The Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation program, or REDD+, has been the international community’s first real attempt to create a global forest governance system which would impact countries on national, regional and even local scales. This paper provides an in-depth analysis on the impact of REDD+ on forest-dependent communities. The dimensions which are included in this review are institutions and governance, livelihoods, socio-cultural aspects, and the environment. Many studies confirm that forest-dependent communities are not sufficiently involved in current REDD+ projects. Furthermore, current and potential impacts of REDD+ on communities often disrupt local peoples’ livelihoods and strategies, institutions and socio-cultural systems in various ways, such as unequal benefit sharing, food insecurity, introduction of new powerful stakeholders, illegal land acquisition, unfair free prior and informed consent, and the introduction of monoculture plantations. REDD+ is also perceived as a neoliberal mechanism which renegotiates peoples’ relationship with the natural environment by monetizing nature. The paper concludes with a framework which addresses the potential drivers and threats of REDD+ concerning forest-dependent communities based on the literature review. This framework suggests a holistic approach to REDD+ implementation, which incorporates forest-dependent communities’ often complex relationship with the natural environment, such as incorporation of traditional forest management systems and provision of viable alternatives to loss of agricultural land.

The world is undergoing rapid environmental change

Community-based tourism (CBT) emphasises attributes such as sustainability, local participation, and the maximisation of benefits to the community. However, limited scholarly interventions and critical debates have been conducted regarding what constitutes a community in tourism destinations. In Taman Negara, Malaysia, residents of various ethnic groups have considerably different interpretations of community and boundaries therein. Malay, Malaysian Chinese, and Orang Asli Batek people have contradicting claims and perceptions regarding who is Indigenous, who is a local, and who is the rightful host community of Taman Negara. The perceptions of such boundaries can be highly political; consequently, certain groups feel threatened when they are seemingly peripheral to official designations. The fuzzy boundaries of what constitutes a community make governance and the assessment of CBT considerably challenging. A suggestion is to resist predefining a community and to instead consider its fluid boundaries and heterogeneity in CBT planning and research.