eminar on Landscapes in a Carbon Focused World 26 October 2012 SIANI, Focali & Naturskyddsföreningen organized a one-day seminar in Gothenburg. Summary: Safeguards have gained momentum in the international environmental arena especially in action for REDD+ under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). This presentation will address the way safeguards can be related to different biodiversity financing mechanisms, and learn from the REDD+ discussions under the UNFCCC. While scaling up biodiversity finance is key for achieving the three goals of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the development of new biodiversity financing mechanisms has also generated concerns over the potential problems, which span from generating financial speculation to affecting the rights of indigenous peoples and local communities. The presentation will examine legal landscapes that can be useful for developing and implementing safeguards related to biodiversity financing mechanisms in an equitable way. Claudia Ituarte-Lima is Legal Advisor at the Resilience and Development Programme (Swedbio), at Stockholm Resilience Centre. She is an international public lawyer with theoretical and applied experience in both multilateral and community environmental issues. She holds a PhD from University College London, an MPhil from University of Cambridge, and diplomas from Bourgogne University in France, among other. Her distinctions include the Human Rights Award by American University, Washington College of Law. Her current interests are climate change and biodiversity laws and policies in relation to poverty alleviation, livelihoods and development. She holds visiting status at the Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford and the Stockholm Environmental Institute.

1. .
Legal landscapes
in biodiversity and social safeguards
Claudia Ituarte-Lima,
Resilience and Development (SwedBio)
at Stockholm Resilience Centre
26 October 2012, Seminar: Landscapes in a carbon
focused world by SIANI, Focali &
Naturskyddsföreningen in Gothenburg

2. Discussion paper:
Safeguards for scaling-up biodiversity
financing and possible guiding principles
Claudia Ituarte-Lima, Maria Schultz, Thomas Hahn and Sarah Cornell
.
e-mails: claudia.ituarte@cantab.net, maria.schultz@stockholmresilience.su.se,
thomas.hahn@stockholmresilience.su.se, sarah.cornell@stockholmresilience.su.se
This presentation is based on:
Information document for the CBD-Conference of the Parties 11, UNEP/CBD/COP/11/INF/7.
http://www.cbd.int/doc/meetings/cop/cop-11/information/cop-11-inf-07-en.pdf

3. 1.- Introduction
Presentation’s structure
5.- Concluding remarks
3.- Legal landscapes on safeguards
2.- Legal landscape approach
4.- Safeguards and different types of Biodiversity
Financing Mechanisms

4. 1. Introduction
Biodiversity Financing Mechanisms (BFMs)
• non-maket and market alternatives; established and new
mechanisms
•various values of biodiversity (incl. resilience) serve as
justification for its protection
• valuation of biodiversity does not necessarily imply letting
market solve challenges
Evolving notion of safeguards:
• from financial institutions to new arenas
• multifaceted features of safeguards

5. •Emphasis on dynamic legal systems concerning the
interaction between people and nature
• Aims to reconcile trade-offs between improving the
livelihoods of natural resources’ dependent people and
conserving biodiversity
• Implies social learning (incl. approaches to change) for
better governance
• While being context specific, different scales can be
addressed
• Takes into account the co-existance of various ecosystems
2. Legal landscape approach

6. • Distinction between procedural and substantive
safeguards
• Safeguards at multiple scales and their dynamic
interactions
• Social and environmental impact assessments: what
needs safeguarding in particular contexts
3.1 Legal landscapes on safeguards:
learning from existing laws and policies

7. 3.2.- Legal landscapes on safeguards:
elements and guiding principles in BFMs
• Biodiversity values for local livelihoods
• People’s rights, access to resources and livelihoods
• Local and country-driven/specific processes linked to the
international level
• Governance, institutional frameworks and accountability

8. 4.- Safeguards and different types of BFMs
• Payment for ecosystem services (PES) such as REDD+:
procedural safeguards (e.g. free prior informed consent)
syncronised with substantive safeguards (e.g. carbon, land and
forest associated rights and duties). Tangible resources linked
to intangible resources.
•Fiscal reform: safeguards to reduce perverse incentives such
as avoiding subsidies to unsustainable practices. PES are
sometimes financed by an earmark fiscal reforms.
• International development assistance (ODA): although it
may not be an innovative financing mechanism, it can provide
seed money (e.g. PES) and lessons for various BFMs.

9. 5.- Concluding remarks
Guiding principles can be the baseline underlying
safeguards in all BFMs.
Yet, there are linkages in practice between different BFMs.
Hence, the harmonisation of safeguards can make them
more effective and equitable.
Biodiversity and social safeguards need to respond to the
risks and opportunities of each BFMs.

10. 5.- Concluding remarks
Substantive safeguards: broader perspective in defining
rights and duties for reconciling biodiversity conservation in
all ecosystems and people’s livelihoods.
A legal landscape approach can serve for developing and
implementing safeguards with a new perspectives.
Procedural safeguards: involve a shift of perspective
from static provisions in laws to resilient and locally
rooted safeguards that are supported by country-
driven processes that make use of existing
international legal and policy instruments.