Ensuring that Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPLCs) meaningfully engage in and access the full benefits from climate emission reduction programs in forest landscapes can be very challenging, especially in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, a new podcast series financed by the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) and the Enhancing Access to Benefits while Lowering Emissions (EnABLE) fund is reaching remote communities through local radio and social media networks. In the series, IPLC practitioners explain their views on the result-based climate finance programs, how the programs can be aligned with their cosmovision, and share their experiences of engaging in the programs. This way, they help to demystify results-based climate finance and the often highly technical language of REDD+.

The FCPF has signed agreements with 15 countries to provide payments for their emission reductions under REDD+ agreements at a total value of US$720 million. The first payment to Mozambique was made a year ago, and more countries will receive their first payments later this year. These payments are used to provide incentives to continue efforts to reduce emissions and to implement Benefit Sharing Plans that stipulate which stakeholders receive compensation. For communities to benefit fully, it is imperative they are informed about these programs, engage in them, and understand how they are eligible to receive the benefits.

Awareness-raising efforts have been underway by governments. However, reaching disadvantaged and marginalized communities and social groups is a challenging task. This has been compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic, that hit Indigenous Peoples and local communities especially hard and made it nearly impossible to conduct in-person outreach efforts.

Taking on the challenge of informing and engaging communities, the FCPF and EnABLE developed outreach program “Get REDDy”, designed by and for Indigenous Peoples. This program includes a series of communication and capacity-building efforts. 

Building on partnerships

By working with a panel of eight Indigenous Peoples and experts from different countries, Get REDDy ensures that the information is relevant, practical, and meaningful to the communities. Topics include land tenure and benefit sharing, integrating traditional and indigenous knowledge in forest management, gender equality in forest management, setting up and implementing safeguards systems, and other key REDD+ concepts.

Partners also identified practitioners from these communities who could speak about their experiences in a way that could help other communities across the globe to engage in REDD+. For instance, the podcast series starts with Onel Masardule from Guna Yala, Panama, who has been engaged in REDD+ debates from its inception at the Bali COP in 2007 when he was a vocal opponent of the initiative. In the podcast he talks about how IPs have been managing their forests sustainably for centuries based on the holistic philosophy of the relationship between people and nature, on challenges for REDD+ to reach communities, and how over time he has become supportive of community-led REDD+ having seen the benefits to local people.

Innovative methods of outreach

Through close collaboration with capacity building partners, Get REDDy episodes were shared with local radio stations and through listservs, WhatsApp groups, and social media. Partners also supported the translation of episodes into local languages, for instance into iTaukei in Fiji and Malagasy in Madagascar.

By employing tailored and targeted social media campaigns, Get REDDY has reached the screens of Indigenous and local communities, targeting the specific districts where the FCPF operates in a cost-effective way. As a result, over half a million people across FCPF countries have already watched Get REDDY via Facebook and YouTube.

But the most accessible channel for outreach to Indigenous and local communities remains the tried and tested radio. Through partnerships with both national and local radio stations, the program has already been broadcast across seven FCPF countries and over three dozen radio stations, with more scheduled for the months ahead. More than 40 million people are estimated to have learned about the emission reduction programs this way, a testament to the reach of community radio.

In the Petén department of Guatemala, Get REDDy (or Prepárate con REDDY as it is called in Spanish) is playing on the community radio station of a small Q’eqchi Maya village. It is tuned in to the episode on Land Rights, during which Pablo Mís, a fellow Q’eqchi Maya from Laguna in southern Belize, can be heard discussing the importance of the forest for his people. “When people look at the forest we have, they see it as empty”, said Pablo. “But for us, it has meaning as these key areas might be a fishing area, might be a hunting area, or might be sacred areas. REDD+ has helped us to show that these are forests and lands that have a special relationship with the Maya communities.”

Visiting every community to discuss REDD+ may not always be possible. But the ubiquitous radio connects Indigenous communities around the world. And hearing directly from a peer like Pablo helps this Q’eqchi community understand how it can work with REDD+ to maximize the benefits of emission reduction programs for the community.

Get REDDY is co-produced by the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) and the Enhancing Access to Benefits while Lowering Emissions (EnABLE) trust fund. Three pilot episodes were released in April 2022 and are available as podcast on Buzzsprout, Spotify, and other podcast apps, and as videos on the World Bank YouTube channel. All episodes are available in English, French, and Spanish. Seven more episodes are scheduled to be released later this year.