Summary/Abstract
Under REDD+, the enhancement of carbon stocks through reforestation and restoration of degraded forest landscapes offers considerable potential benefits. In the Asia–Pacific region, however, many previous reforestation and forest restoration initiatives have exacerbated existing inequities by concentrating resources among powerful political and economic actors, often to the detriment of forest-dependent communities. Both in design and implementation, tree-planting programs have been guided by forest rent distribution practices of state forestry bureaucracies and by corporate accumulation strategies linked to increasingly globalized commodity chains. This article examines the political economy of reforestation and forest restoration programs in Asia–Pacific and highlights governance challenges these pose.