Les pertes de récolte dues aux ravageurs et aux maladies constituent une menace sérieuse pour les revenus et la sécurité alimentaire de milliers de familles rurales dans le monde entier. L'évaluation de ces pertes de récolte (baisse de rendement et préjudice économique) et de leurs causes est nécessaire pour améliorer la mise au point d'agroécosystèmes capables d'offrir de bons rendements de culture, une régulation des ravageurs et des maladies et d'autres services écosystémiques. Ce mémoire de doctorat vise à contribuer à la recherche dans le domaine des pertes de récolte en proposant des approches expérimentales et de modélisation susceptibles d'être utilisées pour estimer les pertes primaires et secondaires subies dans les cultures pérennes, et analyser leurs causes. La culture pérenne étudiée est celle du caféier à Turrialba au Costa Rica, où la culture du café se pratique dans des plantations qui vont de la monoculture à pleine exposition solaire à des systèmes agroforestiers hautement diversifiés, et qui sont soumises à une gamme de situations de production (topolimat, fertilité du sol, types d'ombrage) et de stratégies de gestion (pratiques culturales et intrants). Les trois questions de recherche principales ont été les suivantes : Quel est l'impact des stratégies de gestion et des situations de production sur les ravageurs et les maladies et les rendements en café ? Comment les pertes de rendement en café associées à des profils de dégâts donnés varient-elles en fonction des stratégies de gestion et des situations de production ? Quels types d'agro-écosystèmes à base de caféiers permettent de minimiser les pertes en café (baisse de rendement et préjudice économique) et de maximiser les avantages globaux retirés (services écosystémiques) ? / Crop losses due to pests and diseases are a major threat to incomes and food security of thousands of rural families worldwide. The assessment of crop losses (yield and economic losses) and their causes is needed to improve the development of agroecosystems capable to offer good crop yields, regulation of pests and diseases, and other ecosystem services. This doctoral research aimed to contribute to the research field of crop losses, by providing experimental and modeling approaches that could be used in perennial crops to estimate primary and secondary losses and analyze their causes. We worked in a perennial crop such as coffee, in Turrialba, Costa Rica, where coffee is grown in plantations from monocultures at full sun exposure to highly diversified agroforestry systems, and under a range of production situations (topoclimate, soil fertility, types of shade) and management strategies (agricultural practices and inputs). The three main research questions were: What is the impact of management strategies and production situations on pests and diseases and coffee yields? How do coffee yield losses caused by injury profiles vary in function of management strategies and production situations? Which types of coffee agroecosystems are capable to obtain the lowest coffee losses (yield and economic) and highest overall benefits (ecosystem services)? This research was developed through two experimental designs. The first was an experimental coffee parcel under controlled conditions (three-year experiment) to quantify primary and secondary yield losses by comparison of treatments, and to identify the main predictors of yield losses by structural equation modeling. The second experimental design was based on surveys in a coffee research plot network (coffee plots of smallholder farmers), where, during two years, we measured indicators of yields and indicators of four ecosystem services: regulation of pests and diseases, provisioning of agroforestry products, maintenance of soil fertility, and carbon sequestration. Yield losses in this network were estimated through modeling using the predictors identified in the experimental coffee parcel. Analyses of data included several statistical techniques, from analysis of variances, linear regressions to multivariate techniques. The results were organized in four manuscripts, and then discussed integrally. The main findings were: i) Both production situations and management strategies determine coffee yield and pest and disease injuries, effects of interactions altitude x management x types of shade must be considered; ii) Injury profiles depend on particular combinations of production situations and management strategies, with impacts on yield losses especially in a year of high coffee production (primary yield losses), but compromising also the yields of the next year (secondary yield losses); iii) Diversified agroforestry systems have better chances to regulate pests and diseases (reduce yield and economic losses), and simultaneously provide goods for family benefits, maintain soil fertility, and increase carbon sequestration, without implying trade-offs among these ecosystem services. The main prospects of this research are related to perform similar studies in coffee and other perennials at regional levels, develop an injury profile simulator for coffee, and prototyping of coffee agroforestry systems to optimize the provision of multiple ecosystem services.

