Monday, August 3, 2015
Local people from forest communities in Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand and Vietnam and came together in Bangkok recently to discuss forest issues that are priorities for them and to prepare for the upcoming XIV World Forestry Congress. The Congress, which is the largest and most significant gathering of the world’s forestry sector, takes place in Durban, South Africa this September.
“As one of the few observers here, and being responsible for supporting smallholder certification, it was great to hear about the issues and priorities for Asian communities,” reported Richard Laity, PEFC South East Asia, Projects and Development Officer. “We want to ensure that certification is inclusive by working closely with these forest communities, while we develop national forest certification systems.”
“As PEFC history demonstrates, it has proven to work for smallholders, and as we expand into countries in Asia we want to make sure it continues to be a robust but cost-effective, appropriate and practical tool,” Mr. Laity concluded.
At the meeting, participants identified four priorities areas, from local perspectives, that forest decision-makers must invests it for forests to be managed sustainably:
• Participatory processes for policy and enabling regulatory framework development
• Formalizing tenure rights and the establishment of community forests
• Funds and resources for community forest implementation, and livelihoods/enterprise development
• Capacity development for leadership empowerment, information access, network advocacy
At the end of the meeting, the local people participating in the meeting voted and elected four local people to represent them on the global level at the upcoming World Forestry Congress in South Africa in September 2015.
Tags: forest congress, forest issues, forestry sector, worldwide meeting
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