Learning from one another – across borders

A project funded by BMUB shared its experience in implementing safeguards in REDD+ projects.

Sharing expertise between projects plays an important role in advancing climate protection and biodiversity conservation worldwide. With this in mind, projects funded by the International Climate Initiative (IKI) should network with each other and also with other projects, which will enable them to pass on their experience. To this end, the Netherlands Development Organisation (SNV) took part in a workshop in San Salvador, which had been organised by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH. The workshop was about implementing safeguards, which are minimum social and environmental standards, in projects to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+) in Latin America and the Caribbean. During the workshop, SNV presented the results of an IKI project entitled 'Delivering Environmental and Social Multiple Benefits from REDD+ in South-East Asia (MB-REDD)', which developed guidelines on how countries can integrate safeguards into REDD+ programmes. The approach taken by the IKI project provided a conceptual framework within which the REDD/CCAD/GIZ regional programme, which is financed by the Federal Ministry for Economic Development and Cooperation (BMZ), was able to develop its own safeguards approach. The approach was discussed during the workshop.

The results of the workshop will be incorporated into a guidance document for countries in the region, which will give a step-by-step explanation of working with safeguards in practice. This intensive sharing of knowledge, methods and experience exemplifies cooperation across national and organisational boundaries.