Forest is a resource that is increasingly utilized for multiple purposes. The balance between energy demands and the long-term capacity of ecosystems to support biodiversity and other ecosystem services is crucial. The aim of this project was to increase the knowledge on and to develop methods and tools for trade-offs and synergies analysis among forest ecosystem services based on different forest management policies. Paper I provides an overview of existing models for integrated energy-environment assessment. A literature review was conducted on assessment models and their ability to integrate energy with environmental aspects. Missing environmental aspects concern land use, landscapes and biodiversity. In Paper II a modelling framework was set up to link a landscape simulator with a habitat network model for integrated assessment of bioenergy feedstock and biodiversity related impacts in Kronoberg County. In Paper III we continued with the same management scenarios, while the analysis was expanded to five ecosystem services by developing the Landscape simulation and Ecological Assessment (LEcA) tool: industrial wood, bioenergy, forest carbon stock, recreation areas and habitat networks. In Paper IV we present two heuristic methods for spatial optimization – simulated annealing (SA) and genetic algorithm (GA) – to find optimal solutions for allocating harvest activities, in order to minimize the impacts on habitat networks. In Paper V, as response to the findings in Paper I, we linked the energy model MESSAGE with our LEcA tool for forest bioenergy demand assessment while applying environmental and transport restrictions, in a study of Lithuania. We found trade-offs between industrial wood production and bioenergy on one side, and recreation values, biodiversity, and to some extent carbon storage on the other side. The LEcA tool integrated forest simulation and management with assessment of ecosystem services, which is promising for integrated sustainability assessment of forest management policies. / <p>QC 20171023</p>

Les toitures végétalisées sont des écosystèmes urbains et construits en essor constant en France et dans le monde. Elles sont associées à plusieurs services écosystémiques tels que la limitation du ruissellement des eaux de pluie vers les canalisations, la réduction des effets d'îlots de chaleur urbains ou l'augmentation de la biodiversité en ville. L'amélioration de la quantité et de la qualité des services écosystémiques attendus nécessite de comprendre l'influence des interactions entre les composantes de la toiture végétalisée, à savoir la composition du sol, sa profondeur et la communauté végétale, sur les multiples fonctions écosystémiques associées. Pourtant, ces interactions n'ont jamais été étudiées dans le contexte des toitures végétalisées. A l'aide d'expérimentations en milieu contrôlé puis en conditions réelles sur une toiture parisienne, nous avons cherché à comprendre comment les interactions entre les composantes des toitures végétalisées influencent des fonctions majeures liées aux cycles biogéochimiques du carbone, de l'azote et de l'eau, ainsi qu'à la pollinisation. Nous avons mis en évidence une influence majeure des interactions entre type de sol, profondeur du sol, espèces de plantes et diversité végétale sur (1) le niveau de réalisation des fonctions écosystémiques ainsi que (2) les interactions entre ces fonctions. Nous avons montré que le choix des composantes d'une toiture pouvait conduire à des compromis entre services écosystémiques. Nous proposons des pistes de conception et de gestion pour obtenir des toitures végétalisées multifonctionnelles. / Green roofs are urban constructed ecosystems, associated with multiple ecosystem services, such as urban heat island and stormwater runoff mitigation or support for biodiversity. Enhancing the quality and quantity of expected ecosystem services requires to understand how interactions between substrate composition, substrate depth and plant community affect multiple ecosystem functions. However, such interactions have never been studied on green roofs. Using experimental approaches under controlled and real conditions on a Parisian rooftop, we focused on the influence of soil-plant interactions on key ecosystem functions related to carbon, nitrogen and water cycles as well as pollination. We highlighted that interactions between substrate type, substrate depth, plant species and plant diversity affect (1) the level of ecosystem functions and (2) interactions between functions. We found that the choice of green roof components could lead to trade-offs between ecosystem services. We propose general guidelines for the conception and management of multifunctional green roofs.

