13 jan

Feedback, Grievance and Redress Mechanism proposed for the Belize REDD+ Project

The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Forestry, the Environment, Sustainable Development and Immigration (MAFFESDI), through the National Climate Change Office, is implementing the REDD+ Readiness Preparation Project. REDD+ is a global initiative to combat climate change by reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, and by fostering conservation, sustainable management of forests, and the enhancement of forest carbon stocks. The REDD+ Project, through a participatory and inclusive process, will assist Belize in preparing to participate in future REDD+ carbon payment transactions.

One of the mechanisms that is being prepared by the REDD+ Project is a Feedback Grievance Redress Mechanism (FGRM) for the current phase and the implementation phase. The Government of Belize wants to use the FGRM:

– To provide information to queries about the REDD+ Programme and its related activities in Belize.
– To utilize the received feedback, recommendations and reviews to enhance operational efficiency and incorporate systemic improvements to the REDD+ Programme and its related activities.
– To help resolve cases through investigation and by proposing realistic responses to complaints and grievances in the land-use sector.
– To engage and promote dispute resolution through non-adversarial methods between petitioners and defending parties.

The mission of the FGRM will be to provide information, engage in dispute resolution and systematically resolve REDD+ grievances, related to reducing deforestation and degradation, sustainable forest management, conservation and reforestation.

The FGRM vision is that ‘We seek to contribute to climate change mitigation and REDD+ through a Feedback Grievance and Redress Mechanism based on legitimacy, accessibility, predictability, fairness, transparency, rights compatibility, continuous learning, engagement.’

MAFFESDI has hired Equal Chances @ Green Development (ECGD) to develop the FGRM for the REDD+ Project. The ECGD team has developed:

– Deliverable II and III: Context Research and Assessment report
– Deliverable IV and V: Joint Plan and Implementation Framework
– Deliverable VI: Web-based Registry System
– Deliverable VII: Operations Manual
– Deliverable VIII: Consultation Plan

Deliverables II-V and a summary of these reports can be downloaded from links below to provide feedback. Feedback is accepted at the latest January 24, 2020, at 15h00 Belize time via the email addresses info@equalchances.sr, with a copy to madhawiramdin@gmail.com

– 20m01d06 Development of a GRM_Assesment and Context Research report_clean
20m01d06 Development of a GRM_Joint Plan and Implementation Framework_clean version
Executive summary of the REDDplus FGRM_Deliverables II-V

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