Cette thèse a pour objectif de fournir une analyse compréhensive des composantes de jure et de facto de la sécurité foncière des communautés locales en regard du cadre législatif, ainsi qu’une évaluation approfondie de l’interaction entre REDD+ et les accords fonciers actuels. La Thaïlande, pays dans lequel semblent coexister les droits fonciers de facto et les propriétés d’état de jure, fut sélectionnée comme cas d’étude.Deux résultats principaux ressortent de cette étude. Tout d'abord, le cadre juridique ne reconnaissant pas le droit à la propriété ancestrale a conduit à différentes situations foncières de facto pour les communautés. Certaines communautés jouissent d’une occupation de leurs propriétés foncières de facto comparativement plus sécurisée que d'autres. Deuxièmement, il apparaît que le mécanisme REDD+ n’a pas représenté une incitation suffisante pour le gouvernement Thaïlandais à résoudre rapidement ces litiges fonciers. En outre, les risques inhérents à l'insécurité foncière décourage les investissements REDD+, pouvant aller jusqu’au retrait des financements. Ainsi, cette thèse complète la littérature existante sur le mécanisme REDD+ et le foncier sur trois aspects majeurs: (1) cadre légal et foncier, (2) foncier et déforestation et (3) concurrence entre la titularisation du foncier et la mise en place de REDD+.Les implications politiques tirées de l'étude comprennent des mesures à long terme pour une réforme du régime foncier et à court/moyen terme pour une réévaluation des priorités du gouvernement afin d’assurer la cohérence des politiques vers la mise en œuvre de pilote REDD+ sous forme de paiement pour les services environnementaux (PES) et l'amélioration des structures institutionnelles. / This thesis aims to provide a comprehensive analysis of de jure and de facto tenure security of local communities in relation to domestic legal framework and a thorough assessment of how REDD+ and current tenure arrangement interacts. Thailand, a country where there is an apparent coexistence of de jure state property and de facto tenure rights, was selected as a case study.There are two primary findings emerging from the study. Firstly, the legal framework with non-recognized customary tenure led to different de facto tenure impacts in different communities. Some communities were found to have their de facto tenure comparatively more secure than others. Secondly, REDD+ could not provide sufficient incentive for the government to expedite tenure clarification. Moreover, the embedded risks of tenure insecurity discouraged REDD+ investment and led to withdrawal of the fund. The thesis contributes to the existing literature on REDD+ and tenure in three main aspects: (1) legal framework and tenure, (2) tenure and deforestation and (3) tenure clarification and REDD+ competing agendas.Policy implications drawn from the study comprise of long-term measures namely comprehensive tenure reform and short to medium-term measures, including re-assessment of government priorities for policy consistency and pilot implementation in form of payment for environmental services (PES) and improvement of REDD+ institutional structure.

Depuis ses balbutiements au début des années 2000, la Réduction des Emissions liées à la Déforestation et la Dégradation forestière, plus connue sous le sigle REDD+, a peu à peu été admise comme un moyen indispensable des politiques globales de lutte contre le changement climatique. Reposant sur le concept de « déforestation évitée », elle nécessite la formulation d’un scénario de référence servant à évaluer les efforts des pays dans la maîtrise de leur niveau de déforestation. Ces scénarios sont au cœur de nombreux débats politiques et scientifiques. Cette thèse constitue une mise en perspective des principes de REDD+ avec, comme cas d’étude, le Plateau des Guyanes. Dans un premier temps, on présentera l’établissement d’un modèle spatialisé de déforestation pour la Guyane française, insistant sur la nécessité de se focaliser sur les moteurs socio-économiques de la déforestation. Ce constat sera renforcé, dans un second temps, par l’étude de la déforestation liée à l’orpaillage à l’échelle de l’ensemble du Plateau des Guyanes, montrant un impact très fort du cours de l’or et des contextes politiques sur le niveau déforestation. Ces résultats alimenteront une discussion critique du mécanisme REDD+, basé sur la formulation de scénarios de référence potentiellement très variables et fondés sur des déterminants davantage politiques que scientifiques, ouvrant ainsi la porte à un potentiel chantage environnemental. / Since its appearance at the beginning of the 2000’s, the Reduction of Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation, known as REDD+, has gradually been admitted as an indispensable option for global policies aiming at tackling climate change. Relying on the concept of « avoided deforestation », it requires the formulation of a reference scenario aiming at evaluating efforts made by the countries involved in controlling their level of deforestation. Those scenarios are facing numerous political and scientific debates. This thesis aims at putting into perspective the principles of REDD+, based on a study site covering the Guiana Shield. In a first step, the formulation of a spatialiazed deforestation model over French Guiana will be presented, insisting on the necessity to focus on socio-economic drivers of deforestation. This statement will be reinforced, in a second step, by the the study of deforestation due to gold mining in the Guiana Shield, showing a very strong effect of gold prices and national political contexts on deforestation. These results finally contribute to a critical discussion on REDD+ mechanism, based on the formulation of very variable reference scenarios, relying more on political than on scientific determinants, and potentially enabling the emergence of environmental blackmailing.

