Diverse forest management strategies, key to strengthening forest tenure systems and governance in the region

 Dr. