>
	<dc:rights xml:lang="en">http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0</dc:rights>
</oai_dc:dc>