Legal Instruments on Carbon Tenure and Indigenous Safeguards within the REDD+ Framework

Panama’s indigenous peoples have played a key role in the conservation and sustainable management of forests in the country. Currently, the majority of the old growth forests remnants are found on formally designated indigenous territories and in areas that even though are not under this designation are under the care of indigenous communities. Because they are the owners or directly depend on the remaining forests of Panama, indigenous peoples have become one of the major players in the REDD+ discussion at the national level. Their participation in the mechanism would avoid the loss or degradation of large forested areas. However, these groups have legitimate concerns about REDD+ and other related issues such as land tenure (and the ownership of forest and the carbon tied up in vegetation), the implementation of safeguards, the equitable distribution of benefits generated through REDD+, and the respect to their cosmovision, culture, rights and livelihoods, among others.

The objective of this workshops is to update and enhance the level of knowledge of the participants about the progress and current status of REDD+ in Panama and internationally. During the workshop, participants will review the concepts and linkages among climate change, tropical forests, forest carbon, and REDD+ and they will analyze and discuss the issues of carbon tenure, safeguards, and review the key topics that will be addressed during the climate change meeting hosted by the government of Panama and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in October this year.