Development objective: Civil society, in particular indigenous peoples, in Latin America has strengthened its voice and influence on issues that have direct impact on inequality, democracy and sustainable development. Immediate objectives: 1. Climate change component: IBIS and partners have contributed to ensure that public awareness, lobbying and advocacy actions from civil society networks’ have influenced the negotiations of the Central American and Andean positions under the UNFCCC’s COP16/COP 17 negotiations; and furthermore, influenced international institutions and national climate change policies/strategies toward sustainable development and ensure that indigenous peoples and the poor population are considered. 2. Extractive industries component: IBIS partners in Latin America have intensified their pressure in order to enforce existent and promote new national laws and international agreements and declarations for the protection of indigenous peoples’ rights to live in a sound environment, to have prior consultations and to have insights in revenue issues related to projects of the extractive industries. 3. Policy component: IBIS has – together with Latin American and international civil society organizations and networks – taken action on Danish, European and international advocacy opportunities to promote indigenous peoples’ rights, democracy and poverty reductions policies.
The following processes should be systematised and assessed as part of review process: Climate change advocacy and REDD In Central America LAPI has built on and continued a partnership with the Sustainability Watch civil society network with a view to strengthen the capacity for doing national and international advocacy on climate change negotiations and policies. The network was started in 2003 and counts on 92 member organizations. The members work on a variety of themes such as national and regional climate change policies, sustainable energy provision, vulnerability to climate change, adaptation strategies and reduction of emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD). The network has gained significant influence on national policies in Guatemala and Nicaragua, and participates actively at international climate negotiations where the network plays the role a key civil society interlocutor, which again positions the network nationally and regionally. In the past two years, the climate change component of LAPI has focused particularly on addressing the rights consequences of and proposals of indigenous peoples’ organizations for the REDD policies and programmes that were launched in the wake of the COP16 in Cancun, Mexico. The background rationale was that the REDD programmes display negative rights consequences at the local level, and that these to a large extent are financed by Nordic donors. The support has been a combination of support to partners’ studies within the area, their elaboration of policy proposals and their undertaking of national and international advocacy (towards UN-REDD, FCPF of the World Bank as well as the negotiations within the framework of the UNFCCC). IBIS has - together with other Danish and International NGOs (within the Danish 92 group and the Accra Caucus among others) – joint forces with partners in the international advocacy, but also elaborated her own case studies, organized conferences with participation of indigenous organisations, and advocacy initiatives to influence the policies of Nordic donors to these programmes. This
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