On April 30th” Yati Bun of the Foundation for People and Community Development presented an opening statement on behalf of the Civil Society Advisory Group to the ITTO.

Some highlights from the statement:

• Forest communities and civil society are eager to be part of just” equitable” and credible solutions to climate change adaptation and mitigation in tropical forests.  

• Many forest communities around the world are already applying sustainable solutions to their own lands.

• Robust and credible strategies to mitigate climate change must recognize” protect and support the role of indigenous peoples and traditional forest communities. REDD and other mitigation mechanisms must be developed in a participatory manner that includes forest communities” indigenous peoples and civil society. Otherwise” these mechanisms will be fundamentally unjust and doomed to fail.

• Effective deforestation strategies must adopt a rights-based approach.

More information

Read the full statement and the CSAG recommendations to ITTO here.

Learn more about the meeting here.

Learn more about the Civil Society Advisory Group here.