International Knowledge Sharing and Learning Workshop on Forest and Land Tenure

An international workshop on Forest and Land Tenure Reform was held in Vientiane on 28-29 August, 2012. The workshop was hosted by the National Assembly of Lao PDR, with support from RECOFTC – The Center for People and Forests through the Rights and Resources Initiatives (RRI). The key objectives of the workshop were:

• To learn from the experience of other countries how they have dealt with the question of state, private and community ownership over land and forest resources;
• To distil lessons from international experience relevant to the ongoing land and forest policy revision process unfolding in Lao PDR; and
• To create a deeper understanding of land and forest tenure issues amongst a broad segment of policy-makers and other stakeholders of Lao PDR.

The workshop was attended by 106 participants representing the National Assembly (NA), different government ministries and agencies, civil society groups, and international organizations working in Lao PDR. To share experiences of land and forest reforms from other countries, resource persons came from 11 countries – Brazil, China, Estonia, Mexico, Myanmar, Nepal, Norway, the Philippines, Sweden, Uganda, and Vietnam.