Indonesia’s new planned capital in East Kalimantan is being touted as a “smart, green, beautiful and sustainable city” but has stoked fears of massive environmental damage to the island of Borneo, one of the world’s most important biodiversity hotspots and carbon sinks.
Drastic growth of urban populations has caused expansion of peri-urban areas—the transitional zone between a city and its hinterland. Although urbanisation may bring economic opportunities and improve infrastructure in an area, uncontrolled urban expansion towards peri-urban areas will negatively impact the environment and the community living within the area.
Mountainous regions are more sensitive to climatic condition changes and are susceptible to recent increases in temperature. Due to urbanization and land use/land cover (LULC) issues, Cameron Highlands has been impacted by rising land surface temperature (LST) variation.
Forests play a crucial role in the fight against global climate change. The communities that live in and around forests are well-placed to carry out climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) recognizes that social forestry enables communities to manage forests sustainably.
Read RECOFTC’s digital annual report, “Building resilience through community forestry
Malaysia’s democratic transformation took a historical turn between 2017 and 2019. The opposition coalition, the Pakatan Harapan (Alliance of Hope, PH) won the May 9, 2018, general elections, setting the stage for Mahathir Mohamad, the chairman of the coalition, to become the 7th prime minister of Malaysia (he had previously served as the 4th prime minister).
This policy brief discusses the opportunities and challenges facing social forestry in Southeast Asia and recommends that ASEAN Member States, universities and international research organizations mainstream participatory action research (PAR) in social forestry to overcome these challenges and maximize these opportunities.
This policy brief examines the legal reform process in forestry across ASEAN Member States and provides pathways for other countries to learn more about successful implementation of legal reform.
This publication is the outcome of our research on the socio-environmental impacts of large pulp and paper, timber tree and oil palm plantations in Sarawak. It contains two case studies on plantation affected indigenous communities in Batu Niah and Bakong in the Miri Division.
This publication is the outcome of our research on the socio-environmental impacts of large pulp and paper, timber tree and oil palm plantations in Sarawak. It contains two case studies on plantation affected indigenous communities in Batu Niah and Bakong in the Miri Division.
