Emerging countries in transition to a green economy: Will it make a difference for forests and people?

This proposal explores the implications for forests, agroforestry and people in tropical forest-rich countries from the processes underway in some emerging economies (i.e. Brazil, China, Malaysia, Indonesia) to put in place policy frameworks and incentive systems to transition towards a green economy. The emergent transition embodies goals of low carbon, resource efficiency and social inclusiveness, with potentially far reaching implications (see e.g. Moe 2012). The implications are significant not only domestically but also for their interconnectedness with broader economic networks such as the Mekong region, sub-Saharan Africa and Western Amazon. The latter countries not only face the need to expand their incomes from natural resources but also to reduce the environmental and social impacts. This proposal will put in place a process to build a robust research focusing on the transition of emerging countries to a greener economy and their implications for forests