Bangkok, Thailand – From 8-10 July, community forest members, indigenous peoples and smallholders from Asia’s forests will gather in Bangkok for The pre-World Forestry Congress regional meeting on people and forests: Investing in local communities for sustainable forests. The regional meeting will ensure that local community voices are heard at the upcoming XIV World Forestry Congress, the largest and most significant gathering of the world’s forestry sector, set to take place in Durban, South Africa in September 2015.

“We need to invest in local people if we truly want to sustain Asia’s forests,” says Dr Tint Lwin Thaung, Executive Director, RECOFTC – The Center for People and Forests. “With over 450 million local people in the Asia-Pacific region alone relying on forests for their livelihoods, local people must participate in forest decision-making.”

“No one has a stronger interest in the health of forests than the communities that depend on them for their livelihoods and culture,” says Arvind Khare, Executive Director of the Rights and Resources Initiative, one of the meeting co-organizers. “Research has shown time and again that clear and secure land rights for Indigenous Peoples and local communities greatly boost forest protection and restoration. No national development solution can be sustainable unless it includes and recognizes their vital input.”

The main participants of the meeting will be more than 20 smallholders, indigenous peoples and community forestry members from Cambodia, Indonesia, Myanmar, Vietnam, Lao PDR, Thailand and Nepal. These representatives will come together and discuss forest issues that are priorities for them, recognizing that their management of their forests is of benefit on local, national and global levels.  Representatives of civil society, NGOs, the UN, government and media will also participate in the meeting to find ways to support the visions of these local communities.

The XIV World Forestry Congress  of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) will be held 7–11 September 2015, in Durban, South Africa. The WFC will be a key occasion for the world’s foresters and forest supporters to gather, to share their expertise and experience, and to project a new vision for the future of forests and forestry.

“The theme of the XIV World Forestry Congress is Forests and People: Investing in a Sustainable Future. The Congress will show that investment in forestry is an investment in people and, in turn, an investment in national economies and sustainable development,” says Mr Trevor Abrahams, Secretary General of the XIV World Forestry Congress. Mr Abrahams will open the meeting in Bangkok on 8 July.