En Méditerranée, un Hotspot de biodiversité, des Aires Marines Protégées (AMP) ont été instaurées dès les années 1960 pour protéger la biodiversité marine pour des raisons éthiques, culturelles et fonctionnelles, du fait de la contribution au bien-être des individus. Aujourd’hui, la mise en œuvre des AMP s’inscrit dans un environnement institutionnel formalisé à différents échelons : national, méditerranée, européen, et global avec la Convention pour la Diversité Biologique (CDB). Dans ce contexte de gouvernance environnemental prometteur, le constat de la couverture de protection par les AMP demeure pourtant en-dessous des engagements pris par les pays riverains dans les différentes instances évoquées. Peu de moyens sont mis en œuvre et les AMP sont nombreuses à être peu effectives. Face à ce constat décevant les gestionnaires des AMP de Méditerranée ainsi que leurs partenaires se mobilisent pour le renforcement de la lutte contre la dégradation des biens communs que représente la biodiversité marine et côtière. L’objectif de cette thèse est de contribuer à cet effort en éclairant les éléments favorables à l’effectivité et l’efficacité des AMP. Les AMP, dont la finalité est la protection de la biodiversité, établissent des règles d’usages liés à la biodiversité marine et côtière et mettent en œuvre des activités spécifiques au sein d’un espace clairement défini. Ceci entraîne à la fois des contraintes et des opportunités pour la trajectoire de développement durable notamment celle du territoire écologiquement et socio-économiquement liée à l’AMP. Cette thèse vise à montrer que les AMP sont des dispositifs institutionnels qui s’inscrivent dans des systèmes socio-écologiques. Dans ce contexte, outre les mécanismes de résilience des écosystèmes, la capacité des AMP à générer des bénéfices pour le développement durable des territoires repose notamment, d’une part sur la capacité des parties prenantes à s’adapter au changement de règles, à faire face aux contraintes et à saisir les opportunités ; et, d’autre part, sur la capacité des AMP à s’appuyer sur des réseaux sociaux denses pour favoriser la conformité des comportements et donc l’effectivité de l’AMP. La première partie, centrée sur l’approche institutionnelle, permet de considérer les AMP au sein de leur système socio-écologique. Elle s’ouvre avec le premier chapitre qui définit le rôle attribué aux AMP à travers la construction de cet outil depuis le début du XXème siècle en s’appuyant sur la construction aux différents échelons imbriqués de notions cadre, telle que la biodiversité, le développement durable et la gouvernance du milieu marin. Le deuxième chapitre fait le bilan de la situation actuelle des AMP en Méditerranée face à leurs objectifs d’effectivité et d’efficacité. Une typologie réalisée à partir des AMP méditerranéennes est proposée afin de contribuer à la définition de stratégies différenciées pour renforcer des AMP existantes et à venir dans le bassin. Le troisième chapitre, qui clôt la Partie 1, analyse les AMP en tant que dispositifs institutionnels. Il éclaire la nature des effets et des enjeux liés à la création d’AMP, et discute la concrétisation de facteurs clés pour faciliter la réussite des AMP. La deuxième partie, centrée sur l’intégration des AMP dans le développement durable des territoires, s’ouvre avec le quatrième chapitre qui analyse la formation des bénéfices et des coûts générés par les AMP de Méditerranée sur le capital naturel, le capital humain et le capital social (et indirectement sur le capital physique) disponibles sur le territoire. Le dernier chapitre montre comment l’évaluation socio-économique des effets des AMP peut renforcer les AMP en dépassant les limites de l’évaluation économique concentrée sur certains bénéfices liés aux services écosystémiques ; par la réalisation de méthodes d’évaluation et des processus complémentaires qui encouragent l’engagement des parties prenantes auprès des AMP. / In the Mediterranean, a biodiversity Hotspot, Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) were introduced in the 1960s to protect biodiversity for ethical, cultural and functional reasons, as biodiversity contributes to the well-being. Today the AMP implementation is part of a formalized institutional environment at various levels: national, Mediterranean, European, and global with the Convention on Biological Diversity. In this promising context of environmental governance, protection cover by AMP yet remains below the commitments of riparian countries in the various governance bodies mentioned. Few resources are expanded and many MPAs are likely to be low effective. Given this disappointing finding the managers of Mediterranean MPA and their partners are gathering to strengthen efforts against the degradation of our common good that is marine and coastal biodiversity. The objective of this thesis is to contribute to this effort by enlightening elements favorable to the effectiveness and efficiency of MPAs.MPAs are intended to protect biodiversity and therefore establish rules related to the use of marine and coastal biodiversity and implement specific activities within their clearly defined space. This causes both constraints and opportunities for the sustainable development path especially that of territory environmentally and socio-economically connected to the MPA. This thesis aims to show that MPAs are institutional arrangements that are part of a social-ecological system. In this context, besides the mechanisms of ecosystem resilience, MPAs ability to generate benefits for the sustainable development of territories is based on the one hand on the ability of stakeholders to adapt to the change of rules, address the constraints and seize opportunities, and, on the other hand, on the ability of MPAs to rely on dense social networks to encourage behavior compliance and thus MPA’s effectiveness.The first part adopts an institutional approach that enables to consider MPAs in their socio-ecological system. It opens with the first chapter that defines the role attributed to AMP through the elaboration of this tool since the early twentieth century building on the construction at different levels nested of framework notions such as biodiversity, development sustainability and governance of the marine environment. The second chapter, looks over the current situation of MPAs in the Mediterranean in regard to their objectives of effectiveness and efficiency. A typology of Mediterranean MPAs is proposed to help the definition of differentiated strategies so as to strengthen existing and future MPAs in the basin. The third chapter, which ends the first part, analyzes the MPAs as institutional arrangements that enlighten on the one hand the nature of the effects and stakes related to the establishment of MPAs, and on the other hand, discusses the empirical forms of key success factors to facilitate MPAs.The second part, focusing on the integration of MPAs into the sustainable development of territories, opens with the fourth chapter which analyzes the formation of the benefits and costs generated by the Mediterranean MPAs on natural capital, human capital and social capital (and indirectly on physical capital) available in the territory. The last chapter shows that socio-economic assessment of the effects of MPAs can help strengthen MPAs, by going beyond the limits of economic valuation of particular benefits related to ecosystem services; and implementing complementary assessment methods and processes helping stakeholder engagement towards AMP.

