Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Forest Policy and Economics journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/forpol Analysis of land management and legal arrangements in the Ecuadorian Northeastern Amazon as preconditions for REDD+ implementation T. Loaiza a,b,⁎ , M.O. Borja c , U. Nehren b , G. Gerold a a Institute for Technology and Resources Management in the Tropics and Subtropics (ITT), Technische Hochschule Köln - University of Applied Sciences, Betzdorfer Straße 2, 50679 Cologne, Germany b Institute of Geography, Department of Landscape Ecology, University of Goettingen, Goldschmidtstr. 5, D-37077 Goettingen, Germany c EcoCiencia Foundation, San Ignacio E12-143 y Alexander Von Humboldt, Quito, Ecuador ARTICLE INFO Keywords: REDD+ Ecuador Amazon Legal framework Land tenure Indigenous peoples Participation ABSTRACT Ecuador is currently completing the readiness phase for the implementation of the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD+) mechanism at the national level. Many challenges regarding rights, multilayered governance and land tenure remain open in this country where Indigenous Peoples (IPs) occupy 68% of the Ecuadorian Amazon. We focused on the Yasuní Biosphere Reserve to exemplify obstacles and answers found in the last years. In a REDD+ pilot project, six communities of the most widespread ethnicities (Shuar, Kichwa and Colonists) living in the buffer zone of the Yasuní National Park (YNP), were chosen. We used literature research, analysis of international and national agendas, as well as primary data on REDD+ perception obtained through semi-structured household interviews and personal observations. First, we reconstruct the historical development of territorial configuration and present the actual land tenure arrangements. And then, we analyze persistent management conflicts within institutional, planning and normative instruments. Finally we explore legal frameworks with a focus on participation and consultation. Our results show that insecure and overlapping land rights, as well as unclear and contradictory institutional responsibilities are major problems for REDD+ implementation. Despite great advancements that have been made, establishing equitable mechanisms to engage IPs and forest owners and stakeholders across many sectors in REDD+ is required. Especially in Ecuador where oil extraction is a priority and the central government has an exclusive competence over eco- system services including carbon rights. Implementing fair methods for participation, benefit sharing and transfer of knowledge remains a challenge. 1. Introduction Deforestation and land use change are considered the second highest source of total global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, ac- counting for 12.5% of total anthropogenic emissions between 1990 and 2010 (Houghton et al., 2012). Despite efforts to reduce forest losses, tropical deforestation continued unabated between 2000 and 2012, increasing by 2100 km 2 per year (Hansen et al., 2013). The world's largest continuous rainforest areas are located in Latin America and principally in the Amazon basin (RAISG, 2015). They represent high carbon sinks (60–80 billion tC; Carvalho et al., 2004) and provide im- portant ecosystem services (Ruesch and Gibbs, 2008). On top of that, Amazonian forests significantly support livelihoods, especially of In- digenous Peoples (IPs) whose territories cover 27.5% of the biome (RAISG, 2015) and directly depend on forest resources. According to Walker et al. (2014), Amazonian IPs territories store nearly one third (32.8%) of the region's aboveground carbon. In Ecuador, nearly 40% of the original forests have been converted to other uses (Sierra, 2013). The majority of the remaining forests are located in the Amazon, where 10% of them have been transformed (RAISG, 2015). Also located in the Amazon are the majority (86%) of Ecuador's IPs' territories (Lopez et al., 2016). However, IPs have re- cognized rights over only 68% (ca. 44,437 km 2 ) of those territories (RAISG, 2015; Lopez et al., 2016). Ecuadorian tropical rain forests are among those with highest deforestation rates in South America (FAO, 2015). The FAO (2015) calculated an annual forest loss rate of 0.6% for the period 1990–2015. Located in Ecuador's northeastern Amazon, the Yasuní National Park (YNP) has been described as one of the most biodiverse ecosystems in the world (Bass et al., 2010). Along with the Waorani Ethnic Reserve http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.forpol.2017.05.005 Received 9 November 2016; Received in revised form 13 May 2017; Accepted 22 May 2017 ⁎ Corresponding author at: Institute for Technology and Resources Management in the Tropics and Subtropics (ITT), Technische Hochschule Köln – University of Applied Sciences, Betzdorfer Straße 2, 50679 Cologne, Germany. E-mail addresses: toa.lange@ambiente.gob.do (T. Loaiza), udo.nehren@th-koeln.de (U. Nehren), ggerold@gwdg.de (G. Gerold). Forest Policy and Economics 83 (2017) 19–28 1389-9341/ © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. MARK