This week RRI Partners joined in the lively discussion of common property rights and customary systems of communal resource management from around the world at the 12th Biennial Conference of the International Association for the Study of the Commons in Cheltenham” United Kingdom.
On Monday in London” Forest Peoples Programme and RRI met with ministers” donors and advocates to raise awareness and action around rights and equity for forest-dwelling peoples. The meeting was held in the Palace of Westminster and hosted by MP Martin Horwood” MP for Cheltenham and Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Tribal Peoples. Read more>>
On Tuesday” RECOFTC and RRI organized a policy discussion on forest conflict in West Africa and Southeast Asia during the session “Contested Commons: From Conflict to Peace.” Panelists discussed how poor management and inequitable rights to the commons can ease social tension and promote economic and social development. Read more >>
On Wednesday” RRI and Forest Peoples Programme held a policy forum in the IASC on “The Clash of the Commons: A New Agenda for Forests” Peoples and Climate Change.” Presenters discussed the outcomes of Monday’s discussion with parliamentary ministers and presented two new reports from RRI:
- Seeing People Through the Trees: Scaling up efforts to advance rights and address poverty” conflict and climate change
- From Exclusion to Ownership? Challenges and opportunities in advancing forest tenure reform
Panelists from the RRI Partners and collaborators in Nepal” India” and Ghana responded to the recommendations with reflections on their own experiences in Southeast Asia and West Africa.
On Friday” CIFOR researchers shared case studies on improving equity and livelihoods in community forestry from Africa” Asia and Latin America. Case studies included:
- Institutional change and community forestry in the Mayan Biosphere Reserve of Guatemala | Iliana Monterroso and Deborah Barry
- Land Tenure Rights and Limits to Forest Management in Nicaragua's North Atlantic Autonomous Region | Anne Larson and Jadder Mendoza Lewis
- Communal tenure policy and the struggle for forest lands in the Bolivian Amazon | Peter Cronkleton and Pablo Pacheco
- Tenure and forest reforms in shifting policy contexts in Latin America: Assessing the implications for local people and forests | Pablo Pacheco” Deborah Barry” Anne Larson and Peter Cronkleton
- Overview of CIFOR-RRI activities in Asia and Africa | Ganga Ram Dahal
- Impacts of Forest Tenure Reform on Livelihoods” Income” Forest Condition and Equity | Naya Sarma Paudel” Mani Ram Banjade and Ganga Ram Dahal
- Regenerating Wastelands Through Cooperatives: Experiences of tree growers cooperatives | Sushil Saigal” Ganga Ram Dahal” Bhaskar Vira
- Forest Access Rights and Legal Complexities in Africa | Emmanuel Marfo
- Towards Harmonization Between State and Customary Laws in Burkina Faso | Bocar Kante
- Community Forestry and Competing Property Rights in Cameroon | Serge Konbo Samba
More on the IASC Conference >>