La réglementation actuelle, reposant sur la loi de 1976 sur la protection de la nature, impose aux maîtres d’ouvrage de respecter le principe « éviter – réduire – compenser » lors de la conception de les projets d’exploitation et d’aménagement. Lorsqu’un projet n’a pu ni éviter ni réduire les impacts environnementaux, il est nécessaire de définir des mesures compensatoires pour les impacts résiduels qualifiés de significatifs. Concernant les écosystèmes marins, ces mesures font appel à des actions écologiques ainsi qu’à des mesures de gestion et d’amélioration des connaissances sur le milieu marin. Alors que le développement de l’activité économique maritime est encouragé, en particulier, suite aux appels à la croissance bleue (e.g. tourisme maritime, EMR, pêche, aquaculture, ressources minérales marines, biotechnologies, transport maritime, construction navale), il est primordial de questionner nos capacités à prendre en compte les impacts de ces activités. A partir d’un état des lieux de la compensation sur le milieu marin en France, il s’agit d’identifier les limites du système actuel et de proposer des pistes d’amélioration. Ces dernières peuvent être méthodologiques et techniques, liées à la prise en compte de nouvelles approches ou à l’émergence de nouveaux systèmes de gouvernance. A travers l’analyse d’une cinquantaine d’études d’impacts françaises, les pressions et impacts générés par différents projets d’aménagements (infrastructures portuaires, dragages, extractions de granulats, prises et rejets d’eau, etc.) sont examinés et la pertinence des mesures ERC proposées est discutée. Ensuite, en se basant sur une revue bibliographique, la faisabilité et l’efficacité des techniques d’ingénierie écologique (écoconceptions portuaires, bio-remédiation et techniques de restauration des herbiers, macro-algues, récifs coralliens, populations d’ichtyofaune et bivalves) sont évaluées au regard des exigences de la séquence ERC. Cette analyse permet de discuter de la notion d’équivalence écologique et de proposer un arbre de décision original. D’autre part, constatant que les mesures compensatoires proposées dans les études d’impact ne sont que très rarement dimensionnées, une méthode opérationnelle permettant d’évaluer les besoins compensatoires est élaborée. Cette méthode associe une analyse multicritère de l’état de l’environnement inspirée de l’Unified Mitigation Assessment Method (UMAM, méthode utilisée en Floride pour les impacts autorisés) et une évaluation plus fine à l’échelle d’un indicateur empruntée à l’Habitat Equivalency Analysis (HEA, développée par la NOAA pour la compensation des dommages accidentels). Il s’agit ensuite d’examiner l’utilisation actuelle de l’approche par les services écosystémiques dans la compensation à travers la réglementation, les standards internationaux et la littérature scientifique. L’objectif est d’étudier en quoi cette approche permettrait d’améliorer la mise en place de la compensation mais aussi d’en souligner les limites. Enfin, l’approche sociologique de l’acteur-réseau (Callon, Latour) permet d’analyser les différents types organisationnels ayant émergé autour de la compensation en Californie. L’objectif est de critiquer, à partir de situations constatées en France et aux Etats-Unis, les réponses formulées en termes de gouvernance par ces deux sociétés côtières exigeant un principe de compensation. Ce travail souligne la nécessité de mettre en place des mesures ambitieuses et efficaces de compensation afin que le développement économique maritime cesse de contribuer à l’érosion de la biodiversité. / My research topic is multidisciplinary combining geography, ecology and economics and addressing the efficiency of current marine offset practice. Building on a state of the art of current practice, I am working on a more prospective approach (compared to current research on mitigation targeting terrestrial ecosystems). By offset, I am referring to legal mitigation that consists in avoiding – reducing – offsetting adverse impacts of development projects such as dredging, port infrastructure, oil exploration, marine aggregate extraction, beach nourishment, etc. on marine and coastal ecosystems. Based on a review of around fifty French marine Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs), I analyzed the assessment of impacts, the use of offset sizing methods (robust method to assess ecological losses due to development projects and ecological gains created by offset measures) and the kind of measures proposed. Within these EIAs, sizing methods were seldom used and the very few measures suggested to offset residual impacts could be questioned in terms of equivalency and appropriateness. These measures were either ecological engineering techniques (such as seagrass or coral restoration), management measures (used to reduce pressure on the impacted ecosystems through the funding of management measures in Marine Protected Areas for example) or even knowledge acquisition. Thus, I am also looking at the efficiency of ecological engineering techniques on marine and coastal ecosystems. My research mainly focuses on the offset of authorized impacts but could also deals with some aspects of the offset of accidental damages.

