Forest Tenure, Governance and Enterprise: Experiences and Opportunities for Asia in a Changing Context
Date: 01/01/1970
Co-organized by: Ministry of Forestry, Republic of Indonesia, International Tropical Timber Organization, and Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI)
In collaboration with: EFI-FLEGT, World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF), RECOFTC, Samdhana Institute, Forest Peoples Programme, HuMa, AMAN, FKKM, Global Alliance of Community Forestry (GACF), Kemitraan, and Epistema Institute
About the Conference
Click here to download the Special Edition of the ITTO's Tropical Forest Update summarizing the sessions and conclusions from the Conference.Background and Objectives
The conference on forest tenure, governance and enterprise aims to catalyze new and broader actions on advancing tenure reforms, improving forest regime governance, and supporting community-based enterprises in the Asian region. Transforming the regulatory and institutional context of forest landscapes will contribute to the broader goals of uplifting livelihoods of the poor, securing investment, spurring community economic development, and addressing climate change. The conference presentations and discussions will enable us to learn about the effectiveness of past reform experiences in perse national situations so that the success of new initiatives, particularly on forest law and governance as well as such developments as voluntary partnership agreements and REDD readiness can be secured.
It is now widely recognized that forest tenure and related governance reforms are necessary for improvements in people’s livelihoods, for the attainment of sustainable forest management and conservation, as well as for addressing climate change. Forest tenure policies and legal frameworks are highly perse in the Asia-Pacific region, with some countries moving ahead and others still considering reform. As such, much can be learnt from engaging in a review of these legal and regulatory transformations so as to inform the development of forest policies involving community-based enterprise development and REDD+ within emergent dynamics at play in the region.
The Conference aims to promote an in-depth assessment of the relationship between forest tenure, sustainable forest management and income generating enterprises to promote action across a range of Asian countries. It will bring together a wide variety of stakeholders from the Asia-Pacific region and beyond and follow-up to RRI-ITTO organized international tenure conferences held in Acre, Brazil in July 2007, and Yaounde, Cameroon in May 2009.
Expected Outcomes
- • Improved Asian knowledge base and information sharing on innovative forest tenure policies, legislation, institutional arrangements, and other initiatives in a changing national and global context, with special reference to climate change;
- • New understanding of the implications of tenure trends and development of community forest management for the Asia-Pacific countries;
- • Asia-wide reflection on the experience of harnessing forest tenure and resource rights in selected Asian countries (China, Indonesia, Nepal, Thailand, Vietnam) to enhance sustainable forest management and livelihood improvement of forest dependent communities;
- • Enhanced mechanisms for stakeholders participation and equitable sharing of benefits from the sustainable use and conservation of tropical forest resources including gender equity; and
- • Understanding of the status of reforms and initiatives underway in Indonesia by government and civil society organizations and lessons learned for new recommendations for the next steps in reforms.
Participants and Speakers
About 250 participants are expected to attend, including 100 from Indonesia, 100 from the Asia region, and fifty from selected Latin American, African and donor countries. Participants will include leaders from government, NGOs, civil society and community organizations, researchers and academics, private sector and industry representatives, and members of the broader international development community. The co-organizers have sought to ensure persity among stakeholders present at this event in order to allow for fruitful debate and strengthen cross-sectoral collaboration.Key Conference Documents
- • Full Concept Note and Agenda
- • Unlocking the Potential of Forests through Tenure Reform: Key messages and recommendations from the International Conference on Forest Tenure, Governance and Enterprise. Final Joint Declaration by representatives of the Rights and Resources Initiative, International Tropical Timber Organization, Ministry of Forestry-Republic of Indonesia, with the support of twenty other organizations including the Global Alliance of Community Forestry (GACF)
- • Importance of Land and Forest Tenure Reforms in Implementing a Climate Change Sensitive Development Agenda: Keynote Speech by Kuntoro Mangkusubroto, Head of the President's Special Delivery Unit (UKP4), Government of Indonesia. Delivered on July 12, 2011
- • Learning from Different Levels: Lessons on How to Make Progress and What Needs to be Done to Advance Tenure Reform: Keynote Speech by Victoria Tauli Corpuz, Executive Director of Tebtebba. Delivered on July 12, 2011.
