Climate Aid Will Neither Support Forests nor the Poor: No Hope for Saving the World's Forests

Political themes undergo specific political careers. They enter and leave political agendas. Themes in development policy are, for example, biodiversity, climate change, or deforestation. While political themes change, underlying principles of aid disbursement do not. Currently the discussion on Climate Aid, in particular the reduction of emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, puts again the emphasis to deforestation. Deforestation is a prominent theme, often defined as a “forest problem,” by foreign aid policies on forestry. Foresters are once again dubbed as being able to “save the World” all on their own. In fact, it is not them who on decide the priorities of foreign (aid) policy. The decisions made about cooperating countries and thematic areas do not stem from problem pressure. Political factors dominate the program formulation and financing. Analyses of European donors' forest aid reveal that, contrary to what is defined in policies, disbursements to countries, relevant to deforestation, are not prioritized. Also the goal of poverty alleviation is not served. Most of the funds are spent in countries of already relatively high human development. Countries with “rampant” corruption are given handouts as well as small island developing countries. On the basis of these results we can draw conclusions on the ability and efficiency of (future) Climate Aid that is hoped to serve forests and the poor.