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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

17 authors · 46 co-authorship links · 22 across different organisations

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

  • Technische Universität Dresden
  • Universitas Gadjah Mada
  • University of Göttingen
  • ETH Zurich
  • University of Palangka Raya
  • National Research and Innovation Agency
  • East–West Center
  • Other organisations
  • Affiliation unknown
  • Different organisations
  • Same organisation
  • Affiliation unknown
  • Thicker line = more joint articles · bigger circle = more articles
Show as table
Co-authorOrganisationJoint articles
Ahmad MaryudiUniversitas Gadjah Mada2
Md Faisal Abedin KhanUniversity of Göttingen2
Carsten SchusserTechnische Universität Dresden2
Agung WibowoUniversity of Palangka Raya1
Micah R. FisherEast–West Center1
Dwi LaraswatiUniversitas Gadjah Mada1
Sari RahayuNational Research and Innovation Agency1
Max KrottUniversity of Göttingen1
Emma SorayaUniversitas Gadjah Mada1
Md Saifur RahmanAffiliation unknown1
Lwin Thuzar NyeinTechnische Universität Dresden1
Daniel KartheInstitute for Integrated Management of Material Fluxes and of Resources1
Mukand S. BabelAsian Institute of Technology1
Pradip Kumar SarkerTechnische Universität Dresden1
Fredy David Polo-VillanuevaTechnische Universität Dresden1

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 8 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>