RRI Dialogue Addresses Developments on REDD+

8 February 2011: The ninth Rights and Resources (RRI) Dialogue on Forests, Governance and Climate Change took place in London, UK, on 8 February 2011, bringing together international and non-governmental organizations, civil servants and representatives from civil society organizations, academia and the private sector to discuss the latest developments on reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries, plus the role of conservation, sustainable management of forests and enhancement of forest carbon stocks (REDD+).

Co-organized by the Forests Peoples Programme (FPP), Forest Trends, and Tebtebba (Indigenous Peoples’ International Centre for Policy Research and Education), the Dialogue allowed participants and panelists to take stock of recent developments on the rights of forest communities and indigenous peoples in relation to REDD+ activities. In particular, participants considered the outcome from the 16th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 16) to the UNFCCC, which took place in Cancun, Mexico, in late 2010. In addition, Dialogue participants examined the role of forest restoration and reforestation for climate change mitigation and adaptation, and discussed how to formulate more coherent safeguards and recourse mechanisms for REDD+ programmes.

Participants convened in four panel sessions and held discussions on: the global implications for forests and people of the Cancun Agreement on Long-term Cooperative Action (Cancun Agreement); national- and community-level implications of the Cancun Agreement; ensuring that REDD+ complements restoration, poverty alleviation and adaptation; and promoting and operationalizing safeguards and accountability. In his closing remarks, Stephen O’Brien, UK Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for International Development, underlined the need to focus on, inter alia: promoting forest governance so as to bring greater opportunities to communities that depend on them for a living; ensuring that forestry laws are coherent, clear and publicly disclosed; and considering trade issues, stressing that buyers’ markets are changing and demanding standards.

The RRI Dialogues are designed to foster critical reflection and learning on forest governance, the rights of forest communities and indigenous peoples, and forest tenure in the context of global action to combat climate change. Since 2009, previous dialogues have focused on a variety of topics, including the role of forest governance in achieving reduced emissions from deforestation, the status of forests in the global negotiations on climate change, and the implications of UNFCCC COP 15, which took place in December 2009, in Copenhagen, Denmark, for forest communities and indigenous peoples. [IISD RS Coverage of the Ninth RRI Dialogue] [Ninth RRI Dialogue Website]