Policies, laws, and regulations (PLRs)

Policies, laws, and regulations (PLRs), and also operational plans and programmes to implement these PLRs, serve to define how safeguards are to be applied when implementing REDD+ activities. Policies:strategic, guiding or planning documents prepared by a (typically, but not exclusively governmental) institution and that describes a vision and political direction to address a specific issue. Laws:legally binding acts, enacted by a legislative body (e.g. Parliament), which typically create rights and obligations that can be judicially enforced. Regulations:issued by an executive body (e.g. a Ministry) as legally binding instruments to apply the laws and to provide operational directives. Some PLRs may also serve as policies and measures (PAMs), to reduce greenhouse gas emissions/enhance their removals, as articulated in the National REDD+ Strategy/Action Plan. For example, a policy to designate new protected areas, targeting sites of conservation importance and emissions reduction/enhanced removal potential, is both as a REDD+ PAM and a safeguards PLR.