Abstract
In the past decade, Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD+) has become a major issue in international negotiations on climate change mitigation. REDD+’s principle is to offer a reward to countries with tropical forests in exchange of their commitment to reduce deforestation. The success of this mechanism is partly explained by a financial argument: part of the literature in economics on the costs associated with climate change mitigation has spread the idea that REDD+ could be an inexpensive option to reduce greenhouse gases. However, these studies are based on a restricted conception of deforestation, which is reduced to a matter of incentives and opportunity costs: the proposed solution consists in paying land-owners an amount equivalent to the benefits they would yield by exploiting the forest. In this thesis, we depart from the narrow conception of evaluations of REDD+ based on opportunity costs and develop an alternative method. We adopt an in situ methodology that aims at evaluating the real costs of REDD+ projects in Madagascar. We started by questioning the environmental and social efficiency of these projects. We then used an evaluative approach to identify concrete policies and measures that (would) improve their efficiency and equity, before estimating their costs.