This thesis deals with the selected issues regarding tropical rainforests in modern civilization. It explains what the tropical rainforest is and where it is located. The thesis points at the importance of the tropical rain forestry, and warns of increasing threats primarily due to deforestation. The thesis also shows possible approaches to deal with the issue and presents a practical example of a functional project in real life.

Cette thèse étudie le rôle des institutions dans la compréhension du processus de déforestation dans les pays en développement. L'approche retenue est celle de la nouvelle économie institutionnelle qui définit les institutions comme le cadre incitatif d'une économie, qui structure les interactions économiques des individus. Le cadre institutionnel est donc un élément à part entière du système économique, qui agit sur l'environnement humain à travers la modulation des incitations des agents. A ce titre, les institutions jouent donc un rôle majeur dans le processus de conservation ou de conversion des forêts. L'analyse de ce rôle est la problématique centrale de cette thèse et s'articule autour de trois grandes parties: (1) le rôle de la persistance des institutions ou rôle de l'histoire dans la compréhension de celui des institutions, (2) le rôle de la demande de bonne gouvernance, et (3) le rôle des institutions comme élément catalytique conditionnant l'effet de causes plus directes de la déforestation. La première partie conclut sur le rôle majeur de la prise en compte des legs légaux et coloniaux pour expliquer l' effet des institutions sur la déforestation. La seconde partie explique le rôle majeur de la demande de bonne gouvernance pour préserver la forêt, en étant un substitut (complément) d'une mauvaise (bonne) offre de bonne gouvernance. Enfin, la troisième partie de la thèse suggère de comprendre les institutions comme un facteur catalytique de la déforestation qui permet de comprendre l' effet des causes directes de celle-Ci telles que la productivité agricole des fermes de l'Amazonie Légale, ou les comportements stratégiques entre communes du Paraná dans la création de parcs municipaux. / This thesis investigates the role of institutions on deforestation within the framework of the New Institutional Economics. This theory states that institutions can be defined such as the incentive systm wich shape economic interactions throughout the modulations of the incentives of agents. This way, institutions are at stake in the process of deforestation and the analysis of this role is the core of this thesis, articulated around three parts : the role of institutional persistence (1), the importance of the deman for good governance (2) and the implications of institutions and governance system as an underlying framework shaping proximate causes of deforestation (3). The first part stresses the importance of taking into account colonial and legal legacies to understand the role of institutions on deforestation. The second part explains the leading role of the demand for good governance. the third part proposes two micro-Economics applications in Brazil. The role of institutions and governance systmem on forest cover is defined as a catalytic role precipitating the effect of proximate causes on deforestation such as agricultural productivity in the Legal Amazon, or strategic behaviors between counties in the creation of municipal conservation units in the state of Paranà.

