This book was made possible by the thousands of villagers and other local stakeholders who patiently answered our survey questions, in each of our 23 study sites where REDD+ initiatives are being implemented. We are also grateful to the proponents of these initiatives for their support of independent research, their patience in answering our many questions, and their careful review and input into the chapters of this book.

National, regional and local governments have also responded to our research questions and authorized us to conduct research in their jurisdictions. We appreciate their cooperation, as well as the support of our host organizations: Programa de Pós-Graduação de Ciências Sociais em Desenvolvimento, Agricultura e Sociedade (CPDA)/Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro (UFRRJ) and Rede de Desenvolvimento, Ensino e Sociedade (REDES) in Brazil, and the International Potato Center (CIP) in Peru.

The funding partners that have supported this research include the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad), the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), the European Union (EU), the UK Government and the CGIAR CRP-FTA program with financial support from the CGIAR Fund.

The staff of CIFOR’s Information and Communications Group worked tirelessly and with great skill on the book. The team included Wendy Bicknell, Sandra Caya, Anne Downes, Erisa, Vidya Fitrian, James J O’Neill, Eko Prianto, Perdana Maulansyah Putra, Gideon Suharyanto, Joanne Walker, Yahya Sampurna, Rumanti Wasturini and Catur Wahyu.

We also extend our thanks to the researchers leading other modules of CIFOR-GCS, including Maria Brockhaus, Lou Verchot, Anne Larson, Bruno Locatelli and Grace Wong, for their ongoing collaboration and insights. Christopher Martius leads CIFOR’s climate change research and has provided invaluable support to CIFOR-GCS. CIFOR-GCS was launched under Frances Seymour’s leadership and we are indebted to her vision and initiative on research about REDD+. We also thank CIFOR’s current Director General, Peter Holmgren, for his continued support of this important research agenda.

The Indonesian research was supported by: Hudayanti from CIFOR’s Human Resources division, who obtained the necessary research permits; CIFOR’s Information and Communications Group, which assisted in compiling information products to distribute in the field; and Agus Djoko Ismanto (CIFOR), who provided guidance on liaising with the Indonesian government.

The large research teams who conducted the Phase 1 surveys, both interviewing and entering data, are listed at the end of each chapter. However, many other researchers have since joined the effort, collecting data and tracking implementation of the initiatives. We have benefited much from their insights. We are indebted to Made Agustavia and Andina Auria Dwi Putri, who worked with Claudio de Sassi to produce the tables and graphs for all chapters in the book, and to Astrid Bos and Uji Astrono Pribadi for producing a map of each initiative in our sample. We are also very grateful for the organizational skills and logistical support of Setia Dewi, Made Dwi Astuti, Cristina Ribeiro, Levania Santoso, Hiasinta Lestari, Ria Widjaja-Adhi, Siti Juariah Nooryasyini, Anna Luntungan, Mira Handayani, Monique Dwiariani and Monica Aleman. Many other CIFOR staff and collaborators – too many to list here – have supported the GCS research effort over the past five years.

Most of the researchers who helped design and implement the first phase of field research are co-authors of chapters and boxes in this volume and are thus included in the list of authors. However, four of the people who were key to the design and launch of this study were not available to contribute directly to this book, although all of the research reported here builds on their efforts. We would therefore like to give special thanks to Peter May of CPDA/UFRRJ, who has provided support for the M2 work in Brazil since the beginning; Mrigesh Kshatriya of CIFOR, who led the data management team for the first phase of research, including designing the database; Subhrendu Pattanayak of Duke University, who led the sample design effort, including compiling and analyzing the first raw data characterizing potential sample villages; and Pam Jagger of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, who led the discussion about study design (Jagger et al. 2009, 2010) and organized the initial workshop to launch this research effort.