3 December 2014: The Regional Community Forestry Training Center for Asia and the Pacific (RECOFTC) and the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) hosted a side event on ‘Approaches to Equity in Forest Governance: Lessons for Safeguard Development.’ At the event, which was convened on the margins of the Lima Climate Change Conference, panelists shared experiences on strengthening equity in forest governance and lessons learned for safeguard development in REDD+.

Chandra Shekhar Silori, RECOFTC, explained that, for safeguards to be effective, they must take into account: free, prior and informed consent (FPIC); vulnerable groups; tenure and resource rights; benefit-sharing mechanisms; and preferences on resettlement. He added that persistent uncertainties due to prolonged REDD+ negotiations, tenure and resource rights insecurity and lack of capacity have hindered the application of safeguards at the grassroots level.

Nur Masripatin, REDD+ Agency, Indonesia, underscored the importance of compliance with national and regional regulations and policies. She highlighted her country’s early implementation of the Criteria and Indicators for REDD+ Safeguards, as well as the agreement on the One Map Initiative, which standardizes the data used for REDD+ implementation across multiple sectors.

Edna Maguigad, Non-Timber Forest Products Exchange Programme for South and Southeast Asia, gave examples of equity and safeguards implementation in the Philippines for ancestral domains and for areas under community-based forest management agreements. She noted that in ancestral domains notions of equity vary and the benefit-sharing basis is not clear as indigenous peoples mostly negotiate for short-term benefits.

Sigyel Delma, Department of Forests and Park Services, Bhutan, presented lessons from the beginning stages of REDD+ safeguard implementation in her country. She said timber allocations to households must be reduced to curb deforestation and addressed potential fraud in managing community forestry income. In addition, she lamented poor gender representation in executive positions.

Marisa Camargo, IIED, emphasized that the private sector should be engaged in addressing the main drivers of deforestation, namely, agriculture and animal husbandry. She urged focusing on equity issues within the supply chain in order to promote greater sustainability. [IISD RS ENBOTS Coverage] [IISD RS Coverage of Lima Climate Change Conference] [RECOFTC Event Announcement] [RECOFTC Website] [IIED Event Announcement] [IIED Website]