This dissertation creates two new theoretical tools to analyze connections between politics and environmental change. The first section develops the concept of Northern ‘shadow ecologies’ to understand the environmental impact of a Northern state on Southern resource management. A Northern shadow ecology is the aggregate environmental impact of government aid and loans; corporate investment and technology transfers; and trade, including purchasing practices, consumption, export and consumer prices, and import tariffs. After outlining Japan’s shadow ecology, the next part constructs an analytical lens to uncover salient Southern political causes of timber mismanagement. This spotlights modern patron-client links between Southern officials and private operators that debilitate state capacity to implement resource policies. Using these analytical tools, and building on extensive primary sources and more than 100 in-depth interviews, the remainder of the thesis examines the two most important factors driving commercial timber mismanagement in Indonesia, Borneo Malaysia, and the Philippines: pervasive patron-client ties between Southeast Asian officials and timber operators; and the residual and immediate environmental impact of Japan. In a continual struggle to retain power in societies with fragmented social control, Southeast Asian state leaders build potent patron-client networks that syphon state funds, distort policies, and undermine supervision of state implementors. In this setting, the state is often unable to enforce timber management rules as implementors -- in exchange for gifts, money, or security -- ignore or assist destructive and illegal loggers, smugglers, and tax evaders. Japan’s shadow ecology has expedited timber mismanagement, and left deep environmental scars that impede current efforts to improve timber management. Post-1990 Japanese government and corporate policy changes to integrate environmental concerns have marginally improved forestry ODA, and contributed to token corporate conservation projects. As well, there is now less Japanese investment, technology, and credit linked to logging. But massive timber purchases from unsustainable sources, wasteful consumption, timber prices that ignore environmental and social costs, import barriers that deplete Southern revenues, and the residual impact of past Japanese practices continue to accelerate destructive logging in Southeast Asia. Sustainable tropical timber management will require fundamental changes to Japan’s shadow ecology. It is also imperative to confront Southern political forces driving deforestation. While reforms will certainly face formidable -- perhaps insurmountable -- political and economic barriers, unless the world community tackles these issues, the remaining primary forests of Southeast Asia will soon perish. / Arts, Faculty of / Political Science, Department of / Graduate

Esta dissertação analisa o Instrumento de Comando e Controle da Política Ambiental do Estado do Mato Grosso - o SLAPR, através dos pilares da Economia Ecológica (escala, alocação e distribuição). O SLAPR: Sistema de Licenciamento Ambiental em Propriedades Rurais tem como um dos seus objetivos reduzir o desmatamento ilegal em propriedades particulares. Por meio de imagens de satélite e do uso de ferramenta do Sistema de Informação Geográfica (SIG), pôde-se concluir que este Instrumento não é eficaz. Este trabalho discute um instrumento Econômico - o Pagamento pelo Serviço Ecossistêmico (PSE) carbono, pelo desmatamento evitado dos biomas amazônicos no âmbito do Protocolo de Kyoto para os proprietários detentores de 80% ou mais de cobertura florestal em suas reservas legais. Ressalta-se que esta é uma política second best, visto que se propõe a tratar da problemática ambiental aliando Instrumentos de Comando e Controle (estimando-se a escala) com um Instrumento Econômico. O mecanismo de PSE para as reservas legais nos biomas amazônicos no estado do Mato Grosso tem como princípios: 1 -definição clara do serviço comercializado, 2-verificação da oferta e da demanda, 3-o desenvolvimento da valoração e pagamento deste serviço e 4- desenvolvimento de uma rede institucional onde haja uma instituição gestora, um seguro, uma agência reguladora e uma instituição certificadora e acreditadora. / The focus of this dissertation is the system adopted by the State of Mato Grosso [Brazil] for managing and taking command and control of its environmental policies through the pillars of Ecological Economics, i.e. scale, allocation and distribution. One of the goals of SLAPR [\"System for Environmental Licensing of Rural Properties\", for short] is to reduce illegal deforesting in private properties. However, the use of satellite images and the application of SIG - \"Geographic Information System\" have led to the conclusion that SLAPR is not an efficient tool. This essay therefore discusses a new economic tool: PSE -\"Payment for Eco-Systemic Service - Carbon\", in exchange for prevented deforesting of Amazonian Biomes, within the scope of the Kyoto Protocol. It should be emphasized that this is a \"second best\" policy, since its proposal is to deal with environmental issues by combining an \'Economic Instrument\' with \'Command-and-Control Instrument, in order to estimate the scale in question. The following are the principles of PSE mechanisms for legal forest reserves within the Amazonian Biomes of the State of Mato Grosso: 1) a clear definition of the ecosystem services rendered; 2) offer-and-demand verification; 3) development of improved value-and-payment procedures for rendered services; and 4) development of an institutional net that includes a managing agency, a regulating agency, a certifying agency and an accrediting agency.