Beekeepers help to secure the pollination capacity of bees by mediating bee-stressors. This study argues that beekeeper strategies are best conceptualized as a series of specialized practices for bettering bee-health, which are mobilized by a variety of actors, including those who are not traditionally considered ‘beekeepers’. The aim of this paper is to explore those human beliefs and practices which are most relevant for gaining insight into the current pollinator problem. Farmers, bee-conservationists, bee-researchers and honeybee-keepers all play an important role in securing bee health. The paper draws on the social-ecological perspective to consider alternative definitions of caring for bees, what shapes these conceptualizations and how these are reflected in beekeeper strategies, which inevitably contribute to the overall functioning of human-bee constituted systems. In the context of rising honeybee colony losses in Canada and of wild bee decline around the world, understanding the diversity of approaches for bettering bee-health is exceedingly important for initiating long-term, sustainable and multi-level bee-pollinator conservation.

The valuation of ecosystem services requires first and foremost, that the current level or stock of a service first be estimated. Here, I investigate the relationship between the fields of environmental science and ecological economics in their research effort of ecosystem services and the implications this may have on the ecosystem valuation research program. I investigate two ecological functions described as ecosystem services within specific ecosystem types: the flood control provisioning services of wetlands and pollination service provisioning by pollinator populations in agroecosystems. I examined the environmental literature to provide quantitative estimates of a) the distribution of the level of service delivered as well as b) the ability of environmental scientists to predict this level of service. The results presented here suggest a moderately strong correlation between research efforts in environmental science and ecological economics at the pooled level of ecosystem types and services. I suggest however, an integrated research enterprise between social and environmental scientists may provide greater efficiency by means of a global ecosystem service research network and repository. I found that, on average, consistent with conventional wisdom, wetlands do indeed have a positive effect by reducing the frequency and magnitude of floods, increasing low flows, and increasing water storage. In the same vein, I found on average and consistent with conventional wisdom, there is a consistent and comparatively strong association between pollinator abundance and agroecosystem productivity as inferred from measures of plant fertilization success. In both investigations however, metaregression analysis indicated that our current ability to predict either pollination or flood control services is poor to modest at best. The low predictive power combined with the observed heterogeneity in effect size in both investigations suggest that flood control service delivered by wetlands or pollination services delivered by natural pollinator populations in agroecosystems and the expected changes in the level of services delivered under a candidate management scenario, will have a large uncertainty. Such uncertainty should be explicitly incorporated into estimates of both the current economic value of ecosystem services, as well as estimates of how these values are likely to change under alternative management scenarios. Given these, I suggest that the implications for the development of Market-based instruments (MBIs) or any payment of ecosystem services to conserve ecosystem services: that the associated ecological function(s) must be few and well characterized, and we must agree on what endpoints ought to properly be used to characterize these functions. If this condition is not met, an ordinal ranking is the best we can do and in the absence of obvious enthusiasm for more detailed scientific research which leads to the conclusion that perhaps alternate strategies like command and control may be the better alternative to protect ecosystem services.

The study examines how the EU Green Infrastructure Strategy is intended to promote sustainable development. The study addresses the need for a social transformation, the process of implementing the Green Infrastructure Strategy, the strategy's objectives, and experience from the work on developing regional Green Infrastructure Action Plans. The objective of the EU Green Infrastructure Strategy is to lift the values ecosystems and biodiversity provide and to see and understand the landscape as a whole. The aim of the strategy is to increase the possibilities for implementing ecosystem-based solutions in several policy areas. The results show that, like sustainable development, the concept of green infrastructure is broad and complex. The results show a hopeful endeavor and ambitious goal setting efforts towards sustainable development, but also the challenges that the County Administrative Board meets in the implementation process.

