What can environmental narratives tell us about forestry conflicts? The case of REDD+

The aim of the article is to introduce three environmental narratives – ecological modernization, civic environmentalism, and radical environmentalism – to analyse them from the point of view of their normative presuppositions, and then to show how this narrative/normative apparatus can be used as a heuristic device to explain a set of conflicts afflicting market-based forestry policies. Using this narrative/normative apparatus as a template, the article provides a review of academic and grey literature on REDD+ projects, in order to show how conflictual situations in the implementation phase of market-based forestry policies can be explained by the competing systems of values of the different actors involved, as well as by their strategic positioning in relation to dominant ideas in environmental politics. The article is useful to REDD+ practitioners, helping them appreciate how the stories people tell about the environment and how these are used by different actors can shape policies on the ground.