Central Sulawesi REDD+ Working Group

As a demonstration of Central Sulawesi’s commitment, and to ensure inclusiveness, build stakeholders capacity, as well as to create a sense of ownership by the stakeholders, the Provincial Government of Central Sulawesi—through its REDD+ focal point, the Provincial Forestry Service—and UN-REDD Programme Indonesia formed Central Sulawesi REDD+ Working Group. The Working Group was established to coordinate REDD+ activities in Central Sulawesi and consists of stakeholders’ representatives.  Ever since its official affirmation by the Governor of Central Sulawesi’s Decision Letter no. 522/84/Dishutda – G.ST/2011, on February 18, 2011, the Working Group has become the main vehicle for REDD+ activities in Central Sulawesi.

The Central Sulawesi REDD+ Working Group has 77 members, with representation from all stakeholders, including the provincial government, universities, local communities, indigenous peoples, non-government organizations (NGO)/civil society organizations (CSO), and the private sector.  Central Sulawesi’s indigenous peoples and local communities chose their own representatives for the REDD+ Working Group in accordance with the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP, article 33):  “Indigenous peoples have the right to determine the structures and to select the membership of their institutions in accordance with their own procedures.”  The same standard was applied to NGOs focused on women and gender issues; they selected their own representatives for the Working Group.   As a result of this democratic process, there are 10 representatives of local communities/indigenous peoples and NGOs in the Working Group.

With the support of the UN-REDD Programme Indonesia, the Working Group is implementing activities in accordance with its mandate and is providing recommendations to the Government of Central Sulawesi on issues related to the four Sub-Working Groups’ respective tasks:

• Policy development for REDD+ implementation.
• Trialling REDD+ related methodology including MRV, REL/RL and options for the distribution of benefits.
• Development of criteria and indicators to select pilot districts.
• Taking actions needed to implement Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) and stakeholders’ capacity building in REDD+ related skills.

Several factors were initially challenging the Working Group in undertaking its tasks:

• REDD+ is a new concept and most Indonesians are still learning about it.
• The REDD+ Working Group itself is a pilot institution.
• The Working Group consists of diverse elements of society, and practice is necessary to achieve good coordination among such diverse stakeholders.

With time, frequent meetings, and the UN-REDD Programme Indonesia’s support in building the capacity of its members, the Working Group has now picked up the pace by drafting some recommendations for:

• The development of a provincial strategy for REDD+ implementation.
• The development of criteria and indicators to select pilot districts.
• The development of a framework for implementing free, prior and informed consent (FPIC).

To monitor the efficiency and effectiveness of the Working Group, the UN-REDD Programme Indonesia’s Programme Management Unit (PMU) is involved during the whole process of planning, implementation, and evaluation of activities originated by the Working Group.  This is also to make sure that the proposed activity fits UN-REDD Programme Indonesia’s mandate and the Working Group’s responsibilities.

To improve coordination, the Working Group developed a communication mechanism to report on the progress of the four Sub Working Groups and to monitor the quality of their representatives’ performance.  The activities and results are shared within the Working Group to make sure all of the four Sub-Working Groups are informed of each other’s progress. Both the Head of the Working Group and the PMU receive the same information, so that the level of understanding related to the development of each component of REDD+ readiness should be consistent across all four Sub-Working Groups and the PMU.