A alta fragmentação da cobertura original da Bacia do Rio Corumbataí, SP, ocasionada principalmente por atividades agropecuárias, resultou em remanescentes florestais em diferentes condições ecológicas, em função dos aspectos físicos, naturais e antrópicos, do meio em que estão inseridos. Neste trabalho esses fragmentos foram analisados individualmente, considerando-se a estrutura da paisagem de seu entorno, por meio de uma caracterização física e estrutural, tendo o Índice de Vegetação da Diferença Normalizada (NDVI) como variável-chave, em função da sua relação com o vigor da vegetação. O presente estudo teve como objetivo principal analisar a relação entre NDVI dos remanescentes e variáveis físicas do ambiente (relevo, distância à rede hidrográfica, áreas urbanas, estradas e precipitação), além de variáveis estruturais dos próprios fragmentos (forma, área, área nuclear, distância do vizinho mais próximo, contraste de borda e perímetro). Também foi verificada a alteração da cobertura florestal da bacia entre os anos de 1999 e 2002, a fim de compreender melhor as suas condições de conservação. Como principais resultados foi constatado uma relação inversa entre NDVI e algumas variáveis físicas e estruturais como por exemplo o contraste de borda, a distância à rede hidrográfica, a distância ao vizinho mais próximo e a área total; já a área nuclear, a declividade e a distância às estradas apresentaram uma relação direta com o NDVI. A perda de vegetação nativa entre 1999 e 2002, foi maior que o acréscimo (1.886 ha e 895 ha, respectivamente), tendo ocorrido em maior proporção nos fragmentos mais próximos às áreas urbanas. Fragmentos com as maiores áreas nucleares, mais próximos à rede hidrográfica e em terrenos mais declivosos foram aqueles que apresentaram maiores valores de NDVI. Os resultados mostraram que características físicas e estruturais dos fragmentos podem influenciar o vigor da vegetação e, conseqüentemente, o seu estado de conservação. / Forest fragmentation of Corumbataí river basin caused by agriculture dominance directly affects the condition of forest remnants to support plant and animal species. These forest patches present different ecological conditions, depending on many physical and anthropogenic aspects of the landscape they are inserted. In this study, forest patches were individually analyzed considering their landscape structure and the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) as response variable, due to its relationship to vegetation vigor. The main objective was to analyze the relationship between forest patches NDVI, physical variables of landscape (relief, distance to rivers, distance to roads, distance to urban areas and precipitation) and forest patches landscape structure (shape, area, core area, nearest neighbor distance, edge contrast and perimeter). Also, forest cover changes between 1999 and 2002 were analyzed in order to understand better patches conditions and their relation to landscape variables. As results, we found an inverse relationship between NDVI and distance to rivers, edge contrast, nearest neighbor distance and total area. Core area, slope and distance to roads presented direct relationship to NDVI. Forest losses between 1999 and 2002 were greater than gains (1886 ha and 895 ha, respectively), and they occurred commonly near urban areas. Greater NDVI values were observed on patches with large core areas, near to rivers and on high slope areas. The results showed that physical and structural patches characteristics have influence on vegetation vigor and, consequently, on their conservation status.

The objective of this study was to analyze patterns, dynamics and processes of land-use/cover changes in the transboundary Mara River Basin in East Africa. We specifically focused on deforestation and expansion of agriculture in the watershed. The intensity analysis approach was used to analyze data from satellite imagery-derived land-use/cover maps. Results indicate that swap change accounted for more than 50% of the overall change, which shows a very dynamic landscape transformation. Transition from closed forest to open forest was found to be a dominant landscape change, as opposed to a random change. Similarly, transition from open forest to small-scale agriculture was also found to be a dominant transition. This suggests a trend (pathway) of deforestation from closed forest to small-scale agriculture, with open forest as a transitional land cover. The observed deforestation may be attributed to continuous encroachment and a series of excisions of the forest reserve. Transition from rangeland to mechanized agriculture was found to be a dominant land-use change, which was attributed to change in land tenure. These findings are crucial for designing strategies and integrated watershed management policies to arrest further deforestation in the forest reserves as well as to sustainably control expansion of agriculture.

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