In Peru, the country with the second largest extension of Amazonian forests, REDD+ is a means to finance and implement actions that allow for reducing emissions, according to the National Strategy on Forests and Climate Change (ENBCC) and for the economic development of forest communities. Safeguards are a key element that ensures REDD+ actions are implemented properly.

With the support of the UN-REDD Programme, Peru has made substantial progress with building and strengthening the national safeguards process, with a strong focus on participation and capacity building. The country defined the national approach to safeguards based on inputs from multi-stakeholder participatory processes.

The first summary of information, submitted to the UNFCCC in 2020, was developed with inputs from various stakeholders. It presents a baseline of the country’s progress in terms of safeguards, along with relevant information on the arrangements and processes implemented to address and respect environmental and social safeguards.

The Safeguards Information Module (MIS) was launched in December, 2021 to facilitate access to and dissemination of information. It processes, manages and provides information on how safeguards are addressed and respected as REDD+ implementation progresses.

Linked to the MIS, Peru also developed the Mechanism for Complaints and Citizen Attention for REDD+ (MAC), which seeks to promote transparency and access to information through three methods for collecting queries and claims: face-to-face, by phone and virtually. Procedures for receiving, processing, answering and registering information will be established later this year.

In 2022, pilot projects for both the MIS and MAC REDD+ instruments are planned, with the participation of key stakeholders linked to REDD+ actions. In addition, the normative guidelines for both instruments will be published this year.

Peru’s trajectory with REDD+ safeguards and the achievements so far result from work carried out since 2012. This would not have been possible without the participatory processes that have reinforced the national approach to safeguards and that have allowed the incorporation of contributions from key stakeholders linked to REDD+.

In Peru, the preparation phase of REDD+ under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in relation to safeguards is now complete, and with the other elements of the Warsaw Framework, this paves the way for Peru to access REDD+ Results-based Payments.