- • Closing Comments by Andy White, Coordinator of the Rights and Resources Initiative
- • RRI's compilation of Conference Highlights, including blog posts and news articles
- • Global Alliance of Community Forestry (GACF) Lombok Declaration
Conference Presentations
Day 1 - July 11, 2011
• Welcoming Comments: - Emmanuel Ze Meka, ITTO - Andy White, RRI • Session A: Keynote Addresses: - Land Reform: An Indonesian Context Iwan Taruna Isa, MURP (Agency for Land Reform) - Government of Indonesia - Challenges for Forest Management in Indonesia Hadi Daryanto, Secretary General, Ministry of Forestry - Government of Indonesia [Bahasa Indonesia] - Why Tenure Reforms are Important and What Asian Countries can Learn from Successful Tenure Experiences From Around the World Nonette Royo,The Samdhana Institute - Forest Land Tenure and Livelihoods in a Changing Climate Context Leif John Fosse, The Government of Norway's Initiative on Climate and Forests - The Importance of Community Tenure and Enterprises in Advancing Sustainable Forest Management Mahendra Joshi, United Nations Forum on Forests • Session B: Panel on Current Status of Tenure in Asia and Emerging Lessons from Ongoing Reform - Forest Tenure in Asia: Status and Trends Ganga Ram Dahal, RECOFTC/RRI - Strengthening Forest Management in Indonesia through Land Tenure Reform Martua Sirait, ICRAF - Forest Tenure Reform in Indonesia Bambang Soepijanto, Ministry of Forestry - Indonesia Read Conference Facilitators' Conclusions of Day 1 here.Day 2 - July 12, 2011
• Session C: Panel on Experiences and Lessons of Ongoing Reform from Around the World - Impacts of China's Forest Tenure Reform on Poverty and Forestry Xie Chen, China Natural Forestry Economics and Development Research Center, State Forestry Administration - US Forest Tenure Experiences Sally Collins, RRI Fellow/former US Forest Service - Public Forest Agencies and Community Forestry Don Gilmour, independent - Experience of Brazil in Forest Policy Reform Luiz Joels, former Brazilian Forest Service • Session D: Panel on the Role and Perspective of Forest Communities in the Indonesian Reform Process - The Challenge of Community Based Forest Management after a Decade of Forestry Reform in Indonesia Muayat Ali Muhshi, FKKM - Forest Conflict and Case Studies of Conflict Resolution Andiko, HuMa - Implementasi Reforma Agraria di Sektor Kehutanan Idham Arsyad, KPA [Bahasa Indonesia] - Strengthening the Legality of Indonesia's Forest Areas Myrna Safitri, Epistema Institute - Perspectives of Indigenous Peoples on Forest and Tenure Reform in Indonesia Mina Setra, AMAN • Session E: Roundtable Discussion on the Role of Tenure and Governance in Climate Change Mitigation - View discussant presentations from Bernadinus Steni (HuMa), Dominic Elson (Trevaylor Consulting), and Eduardo Mansur (ITTO) • Session F: Civil Society Advisory Group (CSAG) Roundtable Discussion on Gender, Forest Tenure and Governance - Introduction to CSAG Augusta Molnar, RRI and H.K. Chen, TRAFFIC International, Co-Chairs of CSAG - Guiding Questions for the Session - Gender and REDD+ Jeannette Gurung and Abidah Setyowati, WOCAN - Indonesia Avi Mahaningtyas, Kemitraan and Mia Siscowati, University of Washington (US) - Nepal Kalpana Giri, ForestAction Nepal - Philippines Joan Jamisolamin, Samdhana Institute - Africa Cecile Ndjebet, African Women's Network for Community Management of Forests (REFACOF) - Nepal Apsara Chapagain, FECOFUN • Session G: Roundtable Discussion on Commercial Plantations, Economic Development and Forest Tenure: Issues and Potential Steps to Recognize and Clarify Land Rights and Promote Sustainable Production View discussant presentations from Ahmad Zazali (Scale Up), Jefri Saragih (SawitWatch) [in English and Bahasa Indonesia], and Moray McLeish (WRI) Read Conference Facilitators' Conclusions of Day 2 here.Day 3 - July 13, 2011
Session H: Parallel Panels on Experiences with Forest Enterprises and Opportunities for New Forest Economy Group 1 - Remarks by Chair Hwan-Ok Ma MA&D: Fostering Wealth and Social Contracts through Community-based Forest Enterprise Development Sophie Grouwels, FAO Collective Forest Tenure Reform in China Xu Jintao, Peking University Group 2 - Remarks by Chair Tetra Yanuardi Koperasi Hutan Jaya Lestari: Experience in Forest Management and Primary Wood Processing Industry Jefferson Tasik, JAUH [Bahasa Indonesia] Session I: Roundtable Discussion on Mapping Forest Rights and Spatial Planning for Livelihood Security View discussant presentations from Joe Bryan (University of Colorado), Gamal Pasya (Lampung Provincial Government) and Albertus Pramono (JKPP) Session J: Parallel Panels on Overlapping Challenges of Designing and Implementing Land and Forest Reform together with Land Distribution Processes Group 1 - Forest Land Allocation and Community Forest Management in Vietnam Nguyen Quang Tan, RECOFTC Differentiated Benefits in Land (Re)Distribution and Forest Devolution Mohamad Shohibuddin, Sajogyo Institute Group 2 - Remarks by Chair Nayna Jhaveri Forest Tenure Reform: The Indian Forest Rights Act and its Implementation Madhu Sarin, RRI Fellow Forest Rights of Communities, Role of Governments and Managing Oncoming Pressures in Papua New Guinea Dorothy Tekwie, Custodian of Abuti Forest/PNG Greens Candidate Session K: Parallel Panels on How to Build Cross-Sectoral Support to Develop a Vision and Plans to Implement Tenure Reforms Group 1 - Remarks by Chair Manoel Sobral Filho India's Experience with Cross-Sectoral Forest Legislation Sanjay Upadhyay, Enviro Legal Defence Firm Forest Reform in Nepal: History of Tension and Proposals for Resolution Naya Sharma Paudel, ForestAction Nepal Group 2 - Multi-stakeholder Initiatives in the Meking Forest Sector [parts 1, 2 and 3], Nadia Hadad, Bank Information Center History of Forest Tenure Reform in the Philippines Owen Lynch, RRI FellowRead Conference Facilitators' Conclusions of Day 3 here.