REDD herrings or REDD menace: Response to Beymer-Farris and Bassett

Abstract Norwegian funded REDD+ projects in Tanzania have attracted a lot of attention, as has the wider REDD+ policy that aims to reduce deforestation and degradation and enhance carbon storage in forests of the developing countries. One of these REDD+ projects, managed by WWF Tanzania, was criticised in a scientific paper published in GEC, and consequently in the global media, for being linked to attempted evictions of communities living in the Rufiji delta mangroves by the Government of Tanzania, allegedly to make the area ‘ready for REDD’. In this response, we show how this eviction event in Rufiji mangroves has a history stretching back over 100 years, has nothing to do with REDD+ or any policy changes by government, and is not in any way linked to the work of any WWF project in Tanzania. We also outline some of the broader challenges faced by REDD+ in Tanzania.