The (Colonial) Other Side of the UN-REDD Programme Coin: Forests, Coloniality, and the Geopolitics of Multilateral Financing in Latin America and the Caribbean

Abstract

Latin America and the Caribbean have a long colonial history of forest-related issues. Various intergovernmental organizations, largely driven by self-proclaimed «developed» states, have introduced numerous economic «aid» mechanisms (programs and funds) aimed at promoting the neoliberal management of forests in countries categorized as «developing.» This article critically analyzes the economic and geopolitical dimensions of such intergovernmental organizations, examining how they influence major forest policies in Latin America and the Caribbean. In particular, we focus on the UN-REDD Programme, a significant mechanism that provides funding to countries that, among other requirements, develop a national REDD strategy aligned with the Programme’s approach—an approach that directly shapes most forest policies in the region. Our analysis concludes that the UN-REDD Programme reinforces a form of colonial difference, based on the perceived lack of «development» in certain states, thereby enabling their domination from the intergovernmental level. This decolonial reading of the economic mechanisms operating under the imperative of «development» reveals the other side of the coin — the side of coloniality