A key determinant of REDD+ success will be the development and implementation of safeguards, including systems for providing information on how safeguards are addressed and respected. This policy paper is the result of a three-year initiative to develop REDD+ safeguard information systems (SIS). The research examined: information collected through eight existing systems that could feed into reporting on REDD+ safeguards; how the existing systems ensure transparency, consistency, accessibility, flexibility, country-driven processes and the lessons for a REDD+ SIS; early action in five countries to provide lessons and insights for the further development of REDD+ SIS. In exploring these areas, the research aims to contribute to improved SIS by identifying how REDD+ practitioners can build on existing systems and learn from early action. The research concludes that new mechanisms, methodologies or indicators are not necessarily required, but systems can be built on existing frameworks.