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History of Safeguards

12 May 2024

Safeguards have long been used in forest management and forest product trade in order to protect the sustainability of forest resources. The emergence of various standards and demands for certification in the forestry sector shows increasingly stringent safeguards in forest resource management. Therefore, it is nothing new if there is a demand for safeguards to be implemented in REDD+ implementation.


COP-16 in Cancun mandated that in REDD+ action every country needs to encourage the implementation of 7 (seven) 'safeguards' as follows:
 
  • Complement or be consistent with the objectives of national forestry programs, relevant international conventions and agreements,
  • A transparent and effective national forest governance structure, taking into account applicable laws and the sovereignty of the country concerned,
  • Respect the knowledge and rights of Indigenous Peoples and local communities, taking into account national responsibilities, conditions and laws, and remembering that the UN General Assembly has adopted the Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
  • Full and effective participation of stakeholders, especially Indigenous Peoples and local communities,
  • Consistent with the conservation of natural forests and biodiversity, ensuring that REDD+ actions are not used to convert natural forests, but instead to provide incentives for the protection and conservation of natural forests and ecosystem services, as well as to increase other social and environmental benefits,
  • Actions to deal with reverse risks,
  • Actions to reduce diversion emissions.

The COP-16 decision, as stated in Annex I Paragraph 2 of Decision 1/CP 16, mandates party countries implementing REDD+ to build a system for providing information regarding implementation or how safeguards are handled and respected. The COP decision basically provides general guidance for party countries (parties). ), and explained in the decision that the development of this system is adapted to national conditions and capabilities and respects the sovereignty of each country. Therefore, state parties need to translate the guidance in the national context.

In order to implement the mandate of the COP-16 Decision, during 2011 and 2012 a series of multi-stakeholder processes were carried out by the Center for Standardization and Environment - Ministry of Forestry, to build a REDD+ SIS in Indonesia. The multi-stakeholder process aims to: (1) translate REDD+ safeguards in the COP-16 Decision into the national context, (2) conduct an analysis of policy instruments and other instruments related to REDD+ safeguards in the COP-16 Decision, (3) identify the structure and information system mechanism for implementing safeguards in REDD+ that is most suitable for Indonesia, (4) preparing an institutional design for SIS-REDD+, (5) determining Principles, Criteria and Indicators, taking into account the results of the analysis of point (2) and, (6) determining implementation assessment tools safeguards in SIS-REDD+ in Indonesia, Based on the COP-17 Decision, the system for providing information on the implementation of safeguards is required to fulfill the following principles:
 
  • Consistent with the guidance in COP-16 Decision Annex I Paragraph 1,
  • Transparent and consistent information that can be accessed by all parties and updated regularly,
  • A transparent and flexible system for improvements over time,
  • Information about how the seven safeguards are implemented,
  • Country-driven and implemented at the national level,
  • Built on an existing system basis.