WWF Guide to Building REDD+ Strategies

Key Messages
n Environmental and social safeguards policies and procedures are designed to
avoid, mitigate or minimize adverse environmental and social impacts of projects
and strategies and to implement those that produce positive outcomes for people
and the environment. Safeguards are a cornerstone of technical and financial
support for REDD+.
n REDD+ safeguards provide a foundation for delivering non-carbon benefits related
to sustainable development. These include strengthening forest governance and
management of natural resources, encouraging socially-inclusive participation in
policy-making, increasing information transparency, and promoting recognition of
the rights of indigenous peoples and local communities (IPLCs) for their territories,
lands, natural resources and traditional livelihoods and cultures. These multiple
benefits may contribute to improved social, environmental and economic performance
and produce more enduring results than programs that change temporary cost-benefit
decisions about land use.
n Discussions about REDD+ social and environmental safeguards must be carried
out in a multistakeholder process at the national or subnational level conducted
in a transparent, participatory, socially-inclusive manner with respect for gender
considerations.
n As the risks associated with REDD+ activities are directly related to the local
conditions of each country and each region, the effective involvement of groups that
can be directly affected by REDD+ activities - especially indigenous peoples, local
communities and smallholders—is critical to defining which safeguards are appropriate.
n When developing national and subnational safeguards, countries should consider
their national legal and institutional frameworks, their commitments to international
treaties, and the requirements of multiple delivery partners and REDD+ funding sources.
WWF FOREST AND CLIMATE INITIATIVE SoCial and enviRonmental SaFeGuaRdS // 37