Since 2009 RECOFTC through the Grassroots for Capacity Building for REDD+ in Asia project have been working to develop capacities of local partners in five countries (Indonesia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Nepal and Viet Nam) to facilitate awareness raising on and initiatives to deal with climate change and REDD+.

Research shows that community forestry enterprises (CFE) in community forestry (CF) sites are restricted due to a number of factors: a lack of support by governments, combined with policies that undermine CFE’s viability; misconceptions by governments that communities are unable to manage forests in a sustainable manner;  and regulatory framework that favours private sector and state forest enterprises. These restrictions prevent CF members from developing and commercializing forest products, thereby only allowing them to benefit from their forests through a subsistence approach.

This brief identifies the problems with the Thai Community Forestry Bill (granted in 2007) that had initially aimed to help forest communities preserve and manage their surrounding forest land and to transfer the rights of management from the central government to local communities.

Seventy percent of Indonesia’s land area (128 million ha) is classified as forest land. Estimates of the number of villages located on these lands vary from 25 000 to 33 000 with an estimated population of 50 to 70 million people. Many of these inhabitants claim customary rights to around 40 million ha of state forest land, claims that were recently recognized, in principle, in a ruling of the Constitutional Court on 16 May 2013.

This paper summarizes key discussions from the 1st ASEAN-Swiss Partnership on Social Forestry and Climate Change (ASFCC) Learning Group workshop organized by RECOFTC – The Center for People and Forests in August 2015. The discussions highlight a number of ways community forestry (CF) can support local communities in adapting to climate change.

Kembalinya isu agraria di ranah kebijakan nasional merupakan periode penting setelah berakhirnya Orde Baru. Kebijakan Reforma Agraria dan Perhutanan Sosial (RA/PS) telah masuk dalam RPJMN 2014-2019. Sejumlah 12,7 juta ha kawasan hutan diperuntukkan sebagai  Perhutanan Sosial dan 9 juta ha sebagai Tanah Obyek Reforma Agraria (TORA). Skema TORA ada dua model, yaitu: penataan kembali sektor pertanahan melalui legalisasi aset seluas 4,5 juta ha dan penyediaan akses tanah melalui redistribusi lahan seluas 4,5 juta ha.

How equitable are benefits and costs being shared in community-based natural resource management (CBNRM) programs? To what extent are the voices of marginalized groups shaping the design and implementation of community based resource management systems?

The Forest Governance Learning Group (FGLG) Vietnam undertook a survey in Dak Lak and Thua Thien Hue provinces between December 2006 and April 2007. The survey aimed to provide insights into different forms of community forest management, the factors influencing its success, and their contribution to poverty alleviation. 

Với việc phần lớn diện tích rừng đã được người dân địa phương quản lý và sự tham gia sớm vào các sáng kiến Sẵn sàng REDD+, Việt Nam trở thành một nước tiên phong trên toàn cầu về hành động giảm thiểu tác động của biến đổi khí hậu dựa vào cộng đồng trong lĩnh vực lâm nghiệp. Tuy nhiên, để làm được điều này cần giải quyết một số vấn đề lớn. Trong bản tin này, chúng tôi thảo luận lý do tại sao sự tham gia tích cực của cộng đông địa phương và người dân bản địa mang tính cốt yếu cho REDD+ cũng như chỉ ra những thách thức cần phải vượt qua.

The institutional Strengthening Training Curriculum have been used and adopt to the local context during the Scaling Up Community Forestry-SUComFor Project. The training curriculum was developed by collecting different opinions and suggestions from experts including Forest Department.

"The main argument for community forestry, in the context of climate change, is that it responds to multiple interests.  Forests, and in particular community forestry, represent a bundle of assets and benefits. They serve as a safety net in times of hardship and support critical ecosystems required for well-being.  The cases point out that while the contributions of community forestry to mitigation are well-recognized, in the case of adaptation, community forestry is equally well placed to support adaptive capacity, but this is not automatic." - Regan Suzuki

Pervasive food insecurity and poverty in much of the world drives vulnerable populations to harvest natural resources as a means of generating income and meeting other household needs. Wild edible plants (WEPs) are a particularly common and effective coping strategy used to increase socio-ecological resilience in Sub-Saharan Africa where agricultural systems are often sensitive to environmental perturbations and instability. WEPs are collected across the landscape, from agricultural areas to government-managed hilltops with varying degrees of success and legality.