RFN: Principles on REDD

To achieve reduction of greenhouse gas emissions through REDD, it is crucial that these policies are built upon, and do not undermine, the rights of indigenous peoples and traditional forest communities.

Principles on REDD

Policy paper from Rainforest Foundation Norway and Friends of the Earth Norway
Last update, January 28, 2009

Reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries (REDD) can contribute to a substantial and immediate reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. But to achieve this reduction and ensure its permanence, it is crucial that REDD policies are built upon, and do not undermine, the rights of indigenous peoples and traditional forest communities and international environmental and development agreements.

The undersigned organisations believe that any future REDD mechanism should be based on a clear set of criteria and principles that are in line with existing international agreements such as the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). It should be explicitly stated in any REDD agreement that REDD should complement, and not undermine, policies and principles of the CBD and UNDRIP.

Scale and scope

1. REDD must reduce emissions from both deforestation and forest degradation. REDD must also set positive incentives for countries with currently low deforestation and degradation to protect their natural forests. Incentives for enhancement of forest carbon stocks and carbon-sequestering agricultural activities should be dealt with through other means than REDD.

2. REDD must be demonstrably consistent with the upper limit of 2˚C temperature rise and the environmental integrity of the UNFCCC and its Kyoto Protocol. REDD can play an important part in achieving the immediate peak and rapid reduction of global GHG emissions which is needed to stay below 2˚C, but only if it is done in addition to deep domestic emissions reductions by Annex I countries on the scale of 25-40 % by 2020, from 1990 levels.

3. National approaches (e.g. national-level accounting, regulatory frameworks, reference levels, monitoring and enforcement systems) must be adopted in order to reduce transaction costs, address intra-national displacement of emissions and ensure the integrity of baselines. International and regional displacement of emissions must also be addressed.

Funding

4. Reliable and adequate funding for REDD must be made available by Annex I countries, in addition to their official development assistance (ODA) commitments.

5. To ensure that emission reductions achieved through a REDD mechanism are additional to the necessary reductions in Annex I countries, and to protect the integrity of emission reduction commitments against the uncertainty associated with forest carbon fluxes, REDD should not offset emissions in Annex I countries.

6. Equitable sharing of the benefits arising from REDD must be promoted. REDD funds must benefit traditional stewards of the forests, and must avoid creating perverse incentives where actors behind deforestation and forest degradation are substantial beneficiaries of REDD.

Biodiversity

7. In designing a REDD mechanism, Parties must take into account their commitments under relevant international environmental agreements, in particular the Convention on Biological Diversity. REDD must contribute to the conservation of biological diversity and the sustainable use of its components.

8. REDD must enhance, and not undermine, the policies and objectives developed under CBD. For developing countries to develop one set of policies for protecting tropical forest with regard to the CBD, and another set of policies for protection of tropical forest under the UNFCCC, will mean an unnecessary burden on countries that in many cases have limited management capacity.

9. REDD must not support commercial, non-traditional extraction of natural resources, like timber, in primary forests. Selective logging, often referred to as Sustainable Forest Management (SFM), in primary forests leads to substantial emissions of greenhouse gases. Avoiding logging in primary forests will also contribute to the protection of biodiversity.

Rights of indigenous peoples and local communities

10. REDD must respect and promote the rights of indigenous peoples and local communities, and must not adversely affect their rights and benefits pursuant to other Conventions and Recommendations, international instruments, treaties or agreements. To this end, REDD must adhere to the principles of relevant international agreements and declarations, inter alia UNDRIP, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and CBD. Not only indigenous peoples, but all forest dependent groups risk being adversely effected if REDD measures do not respect their basic rights and needs. If these issues are not addressed, the effectiveness and permanence of REDD will be threatened. Relevant and already established rights of indigenous peoples must therefore apply also to other forest dependent communities. The most important principles are:

a. The right to self-determination and self-government. REDD must acknowledge indigenous peoples' right to self-determination, including the right to autonomy or self-government in matters relating to their internal and local affairs, as well as their right to participate fully, if they so choose, in the political life of the State.

b. Free, prior and informed consent. REDD programs and projects must be based on the free and informed consent of indigenous peoples prior to the approval of any project affecting their lands or territories and other resources.

c. The right to management and customary use of natural resources. Indigenous peoples have the right to determine and develop priorities and strategies for the development or use of their lands or territories and other resources. REDD must protect and encourage customary use of biological resources in accordance with traditional cultural practices that are compatible with conservation or sustainable use requirements.

d. Land tenure issues and land rights. REDD must recognise that indigenous peoples have the right to the lands, territories and resources which they have traditionally owned, occupied or otherwise used or acquired. National REDD processes must contribute to States giving legal recognition and protection to these lands and clarifying land tenure issues.

e. The right to redress. Indigenous peoples have the right to redress, by means that can include restitution or, when this is not possible, just, fair and equitable compensation, for the lands, territories and resources which they have traditionally owned or otherwise occupied or used, and which have been confiscated, taken, occupied, used or damaged without their free, prior and informed consent.

11. Ways and means of ensuring participation of indigenous peoples on issues affecting them must be established. The UNFCCC must ensure meaningful participation by indigenous peoples in the negotiation and implementation of a future REDD mechanism.

Governance and transparency

12. National mechanisms should be formed to coordinate all initiatives to reduce deforestation in the relevant tropical forest countries. To ensure long-term, permanent emission reductions, the national implementation of REDD must be based on broad consultation and multi-stakeholder processes. This is necessary to create a broader ownership to the national REDD scheme, to ensure that all relevant stakeholders are included in the development of the scheme, and that all relevant drivers of deforestation and forest degradation are addressed.

13. In order to avoid carbon leakage in areas where large forests are shared among several countries, regional initiatives and approaches may help complement and strengthen national initiatives. To avoid leakage and reduce the pressure on forests, it is also necessary to address drivers of deforestation at the international level, i.e. via international trade regulations and agreements and other measures.

14. All global and national transfers of funds in REDD schemes must be transparent and open for public scrutiny. Data on carbon emissions from deforestation and forest degradation that lay the basis for REDD schemes and payments shall also be open and transparent. All transfers of funds and data on carbon emissions from deforestation and forest degradation need to be open for monitoring and verification by independent third parties, both at the global and national levels.

15. Independent complaint and conflict-resolution mechanisms must be incorporated within the overall framework, and must be available both on the national and international level to address any conflicts which might arise between governments, communities and other stakeholders.