As negotiations on the shape of REDD+ continue at national and global levels, REDD-Net’s network of civil society organizations has identified the issue of trust as a high priority for further examination. In this issue RECOFTC explores the importance of trust in REDD+, why the success of REDD+ depends on trust, and how trust may need to come with its own set of warnings.

Violent conflict affects three quarters of Asia’s forests and tens of millions of people. In Cambodia, for example, nearly half of the 236 land conflicts recorded in 2009 escalated to violence. Because forest conflict is such a major issue in the region, we need a better understanding of the underlying causes, impacts, and management solutions.

This article is interested in the interface between internationally supported peace operations and local approaches to peace that may draw on traditional, indigenous and customary practice. It argues that peace (and security, development and reconstruction) in societies emerging from violent conflict tends to be a hybrid between the external and the local.

RECOFTC's regional conflict study examines the drivers and impacts of forest conflict in eight cases in six countries. Findings were presented at the Collective Action, Property Rights and Conflict in Natural Resource Management research workshop in Siem Reap from 28 June - 1July 2010.

Liberal peacebuilding has become the target of considerable criticism. Although much of this criticism is warranted, a number of scholars and commentators have come to the opinion that liberal peacebuilding is either fundamentally destructive, or illegitimate, or both. On close analysis, however, many of these critiques appear to be exaggerated or misdirected.

Este texto busca recoger los resultados de un estudio, con modesto alcance, realizado en torno a la relación de las mujeres rurales con la tierra, en un contexto de conflicto armado, en el municipio de Buga, Valle, Colombia, en la última década.

Sierra Leone's conflict has often been characterized as a 'crisis of youth'. For some, the post-war resurgence of grassroots associational life represents the unleashing of long-suppressed youth egalitarianism, yet this analysis tends to ignore the role of international aid in providing an economic incentive for impoverished Sierra Leoneans to embrace formal association.

The recent Secretary General’s “Report on Peacebuilding in the Immediate Aftermath of Conflict” warns of the threats posed by the failure to restore state authority to lead the peacebuilding process in early post‐conflict situations.

The international community has recently hailed the restoration of property rights for people uprooted by armed conflict as a means of remedying forced displacement. Proponents of property restitution assert that this remedy can enhance the rule of law in a post-conflict society by promoting reconciliation and bolstering economic and social stability.

The chapter describes some of the political challenges involved in managing the transition from emergency activities to longer-term 'developmental' policies in Rwanda and Burundi. In post-genocide Rwanda, uncompensated expropriation and a nationwide settlement policy may have reduced short-term problems over secondary occupation of property, but have created lingering grievances.

This bulletin draws on country-level experience to share civil society perspectives on the challenges, opportunities, and possible approaches for pro-poor REDD. As governments begin to formulate their national REDD programs, questions are emerging about the role of local people in design and implementation, and the socio-economic implications for the rural poor.