This publication is focused on oil palm expansion and land tenure in several Southeast Asian palm oil producing countries (the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia) and cross-compares their experiences with the facts and myths, stories and lessons learned from other palm oil producing countries, more specifically, Indonesia, Malaysia and Papua New Guinea.

The high incidence of forest conflict in Southeast Asia underscores the need for conflict-transformation tools to maximize the positive impacts and reduce potential damage. Mediation is considered one of the most effective approaches in transforming conflict over natural resources. Mediation is often chosen when negotiation between conflict parties fails due to the complexity and intensity of the conflict and because of unequal negotiating power. It is also chosen when the judicial process is considered too complex and requires higher transaction costs.

Over 200 participants including 134 international delegates from 20 countries convened on 8–9 August 2011 in Bangkok, Thailand, for two days of deliberations on the potential of community forestry to address some of the biggest challenges we face today. Be it persistent rural poverty, climate change, governance, deforestation, or rights of indigenous and local people, there were questions raised and solutions offered in several packed sessions ending in a Vision 2020 exercise and a Call for Action at the close of the Forum.

The Rights-based Approach (RBA) allows local communities, or others who are marginalized, excluded or discriminated (the rights holders), to exercise their rights; and for institutions, organizations or other agencies (the duty bearers) to provide support towards equitable and inclusive development programmes that benefit them. RBA interventions can address inequities and disparities evident in these communities. In the context of the management of forested landscapes, RBA emphasizes the rights of local communities for fair benefits, access to resources, secure tenure and gender equity.

Read RECOFTC’s digital annual report, “Building resilience through community forestry.” This report covers the period October 2017 to September 2019.

This bulletin draws on country-level experience to share civil society perspectives on the challenges, opportunities, and possible approaches for pro-poor REDD. As governments begin to formulate their national REDD programs, questions are emerging about the role of local people in design and implementation, and the socio-economic implications for the rural poor. Drawing on experiences from Nepal and Vietnam, this bulletin includes:

Conflict over forest resources is one of the major challenges in forest management. Researchers have observed that the number and severity of forest conflicts in Asia has increased over time, and that forest conflicts are now widespread across the region. In Cambodia in 2009, 236 community-outsider conflicts were recorded. In Indonesia, 359 incidents of forest-related community-outsider conflict were identified between 1997 and 2003, with numbers increasing over time. This high concentration of forest conflict makes Southeast Asia one of the ‘hotspots’ of forest conflict in the world.

The principle that indigenous peoples and local communities have a right to give or withhold their Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC) to developments affecting natural resources is not new. However, experience using FPIC in REDD+ implementation is still limited in the Asia-Pacific region, and there are few materials that explain and train practitioners in its concepts and practice. There is still subjective understanding of the terms and requirements of FPIC, influenced by both cultural interpretations and interests. 

This paper explores the conflicts between badly-affected local communities and logging and mining companies and analyzes how such conflicts can be addressed effectively.

Due to growing environmentally and socially aware markets on a global level, as well as on a regional level, and with more recent gains for democracy in the region, companies have to ensure their operations are socially and environmentally acceptable. Today, the timber industry is under immense scrutiny, an example of this is the Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) action plan of the European Union5 which makes explicit the importance of measures to address local and indigenous peoples’ rights to the forests.

Decentralization in natural resource management (NRM) is increasingly promoted as it is believed to offer better management. This study explores the positive and negative aspects of the forestry conflict that sometimes increases with decentralization. Drawing upon the results of a case study from Sumatra, this study examines how forestry conflict under decentralization processes was viewed by stakeholders. The conflict involved a logging company and a local community, and centered on a disputed forest boundary.

Thiếu tôn trọng các tập quán canh tác truyền thống và vai trò của người dân trong quá trình quy hoạch sử dụng đất, giao đất giao rừng làm cho tình trạng chồng lấn, lấn chiếm đất lâm nghiệp xảy ra ở nhiều địa phương. Điều này gây ảnh hưởng đến công tác quản lý bảo vệ rừng bền vững.