14 December 2011: The UN-REDD Programme has announced that the draft Guidelines on Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) are open for public review. Comments are requested by 15 January 2012.

The Guidelines aim to outline a normative, policy and operational framework for UN-REDD Programme partner countries to seek FPIC, as and when appropriate, as determined by the Programme partner country in consultation with relevant rights-holders. The Guidelines also provide definitions of the underlying elements of FPIC and information on grievance and accountability.

The Guidelines were developed through a consultative process with indigenous peoples and civil society representatives via a series of regional consultations held between June 2010 and January 2011 in the three regions where the UN-REDD Programme is active, namely: Africa; Asia and the Pacific; and Latin America and the Caribbean. During these consultations, participants developed definitions and processes to operationalize FPIC for the UN-REDD Programme. Comments are to be sent to: jennifer.laughlin@undp.org and gaythri.srikanthan@undpaffiliates.org. [Reports of the Consultations] [UN-REDD Programme’s Stakeholder Engagement Webpage] [The Guidelines]