Amazonian Indigenous Organizations Define Position on REDD+

A declaration released after a national workshop in Peru, “Climate Crisis, REDD+ and Indigenous REDD,” defines a clear position of the workshop organizers, the Coordinator of Indigenous Organizations of the Amazon Basin (COICA), the Interethnic Association for the Development of the Peruvian Amazon (AIDESEP, an RRI Collaborator), and various other regional and local organizations of the Amazon, in regards to the financial mechanisms for mitigating climate change, specifically the reduction of emissions from deforestation and forest degradation with sustainable resource management (REDD+). The indigenous organizations which participated in the workshop published the document “Declaration of Iquitos: No REDD+ without Territories, Rights, and Autonomy of Indigenous Peoples,” defining their opinion about REDD+, which they say should only be implemented after the titling of indigenous lands and the recognition of their rights of autonomy over their lands, including rights to free, prior, and informed consent. The signatory organizations of the Declaration state that the countries that implement national-level REDD+ programs should comply with Convention 169 of the International Labor Organization and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The Declaration of Iquitos also denounces the companies that have been pressuring indigenous peoples to sign illegal agreements which threaten their rights to forests, forest carbon, or intellectual property of indigenous peoples. 

Read the Declaration of Iquitos here (Spanish). 

Read more information on AIDESEP's website (Spanish).