Wednesday In Lima: Indigenous Organizations To Propose Use Of Life Plan Success As Benchmark For REDD+

1 December 2014 | LIMA | Peru | Indigenous people across the Amazon have created “Life Plans” to dock their traditional economies and ways of life with the global economy. These plans are built communally in a process that harnesses indigenous traditions, and they have become a fundamental instrument for territorial governance.

A small but growing number of indigenous organizations have begun to use REDD+, (reducing emissions from forest deforestation and degradation) to jump-start their plans, and on Wednesday the Amarakaeri Communal Reserve of Peru and the Federacií³n Nativa del Rí­o Madre de Dios y Afluentes (FENAMAD) will propose a method for using the progress of indigenous life plans as a REDD+ benchmark.

FENAMAD says it has worked in coordination with COINBAMAD, the indigenous council that covers a portion of the Madre de Dios region, and COHARYIMA, another indigenous organization, to build a collective methodology for regarding the lives of the native communities.

Unlike NGOs or private institutions that lack a deep understanding of the indigenous communities, FENAMAD’s methodology involves the local groups. The organization says it aims to work strategically with community leaders to develop viable holistic management and an indigenous economy. Its plan also includes a learning-based approach to resource conservation where local people-either indigenous or not-make the final decisions.

The event will take place at 10am on Wednesday, December 3, in the Indigenous Pavilion.

Objectives

• Analyze and reflect on the indigenous territory and the role of the management plans
• Consider Indigenous REDD (REDD + indigenous Amazonian, or “RIA”) as a medium and tool for the life plans implementation drawing from indigenous experience

Methodology

• There will be two exhibitions on the guiding framework and a panel discussion. A first exhibition details the importance of RIA in the life plan implementation. This exhibition will also generate follow-up questions for the panel discussion:
• What are the characteristics of the PV with respect to other conventional planning or development plans?
• How can life plans be taken into consideration by local or regional governments?
• How can life plans become part of public policy? A second exhibition will reflect on the role of life plans in the managed indigenous territories. This exhibition will generate the following questions for the panel discussion:
• Is it important for indigenous communities to have its life plan developed before deciding to implement REDD activities?
• If another community is about to begin its life plan process, what recommendations would you give them?
• How can the life plans be understood by everyone in the community-both men and women?

The panel discussion, represented by three indigenous people, will follow the exhibitions. Each panel member shall respond to the questions asked in the context of the case study they’re presenting on. Finally the session closes with an expert discussing final key thoughts.

Agenda