Over the past two decades, growing recognition of forest-based Indigenous peoples and local communities (IPs and LCs) sparked forest tenure reforms to formalize IP and LC rights to forests and forest lands through a variety of mechanisms. Nevertheless, tenure security, an intended objective of such reforms, has received less attention, despite being integral to the life and livelihoods of IPs and LCs and important for forests.

Commodity-driven deforestation and forest conservation efforts in the Mekong region have placed multiple pressures on community-based resource systems, undermining tenure security and livelihoods. In response, several initiatives have been mobilized by states, communities, and civil society organizations which aim to recognize and formalize customary forest tenure rights.

As forest tenure reform is mainstreamed around the world, outcomes are increasingly determined by the institutions that are responsible for administering its operationalisation and translating policy into implementation. This global study examines state institutional contexts of tenure reform in Kenya, Uganda, Nepal, Indonesia, and Peru. Interviews were administered in 2016–2017 using a fixed questionnaire applied across all countries involving 26–32 respondents from state implementers of forest tenure reform in each country for a total of 145 respondents.

This Fact Sheet aims to provide guidance on Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) and its application in Uganda in the context of Responsible Land-Based Investments.