Contributed by Gerardo David BERTHIN
Two UNDP’s Practice Areas from the UNDP Regional Service Center for Latin America and the Caribbean (RSC-LAC), Energy & Environment and Democratic Governance, sponsored and co-organized the Regional Forum on “How to Prevent Corruption in REDD+ and the “Regional Workshop on Participation, Advice and Consent of Stakeholders in the Preparation Phase of REDD+,” on January 29-31 and February 1st-2nd respectively in Lima, Peru. Both meetings brought different actors, governmental and non-governmental, civil society representatives, indigenous peoples, academics and UNDP officials, from 8 countries in Latin America (Colombia, Ecuador, Honduras, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay and Peru).
The Corruption Prevention Forum was inaugurated by Manuel Pulgar Vidal -Environment Minister of Peru; Rebeca Arias, Resident Coordinator of the UN System and UNDP Representative in Peru; and Julio Arbizú, Peru’s Anti-corruption Attorney General-, all of whom put in perspective and relevance the importance of REDD+ as a tool for climate change and as a key element of prevention against corrupt practices.
Similarly, between February, 1st and 2nd a workshop on “Participation, Consultation and Stakeholders in the Preparation Phase of REDD+” was held. The event was inaugurated by Eduardo Durand, General Director of Climate Change, Desertification and Water Resources of the Peruvian Ministry of Environment (MINAM), and Pierre-Yves Guedez -Regional Technical Advisor from the UNDP RSC-LAC / UN-REDD+-.
Through the exchange of experiences, the identification of potential partners and human resources and the involvement of various institutions, both forums aimed at generating inputs from participants for a draft national plan in order to integrate anticorruption issues in the national strategies of REDD+, to identify partners, roles and responsibilities and deadlines, in addition to ensuring consultation and participation of key sectors.
The five days in both events were jointly facilitated by two UNDP Practice Areas from the UNDP RSC LAC, Democratic Governance and Energy & Environment. The facilitators were Estelle Fach, from UNDP REDD +; and Gerardo Berthin, Fernando Pinel, Jose Arturo Santos, Pierre-Ives Guedez and Adriana Ballestin from the UNDP RSC-LAC. During the events the focus was on key topics such as: the importance of governance and anticorruption; financing climate change and REDD+; tools to prevent corruption risks; public information as related to accountability; the implications of joint work with social actors; and conflict management. Also it was an opportunity to present the national initiatives which are taking place in LAC countries such as, Mexico, Honduras, Ecuador, Peru, Colombia, Paraguay and Panama to learn about good practices and lessons learned. All of these, under a participatory and deliberative methodology to be able to identify potential problems before hand and find solutions together.
Last but not least, these events have allowed REDD+ and anticorruption policymakers, as well as an array of actors, to have a space for discussion and deliberation on potential strategies on how to prevent the risks of corrupt practices in REDD+, as well as in terms of how to ensure the participation of key sectors and actors.
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