REDD+ Safeguards for Vietnam: Key Issues and the Way Forward

March 2012

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) defines safeguards for REDD+ in Decision 1/CP.16 made in Copenhagen in 2010. Decision 1/CP.17 (Durban, 2011) reaffirms the importance of REDD+ safeguards and requests all developing countries undertaking REDD+ actions to report against the safeguards in the future. They address a broad range of social and environmental concerns ranging from biodiversity conservation to forest people's rights together with the goals to avoid displacement of emissions and reversals of emissions reductions.

Key messages:
(1) Now is the time to develop REDD+ safeguards in Vietnam so they can inform the design of the REDD+ program at national and sub-national levels.
(2) The Government of Vietnam has already made significant progress in the design of a national REDD+ program that corresponds with safeguards defined in UNFCCC Decision 1/CP.16.
(3) Vietnam’s future REDD+ safeguards will need to address a wide range of concerns from biodiversity conservation to local communities’ rights.
(4) The most crucial element is a nationally-owned and inclusive approach that lays the foundations for safeguard monitoring, reporting and verification in the future.

This brief discusses achievements to date by the Government of Vietnam in REDD+ readiness, issues in the seven safeguards defined by UNFCCC, and the need for a flexible, nationally-owned and inclusive process.

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