This report is intended to provide an overview of forest tenure in Asia between 2002 and 2010, building on and updating previous regional tenure studies undertaken by the Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI; 2002, 2009), and RRI and the International Tropical Timber Organization (RRI/ITTO; 2009). It is supplemented by a set of country studies, which provide a more in-depth look at tenure statistics and trends in Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Nepal and Vietnam.

This annual report looks at the progress the organization made during the 2010-2011 fiscal year. Activities have been expanded in our six focal countries, and our capacity building and training services continue to be in high demand in other places as well. We have aimed to capture the achievements made during the 2010-2011 fiscal year in a new, short format for this Annual Report.  

Governance is the keystone of sound natural resource management. Its core principles - accountability, transparency, participation, and the rule of law - are at the heart of the efforts being made at local, national, bilateral and multilateral levels to ensure that decisions that affect natural resources and resource users are well-informed and implemented equitably. There is a real need for all those who are involved in making and implementing decisions to understand the basic concepts and principles of governance and be able to apply them in their daily work.

Under certain circumstances, land titling, property regime changes, and land‐use conversions yield substantial profits. Yet few people possess the wealth, knowledge, and networks to benefit from these procedures. In the Yucatán Peninsula, a region recently targeted as a prominent investment location by the Mexican national government (mainly with the “Tren Maya” megaproject) and the private capital, forestlands collectively owned as ejidos by Mayan peasants are on the trend to complete privatization.

... Pyoe Pin is a programme aimed at strengthening civil society in Myanmar. The programme is supported by DFID, the British Department for International Cooperation and implemented through the British council in partnership with local NGOs. Community Forestry (CF) is a key element of the programme, as it is seen as pathway to increasing the participation of civil society in influencing policy and practice with regards to communities. access and sustainable use of forestry land. CF can also improve forestry conservation and enhance the livelihoods of
communities.

El Pago de Servicios Ambientales fue promulgado por ley en Costa Rica en 1996 para aprovechar la naciente propuesta internacional del mercado del carbono. Sin embargo, las contradicciones políticas que han caracterizado la discusión sobre la disminución del calentamiento global, han retrasado el despegue de este mercado. Entre tanto, Costa Rica tiene listo un esquema de protección del bosque que cifra todas sus esperanzas en el éxito de este incierto mercado.

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.

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.

Dự án này do Hội đồng Nghiên cứu Kinh tế và Xã Hội Vương quốc Anh, có sự tham gia của các nhà hoạch định chính sách, các chuyên gia lâm nghiệp và người dân liên quan đến lâm nghiệp cộng đồng tại Việt Nam. Dự án này nhấn mạnh những vấn đề chính về quản lý rừng và vận động thay đổi chính sách ở cấp quốc gia về quyền hưởng dụng rừng cà quản lý rừng cộng đồng.

This is a review of a new book edited by Thomas Sikor and Johannes Stahl, Forests and People: Property, Governance, and Human Rights on the rights-based approach in forestry.

Available from: Earthscan, London and New York. Download the Introduction at left.

In Vietnam, forests have been under state stewardship for a long time. Degradation of forest resources under state management together with the high costs of forest protection has led to increased involvement of local people in forest management. Since the early 1990s, the Government of Vietnam (GOV) has been promoting the allocation of forest rights to local people as the foundation for development of community forest management (CFM). The initiative, known as Forest Land Allocation (FLA), has been undertaken in various parts of the country, with mixed results.

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.