Abstract
REDD+ social safeguards have gained increasing attention in numerous forums. This paper reviews the evolution of multi-level policy dialogues, processes, and actions related to REDD+ social safeguards (e.g., Cancun Safeguards 1–5) among policy makers, civil society organizations, and within the media in Brazil, Indonesia and Tanzania, three countries with well advanced REDD+ programs. We find that progress on core aspects of social safeguards is uneven across the three countries. Brazil is by far the most advanced having drafted a REDD+ social safeguards policy. Both Brazil and Indonesia have benefited from progress made by strong sub-national entities in the operationalization of REDD+ safeguards including free prior and informed consent (FPIC), participation, and benefit sharing. Tanzania has weakly articulated how social safeguards will be operationalized and has a more top-down approach. We conclude that in all three countries, measuring, reporting and verifying progress on social safeguards is likely to be a complex issue. Stakeholders with vested interests in REDD+ social safeguards operate in polycentric rather than nested systems, suggesting that aggregation of information from local to national-scale will be a challenge. However, polycentric systems are also likely to support more transparent and comprehensive safeguards systems. Clear direction from the international community and financing for REDD+ safeguard MRV is essential if REDD+ social safeguards are to be meaningfully integrated into forest-based climate mitigation strategies.
Highlights
In recent years, initiatives to reduce emissions from deforestation and degradation and enhance forest carbon stocks in developing countries (REDD+) have played a prominent role in international forest conservation finance, implementation, and policy discourse
Given that REDD+ safeguards are evolving in multiple policy arenas and markets, and at varying scales of governance, we comment on the implications of these overlapping dialogues, processes and actions for the further development of REDD+ social safeguards in general, and on the challenges and opportunities for measuring, reporting and verifying outcomes
All three countries in our study are signatories to most international agreements related to the forestry sector including the UNFCCC and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) (Safeguard #1), suggesting REDD+ policy should not contradict those agreements
Summary
Initiatives to reduce emissions from deforestation and degradation and enhance forest carbon stocks in developing countries (REDD+) have played a prominent role in international forest conservation finance, implementation, and policy discourse. To others the potential for governments, companies, and conservation organizations to make forest conservation a profitable endeavour via carbon markets has sparked concerns that REDD+ would harm local populations by ignoring customary tenure rights and restricting land use and access to forests without sufficient compensation or alternatives [3]. In response to such concerns, the governance and social dimensions of REDD+ have received increasing attention amongst stakeholders as programs and projects develop, with many adopting policies designed to “safeguard” vulnerable populations from harm. Some have gone a step further to insist that REDD+ must benefit local populations [4]
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