During last decade there has been developed concept of so-called ecosystem services (e.g. Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, 2005) in matured countries. This concept focus especially on identification of benefits resulting from intact ecosystem and also on various ways of taking all those benefits into account when dealing with decision-making process of market economy. Goal of this concept (among other things) is to keep currently freely available ecosystem services in nature as they are and also to ensure natural conditions for life won't be becoming worse. Landscape of eastern Ore Mountain has its specific character especially because of few unique ecosystems which don't occur in other locations at all; or they are presented there but not in such high volume. We can consider mountain meadows, natural streams and clearance cairns at the most important local unique ecosystems. Main goal of diploma thesis is to analyze recreational and mainly aesthetic values of clearance cairns. Even though clearance cairns are important biotopes there was quite small attention dedicated to them in existing analyses made in Czech Republic. That is in heavy contrast to attention dedicated to those biotopes in other areas, e.g. in eastern part of Ore Mountain belonging to Saxony where local inhabitants appreciate clearance cairns so much that every single section of them is completely documented (resulting into 1.000 kilometers of documented clearance cairns). Diploma thesis is based on methodology using analysis of primary data obtained from empirical research. Research was realized in eastern Ore Mountain during summer 2013 and author of this thesis was actively participated both in preparation phase and also in realization phase. Thesis also uses random utility theory, discrete choice models and also stated preferences methods (e.g. Bateman et al., 2002). Multinominal logit model and random parameter logic model are used for values estimation. Based on performed analysis thesis verifies or disproves hypothesis saying that willingness to pay for clearance cairns is statistically insignificant (i.e. people don't consider this landscape element as having significant value). Diploma thesis results will be used as a suggestion for obtaining clearance cairns management.

International efforts to promote REDD+ (reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, and the role of conservation, sustainable management of forests and enhancement of forest-carbon stocks) have enjoyed widespread support in climate negotiations. While proponents of this ‘payments for ecosystem services’ approach proclaim win-win benefits, others critique this commodification of forest carbon for contributing to social and environmental injustices that will undermine conservation and development in the longer-term. In this dissertation I respond to these concerns by critically examining how REDD+ initiatives emerge in the context of Lindi Region, Tanzania. I specifically investigate how REDD+ initiatives interact with local livelihood practices, local forest governance and the drivers of land use in order to interrogate the mechanism’s contribution to local development. I conducted ethnographic fieldwork in two villages, both characterised by relatively large forest areas and ‘shifting cultivation’, where different REDD+ projects are underway. In total I stayed in Tanzania for 11 months and applied qualitative and quantitative methods that resulted in 116 recorded interviews, one focus group discussion, innumerable journal entries from ethnographic interviewing and participant observation, 118 household surveys and data from document analysis. Drawing on debates within international development and neoliberalisation of nature I conceptualise REDD+ initiatives as processes promoting ‘inclusive’ neoliberal conservation. In doing so I point at the inherent contradictions of this mechanism that aims to combine a neoliberal conservation logic with inclusive development objectives. I empirically examine local livelihood practices to question popular notions of land use and argue that REDD+ initiatives must grapple with poverty, intra-village inequality and villagers’ dependence on land for crop production to contribute to inclusive economic development. I follow up on this argument by discussing the importance of material and discursive effects of REDD+ initiatives to the livelihoods of poor, middle income and wealthy households and to forest conservation. I then link these effects to an examination of how power and politics shape the implementation of REDD+ initiatives on the ground, specifically discussing the technically complex and politically contested process of territorialisation and the local practices of community-based forest management. I illustrate how seemingly technical REDD+ initiatives are inherently political, which gives them the potential to contribute to local empowerment. At the same time I question naïve assumptions over community conservation and good governance reforms by showing in detail how community-based forest management institutions are practiced on the ground and how this affects benefit distribution within the villages. My last empirical chapter examines how Conservation Agriculture is introduced in the villages as the best way to reconcile agricultural development with forest protection. I specifically discuss the role of social relations in shaping the dissemination and adoption of this new technology in rural Tanzania. Throughout this thesis I argue that local livelihood practices, power struggles and politics over land and people shape how REDD+ initiatives, as inherently contradictory processes of ‘inclusive’ neoliberal conservation, emerge on the ground and I empirically show what this means to different forest stakeholders.