This report compiled by AIDESEP, FENAMAD, CARE (regional and national indigenous organisations) and FPP collates the experiences of indigenous peoples’ organisations with REDD+ policies and projects in Peru. The report analyses the policies and strategies of the Peruvian government, examines the roles of international agencies and scrutinises pilot REDD+ initiatives already underway in indigenous territories.

Global debates about reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, and promoting conservation, sustainable forest management and enhancement of forest carbon stocks (REDD+) emphasise the need for strategies to build on existing knowledge. This briefing describes an example of South-South collaboration in which IIED has helped facilitate a Mozambique-Brazil partnership to share expertise and create a unique REDD+ working group. The initiative provides key lessons for other countries contemplating South-South collaboration on REDD+, including the need for charismatic champions, continuity in government representation and integration across sectors.

In light of recent international developments underlining the key role of forest ecosystems in climate change mitigation and adaptation, national governments are increasingly adopting legislation aimed at regulating forest carbon rights. In Mexico, a draft law on climate change is currently under discussion at Parliamentary level. The draft law would link adaptation and mitigation measures to sustainable development, taking into account the need to create a 'green fund', a national register of carbon emissions, as well as a national 'carbon market'. Currently, the national legal framework does not specifically consider forest carbon rights. This paper analyses the current legal framework in a comprehensive way, outlining relevant aspects of ownership rights on forest lands as established by the Constitution (1917, last reformed in 2009), the Agrarian Law (1992) and the Forest Sustainable Development Law (2003). This provides insights into who is likely to hold forest carbon rights in Mexico and most of those communities are indigenous, and as such are considered marginal groups (National Institute of Statistics, Geography and Informatics, 2007).

Brazil does not have a national law that specifically addresses the legal nature and ownership of carbon credits or rights to greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reductions and/or removals. It is however expected that the implementation of the Brazilian climate change policy, which promotes the development of an organized Brazilian carbon market overseen by the Brazilian Securities and Exchange Commission, will lead to an eventual clarification of the precise nature and ownership of tradable carbon rights. Some legislation at state-level already refers to rights derived from measures that reduce or remove GHG emissions, but stops short of clearly stating how these rights to emission reductions are to be treated outside the governmental programs they create. For instance the Amazonas State Climate Change Policy establishes the general legal framework for promoting carbon offset projects and payments for ecosystem services within land owned by the State, and assign the rights to exploit environmental products and services (implicitly including carbon rights) to a public private institution created for this purpose. REDD specific regulations are being designed in several states in Brazil. There is increasing support for promoting a regulatory system that acknowledges and rewards REDD actions not only at the national, but also at the sub national and jurisdictional levels.

Local governments in Latin America and Caribbean countries are increasingly playing a greater role in forest administration due to an ongoing process of decentralization observed in most of those countries. Local governments may also play a key role in the REDD+ context, especially during its implementation phase. Corruption, however, may be a barrier to the success of REDD+, both at the national and sub-national levels. It is therefore essential that countries create safeguards against corruption risks in REDD+ design and implementation phases. As local governance institutions tend to be directly involved in the implementation of REDD+ activities, they should develop the capacity to prevent and suppress associated corruption risks. REDD+ can either improve forest governance or be undermined by its failures. UNDP has a crucial role in ensuring the success of REDD+, by assisting countries to prevent corruption and improve governance. UNDP support to local governance institutions and decentralization processes is needed to ensure that sub-national governments have political, administrative and fiscal capacities to implement REDD+.

In this review paper, we assess the economical, governance, and technical conditions that shape forest management in tropical Latin America with particular regard to efforts to reduce forest-based carbon emissions. We provide a framework for discussions about ways to improve forest management that achieve environmental objectives while promoting local and national development and contributing to local livelihoods. We argue that many management practices that lead towards sustainability are only likely to be adopted where there is good governance backed by financial incentives for effective enforcement of management regulations. We propose some policy interventions designed to lower net greenhouse gas emissions by decreasing rates of forest degradation and increasing carbon stock recovery in logged-over or otherwise degraded forests. Implementation of REDD+ could provide critical compensation to forest users for improved management practices in the absence of, or in combination with other economic incentives.

This report is a contribution to CIFOR’s multiyear Global Comparative Study on REDD+, which aims to provide policy makers, practitioners and donors with strategic information on reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, and enhancement of forest carbon stocks in developing countries.

In 2009 and 2010, PRISMA and Grupo CABAL conducted various studies, dialogue conferences and interviews to analyze processes related to the  Reduction of Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation in Mesoamerica, with special attention to issues of equity and social justice for forest communities. This work was supported by the Ford Foundation and the David and Lucille Packard Foundation.

A report published by IUCN reviewing existing forest use and management data in order to calculate the value of breaking down barriers to locally-controlled forestry in tropical and developing countries throughout Asia, Africa and Latin America.