To ensure that REDD+ effectively addresses certain associated potential negative impacts or risks and indeed contributes to positive environmental and social outcomes, parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) agreed to a set of safeguards principles as part of the 2010 Cancun Agreement. REDD+ countries have committed to the provision of information on how these safeguards are being addressed and respected as a condition to receiving results-based finance under the mechanism. The ‘Delivering Environmental and Social Multiple Benefits from REDD+ in South East Asia’ (MB- REDD) project aims to support the governments of Vietnam and Lao PDR to successfully implement national REDD+ programmes that facilitate social and environmental multiple benefits.

Operationalising REDD+ safeguards and demonstrating co-benefits requires testing and the introduction of innovative mechanisms to support sustainable livelihoods and biodiversity conservation, while delivering emission reductions/enhanced removal of greenhouse gases. As part of the project, which is funded by the German Ministry for Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety (BMUB) and implemented between 2013 and  2016, innovative mechanisms are designed and tested through demonstration and ‘proof-of-concept’ pilots, socialised through national REDD+ sub-technical working groups (STWG), and embedded into the national REDD+ strategies/ programmes in each of the target countries. Such mechanisms include: sub-national REDD+ implementation plans (RIP), which look to factor emissions reductions and social and environmental criteria into local level planning, participatory forest monitoring (PFM) and local benefit distribution systems (BDS) for REDD+, a mechanism allowing for the dispersal of benefits (financial or otherwise) derived from REDD+ project activities to stakeholders in these activities.

SNV provides technical assistance to the governments of Vietnam and Lao PDR in:

• Defining their strategies in mainstreaming multiple benefits into REDD+ Action Plans at national (and subnational) level;
• Developing roadmaps for country-led environmental and social safeguards;
• Establishing and testing a participatory approach in monitoring of carbon and non-carbon aspects;
• Exploring benefit distribution mechanisms from REDD+ to inform the development of REDD+ Action Plans.

Through the MB-REDD project, SNV has provided a crucial leadership role on the important issue of safeguards in REDD+ in Vietnam and Lao PDR. To date, MB-REDD has: 

• Elaborated a Safeguards Roadmap for Vietnam;
• Led the establishment and operationalisation of a national-level Safeguards Sub-Technical Working Group (SG-STWG);
• Developed a range of relevant and useful publications including policy papers outlining approaches for developing country-led safeguards systems for REDD+, participatory sub-national planning, participatory forest monitoring and benefit distribution systems as well as associated technical field manuals and tools;
• Contributed (in partnership with SNV’s USAID-funded LEAF project) to the development of a Provincial REDD+ Action Plan (PRAP) for Lam Dong Province;
• Completed piloting participatory carbon monitoring and finalised technical guidance.