The UN-REDD Programme recently launched the UN-REDD Programme Guidelines on Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) and the associated Legal Companion, which outlines related existing international law and emerging State practice affirming that indigenous peoples have the right to effective participation in the decisions, policies and initiatives that affect them and that FPIC is a legal norm that imposes duties and obligations on States.

The Guidelines outline a normative, policy and operational framework for seeking and obtaining FPIC in the context of REDD+. There will be periodic updates to this version based on the application of the guidelines, increased information and experience related to the application of FPIC more generally, and continued input and feedback from governments, indigenous peoples and forest-dependent communities, practitioners, experts and partners. In the meantime, the UN-REDD Programme invites actors and practitioners around the world to apply, use and interpret these Guidelines for their own purposes and to help the Programme test and improve their utility on an ongoing basis.