Gino Cocchiaro (Natural Justice) will take part in the Regional Consultation between Indigenous Peoples and Forest-Dependent Communities from Africa and the UN-Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) Programme: Free, Prior and Informed Consent Processes and Recourse Mechanisms. The meeting will be held in Arusha, Tanzania, from January 24-27 and attended by approximately 60 representatives of Indigenous peoples and forest dependent communities. The meeting is the third consultation organized with community representatives on the UN-REDD Programme; the previous meetings taking place in Hanoi, Vietnam, and Panama City, Panama. The meeting will provide a background to REDD+ and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) process, and discuss the right to free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) with regional and international examples. Towards the end of the meeting, the participants will refine a set of definitions, recommendations and guidelines for FPIC processes and recourse mechanisms that will later inform a final draft of guidelines to be adopted by the UN-REDD Programme. Gino will present on Natural Justice’s experience of working with communities to implement FPIC.
