THE NEW CARBON ECONOMY IN SOUTHEAST ASIA; INDONESIA & MALAYSIA FROM CULTURAL PERSPECTIVE

Since forests have increasingly been considered a critical issue under United Nations Framework Convention for Climate Change, a new approach to mitigating terrestrial emissions associated with climate change called 'REDD+' (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation) is introduced. REDD+is a proposed performance-based mechanism in which developed country donors, corporations, non-governmental organizations, and individuals will compensate developing countries for forest emissions reductions. This leads to "new carbon economy"-the emerging trade in carbon emissions, along with the series of market-based policy instruments designed to reduce global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions through the creation of markets for carbon. Southeast Asia hosts a number of early REDD+ type projects. However, there have been distinctive differences between countries that have been successful in implementing REDD+. Potraying on frameworks of national culture, this article is exploring the applicability of REDD+ in the developing country of Malaysia which has been cited amongst the highest globally in growth of greenhouse gases (GHG), but the involvement in REDD+ project is so limited compared to Indonesia which is leading in REDD+ implementation. Using Hofstede's construct of national culture, social units in Malaysia and Indonesia are investigated where REDD+ is proposed as a culturally dependent strategy. It is recommended that the successful implementation of REDD+ as new carbon economy demands compliance between the strategies that are adopted and the country's cultural characteristics. This study argues that the ability of the "new carbon economy" to provide real benefits for sustainable development may ultimately be obstructed by the nature of the society itself.