akar.earthSafeguards: Definition
What are safeguards in forest carbon and REDD+? The social and environmental protections projects must apply, and how they are monitored in Indonesia.
Safeguards are the rules and procedures a carbon project or programme follows to avoid harming people and nature, and to promote positive outcomes where it can. They cover land and resource rights, consent, participation, labour, cultural heritage, biodiversity and the risk of displacing harm elsewhere.
Why it matters
A project can store carbon and still cause harm, for example by restricting forest access, ignoring customary rights or replacing diverse land with monocultures. Safeguards are how standards and buyers check that does not happen. The ICVCM Core Carbon Principles include sustainable development safeguards, and most standards require a safeguards assessment before validation.
How they are applied
- Screening: identify risks to communities, workers, biodiversity and cultural sites.
- Consent and consultation: FPIC where rights are affected, and ongoing engagement.
- Mitigation plans: steps to avoid, reduce or compensate harm.
- Grievance handling: a working grievance mechanism.
- Monitoring and reporting: indicators tracked each monitoring period and checked by the verifier.
For jurisdictional REDD+, countries report on how they address and respect the Cancun safeguards through a safeguards information system.
Indonesia and Southeast Asia angle
Indonesia has a national safeguards information system for REDD+ (SIS-REDD+). Projects on customary land, social forestry areas or within concessions with community claims need particular care with tenure and consent. Peatland projects must consider how rewetting affects farming and fire risk for nearby villages. See the REDD+ hub and community engagement.
Safeguards also cover environmental risks. Planting projects should avoid converting natural grassland or wetlands, avoid invasive species and protect high conservation value areas. Peat projects must manage water levels so they do not harm nearby farms or raise fire risk. These checks belong in the design, before the first seedling goes into the ground.
Common mistakes
- Treating safeguards as a checklist completed once at validation.
- Generic risk assessments copied between sites.
- No budget for safeguard monitoring.
- Ignoring women, migrants and landless households.
Strong safeguards also support co-benefits claims.
Frequently asked questions
What are the Cancun safeguards?
A set of seven safeguards agreed under the UNFCCC in 2010 for REDD+ activities, covering governance, rights of Indigenous peoples and local communities, participation, conservation of natural forests and biodiversity, and the risks of reversals and displacement.
How do projects show they meet safeguards?
Through a safeguards plan, risk assessment, community consultation records, monitoring indicators and reports checked by the verifier.