Preparedness for REDD+ Climate Finance - Vietnam, Mexico & Zambia

Reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, including conservation, forest management and enhanced carbon stocks (REDD+), is an evolving international climate finance mechanism that may provide considerable sustainable development opportunities for developing countries. There is still very little knowledge or practical experience with the legal and governance elements of REDD+, and the international community is ramping up efforts to agree safeguards which provide results-based and equitable benefits to stake-holders including governments, indigenous peoples and local communities. Vietnam, Zambia and Mexico are committed to REDD+ and are preparing their governance frameworks in line with international commitments. In so doing, they face important legal and institutional reform challenges that will determine the success of REDD+ for the social and economic development of their peoples.

The project purpose is to advance national and international knowledge and action for REDD+ development and climate change mitigation efforts, by assessing legal preparedness for REDD+ development across Zambia, Vietnam and Mexico, then distilling and sharing outcomes nationally and internationally.

Developing country legal specialists were engaged and trained and assisted in the preparation of three Legal Working Papers on Legal Preparedness for REDD+ in Vietnam, Mexico and Zambia which review all relevant laws, regulations, policies and governance frameworks relating to REDD+, with inputs from in-country consultations with key stakeholders from government, civil society groups and local communities.

A country-specific approach has been used to analyze legal challenges and innovations for ongoing REDD+ development, identifying priorities for future legal and institutional reform action. A fourth Cross-Cutting Paper highlighting common issues for legal preparedness to REDD+ will also be prepared to provide further analysis and recommendations to support legal reforms.

Consultations with experts and national review workshops in each country provided a forum for validation of the Working Papers. After the national workshops, and during the Conference on Climate Law in the Global South in Durban South Africa in December 2011, IDLO and FAO hosted an International Legal Experts Roundtable on REDD+ to generate recommendations for incorporation into an Experts Report on for legal preparedness for REDD+. IDLO and FAO shared the Legal Working Papers, Cross-cutting Paper and Experts Reports with the international community at a high-level event, “Legal Preparedness for REDD+: Lessons from Vietnam, Mexico and Zambia,” during the 17th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Durban, South Africa in December 2011. The Governments of Vietnam, Zambia and Mexico, and IDLO developing country legal specialists, presented their findings to developed and developing country policy makers, development practitioners and other climate change actors, thereby fostering knowledge-sharing of lessons learned to support legal preparedness for REDD+ elsewhere. The event will provided an opportunity to highlight the role of the international community in supporting country responses to climate change through REDD+, and ways that law and governance reform can contribute to more effective national and international action.