REDD+ Partnership launched amid concerns over indigenous peoples' rights while UN negotiations resume

The Interim REDD+ Partnership was launched in Oslo on 27 May before United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) talks resumed in Bonn between 31 May and 11 June. Fifty delegates from REDD and donor countries' governments adopted a declaration including the principles and modalities of work of the new Interim REDD+ Partnership initiative. Respect for indigenous peoples' rights and support for the implementation of safeguards still under discussion at the UNFCCC are not among the Partnership's principles, and the process so far has been evidently lacking in terms of transparency and participation.

The Partnership creates a space for governments and institutions engaged in reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD) to share information and experiences, and to develop tools to ensure coherence and effectiveness. Papua New Guinea and Japan will initially co-chair the Partnership, followed by Brazil and France in 2011. The Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) and UN-REDD will provide secretarial functions.

Respect for indigenous peoples' rights and support for the implementation of safeguards still under discussion at the UNFCCC are not among the Partnership's principles, and the process so far has been evidently lacking in terms of transparency and participation. The Partnership will, allegedly, not undermine progress at the UNFCCC. However, until a climate fund with a REDD facility becomes operational, readiness will happen under the Interim REDD+ Partnership umbrella, formally outside the UN system.

Governments are accelerating the pace: a first technical meeting of the Partnership will take place in Brazil in July, while Nagoya in Japan will host the second official meeting in October parallel to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) Conference of the Parties (COP10). In the meantime, no real progress on REDD was registered at the Bonn meeting of the Ad Hoc Working Group on Long-term Cooperative Action under the Convention (AWG-LCA). The UNFCCC Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA) adopted a draft conclusions document on REDD, centered on capacity building for the application of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) methodologies, neglecting UNFCCC COP15 recommendations to develop guidance on the engagement of indigenous peoples in monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV). A 'non-paper' (including text on REDD) was produced by the Ad-hoc Working Group on Long-Term Cooperative Action (AWG-LCA) chair to foster further negotiations in August and October.