By Cristina Sánchez
For several years, various national and international institutions have joined forces to conserve the Peruvian Amazon forests through a sustainable development approach. From this, various concepts such as JDI, REDD+ and Amazon Indigenous REDD+ (RIA in its Spanish acronym for REDD+ Indígena Amazónico) sound in various spaces and initiatives. But what do they really mean? We will review these three concepts, in order to know a little more about what is next for the country’s Amazon region.
The JDI
">The Joint Declaration of Intent (JDI) is a document that was signed on November 24, 2014 in Climate Week in New York. Through this document, Norway, Germany and Peru pledged to fight climate change by applying the sustainable development approach in the agricultural and forestry sectors, and environmentally sound mining in Peru. JDI development is planned in the following 3 phases:
The main objective of the JDI is to contribute to significantly reduce emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions, which are the cause global warming, in Peru. In regards to financing, Norway will donate USD 300 million from which only USD 50 million can be used during Phase 1 and 2. Thus, it is established that the remaining USD 250 million will be for Phase 3 which represent payment for verified results of GHG emissions reduction.
JDI is currently in the second phase, the transformation. While already there have been some activities, the Peruvian Government, through the Forests Program, is still designing this phase including suggestions from various stakeholders. The third phase, the contributions for verified emissions reduction, would be framed in the REDD+ concept, which will review below.
REDD+
The first time the concept of REDD + was mentioned in Peru was in 2011, when the National Plan of preparation of this approach was approved. It is at this point that some sectors see that its application in Peru could be beneficial to the conservation of the Amazon forests. After various soil and social studies, the application began to take shape with the signing of the JDI. Despite this, it should be noted that REDD + is still in development in the world and is the subject of controversy and criticism.
REDD+ is one of the approaches to fight climate mitigation, which as its acronym says, aims to reduce carbon emissions caused by deforestation and forest degradation. The "+" or "plus" for the conservation approach that should characterize it.
The goal of REED+ is compensate with money the carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from the forest through carbon credits financed by the countries that need to reduce their emissions. Thus, an economic benefit would be given to those who conserve the forests and perform sustainable practices. The mechanism requires calculating the amount of carbon that a territory has specifically, then calculate the impact of carbon emissions that result from deforestation and degradation, and finally value the economic contribution for the preservation of avoided emissions by protecting the forests.
Despite how beneficial an initiative like REDD+ sounds, risks and weaknesses have been identified. Therefore, at the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change or COP 16, held in Cancun, Mexico, in 2010, the named Cancun Safeguards were adopted.
The Safeguards are policies and procedures that seek to prevent social, governance and environmental harms, during the preparation and implementation of REDD+. Below we review the five main safeguards that need to be applied in the Peruvian context:
RIA (Amazon Indigenous REDD+)
Meanwhile, indigenous organizations have developed a proposal that takes the name of REDD+ Indígena Amazónica – RIA (Indigenous Amazon REDD+) to reduce GHG emissions, but from the perspective of indigenous peoples rather than market or industrialized countries. This proposal is led by the Asociación Interétnica de Desarrollo de la Selva Peruana - AIDESEP (Interethnic Association for the Development of the Peruvian Rainforest), who also agrees to reduce GHG emissions, but not commodify forests through carbon credits.
What RIA proposes is to see the forest in a comprehensive or holistic manner, as an integral territory that provides various ecosystem services to humanity. Thus, it seeks to recognize and compensate the value of forest holistically and not only for its carbon capture function. From this perspective the value of various collective life plans of the communities and peoples who inhabit it and protect it are set forth. Among the main lines of RIA is the indigenous territory titling, community forest management and community forest governance.
After several meetings between AIDESEP and the Ministry of Environment (MINAM), indigenous organizations have managed to include the RIA proposal officially through MINAM and international cooperation, in various national plans and strategies. In addition, UN-REDD and the German agency GIZ have carried out studies and activities with AIDESEP to develop RIA. USAID has also joined this initiative through the ICAA program. The JDI document also considers the RIA proposal as one of its cooperation components.
Finally, it should be noted that in the previous Conferences of the Parties (COP) there were major developments regarding the agreements openness to alternative or innovative approaches to REDD+. Therefore, it is necessary to continue to know and discuss everything concerning this proposal, so the voice of indigenous peoples is taken into account and their collective rights are respected with the highest standards of protection, ensuring their participation and their free and informed consent as the JDI document itself establishes.
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Traducción: Natalia León