Social Safeguarding Process for Landscape and Jurisdictional Initiatives (LJIs)

This guidance was originally published by Proforest.

Social safeguarding is a process for protecting people from being harmed by interventions intended to do good, such as those put in place by a Landscape or Jurisdictional Initiative (LJI). This guidance from Proforest, an update of the version first published in May 2024, sets out a globally applicable minimum safeguarding process for organisations implementing LJIs. It covers the enablers of a safeguarding system (governance and accountability, capacity building of key staff, and provision of remedy) and four core stages: commitments, risk assessment, planning and implementation, and monitoring and reporting.

The guidance also explains why social safeguards matter for funders of LJIs: they help protect investments, support accountability and due diligence requirements, and strengthen long-term outcomes. Seven case studies show how initiatives in Indonesia, Paraguay, Ecuador and Brazil have put safeguards into practice. The guidance is a practical reference rather than a prescriptive standard, and it was developed with input from Earthworm Foundation, Winrock, Conservation International, Solidaridad, Kaleka, GIZ and Daemeter, with funding from Nestlé.