How equitable are benefits and costs being shared in community-based natural resource management (CBNRM) programs? To what extent are the voices of marginalized groups shaping the design and implementation of community based resource management systems?

In this case, equity issues were brought about by the absence of participation mechanism in forest management as the communal rights system in practice was not sufficient to control resource utilization within the community.

This study is part of a project implemented by the Regional Community Forestry Training Center for the Asia and Pacific (RECOFTC) in collaboration with the Rights and Resources Group (RRG) to advance policy and market reforms in four countries: Cambodia, Lao PDR, Thailand, and Viet Nam. The overall goal of the project is to reduce poverty in forest areas, expand sustainable forest use and trade, and increase the effectiveness and impact of regional analysts and institutions in advancing pro-poor forest policy and market reforms.

Since 2009 RECOFTC through the Grassroots for Capacity Building for REDD+ in Asia project have been working to develop capacities of local partners in five countries (Indonesia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Nepal and Viet Nam) to facilitate awareness raising on and initiatives to deal with climate change and REDD+.

This publication reveals that the majority of Southeast Asian countries already have plural legal systems, and to some extent custom is recognised as a source of rights in the legal framework of a number of them. National and international courts have affirmed indigenous peoples’ customary rights in land. And all these countries have endorsed and ratified key international human rights laws and treaties-- thus, the basis for securing indigenous peoples’ rights through a revalidation of customary law exists.

REDD+ is based on the right to benefit from (or to be compensated for) reducing forest-based emissionsn of greenhouse gases, either through fund-based payments, carbon market payments, or a combination of these. But who can claim this right? Should an entitlement to payment depend on who owns the so-called "carbon rights"? This raises a number of legal issues, including how to define and allocate carbon rights in national REDD+ frameworks.

Since 2009, the Government of Switzerland and RECOFTC have partnered with ASEAN through the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC)’s support to the ASEAN Social Forestry Network (ASFN) and the ASEAN-Swiss Partnership on Social Forestry and Climate Change (ASFCC). This is a brochure describing the RECOFTC activities under the ASFCC Phase II (2014-2016).

The Forest Governance Learning Group (FGLG) Vietnam undertook a survey in Dak Lak and Thua Thien Hue provinces between December 2006 and April 2007. The survey aimed to provide insights into different forms of community forest management, the factors influencing its success, and their contribution to poverty alleviation. 

The European Union funded Voices for Mekong Forests (V4MF) project conducted a set of forest governance and capacity needs assessments in late 2017 and early 2018 to assess the state of forest governance in five GMS countries: Thailand, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Cambodia, and Viet Nam.

This assessment builds on existing data and analysis from two prior publications: From Exclusion to Ownership, which was published by the Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI) in 2008 and provided data for nine countries in Asia, and Tropical Forest Tenure Assessment – Trends, Challenges, and Opportunities, jointly published by RRI and the International Tropical Timber Organization in 2009 and 2011.

Kembalinya isu agraria di ranah kebijakan nasional merupakan periode penting setelah berakhirnya Orde Baru. Kebijakan Reforma Agraria dan Perhutanan Sosial (RA/PS) telah masuk dalam RPJMN 2014-2019. Sejumlah 12,7 juta ha kawasan hutan diperuntukkan sebagai  Perhutanan Sosial dan 9 juta ha sebagai Tanah Obyek Reforma Agraria (TORA). Skema TORA ada dua model, yaitu: penataan kembali sektor pertanahan melalui legalisasi aset seluas 4,5 juta ha dan penyediaan akses tanah melalui redistribusi lahan seluas 4,5 juta ha.

The approval of the 2004 Forest protection and Development Law was a milestone which marked the legal recognition of community forestry in Viet Nam. Yet, general understanding of community forests as only the area legally allocated to village communities has undervalued the role of community forestry. To address this issue, it is recommended that community forestry needs to be clearly defined in the forestry legal framework to include forest areas allocated to individual households, particularly natural forest areas where collective forms of forest management are being practiced.