REDD countries

Mexico’s REDD+ strategy is not expected to operate as a program or single policy instrument, but is expected to follow a comprehensive territorial approach where rural sustainable development will act as the foundation for REDD+ implementation. In this sense, a number of policies and activities will need to be developed with horizontal and vertical coordination.

Mexico’s REDD+ process started with the development of the R-PP in 2008. Since then, the Mexican Government has published its REDD+ Vision (2010) which forms the foundation for the national REDD+ strategy, the ENAREDD+, which is currently being developed. The ENAREDD+ will be designed following five strategic principles and is planned for implementation between 2012 and 2020. The ENAREDD+ will also include current public policy instruments and focus on promoting institutional alignment to stimulate rural sustainable development. The first draft is currently under development and is planned for completion by the end of 2011.

The country has many national plans relevant to climate change, natural resource management, land tenure and rural sustainable development as developed by various government agencies. These include the Special Program on Climate Change (Programa Especial de Cambio Climático, PECC), which was developed in 2009, the National Forestry Program 2025, the Special Concerted Program for Rural Sustainable Development 2007-2012, the Toward Gender Equality and Environmental Sustainability Program 2007-2012 and the Climate Change Strategy for Protected Areas, among others.

At the sub-national level, a number of states are developing their own State Level Action Programs on Climate Change (Programas Estatales de Acción ante el Cambio Climático, PEACC) and others have already signed agreements to promote REDD+ at the state level (e.g., Chiapas signed an MOU with Acre and the State of California, and the three States in the Yucatan Peninsula signed a general coordination agreement). Some states are also planning to develop their regional REDD+ visions and strategies in the near future.

Under the international negotiations, Mexico supports REDD+ and encourages the use of community forest management practices as a basis for REDD+ implementation. Mexico also supports REDD+ activities that engage forest owners and indigenous groups, while respecting their local traditions and knowledge (Perron-Welch, F. 2011). Mexico endorses the use of public funds for the readiness phase and advocates for an efficient mix of public and private market-based financing mechanisms to be used during the implementation stage. Mexico supports subnational implementation as an interim measure and proposes that REDD+ should be considered as a nationally appropriate mitigation action (NAMA), but that it should also be treated differently due to its complexity (Peña del Valle, A., Ramírez, G. & Madrid, S. 2010).