RRI’s second quarterly newsletter for 2014 is now available.

The global economy is recovering, with expansion of extractive and agricultural industries into forest areas back on track and booming in many countries. Recent decisions — including the weakening of environmental regulations in Peru and India, plans to open indigenous and protected areas in Brazil to mining, and the proposed dismantling of the World Bank “safeguards”– all show that for many governments and institutions, “development” still means the easy and rapid exploitation of forests and their peoples.

Others, however, are deeply concerned about sustainability and the very real threats of climate change and poverty to human rights and gender justice, and are busy fixing their supply chains, preparing new national strategies and legal reforms, and gearing-up for upcoming global conferences such as the World Conference on Indigenous Peoples and the UN Climate Summit in September, the World Parks Congress in November, and the UNFCCC COP20 in December. Indeed, these events are major opportunities to demonstrate that the world is finally ready to shift from business as usual.

This newsletter updates you on some of the many steps taken by RRI Partners and Collaborators on this agenda since March, and what they are doing to take advantage of these upcoming international events, including: an unprecedented collaboration among Cameroonian traditional chiefs, parliamentarians, civil society and women’s networks to push for legal recognition of tenure rights for Indigenous Peoples, local communities and women; commitment by representatives of the Government of Peru to consider the demand from the International Indigenous Women’s Forum on Land and Climate Change to prioritize the recognition of collective rights and ensure equal rights and protection for women; major steps in the development of an International Land and Forest Tenure Facility; and a path-breaking new report with the World Resources Institute (WRI) that shows in hard numbers what many of us already know: securing the rights of those who have the greatest stake in safeguarding their lands and forests is a simple yet incredibly powerful strategy to combat climate change.

To read the newsletter, click here.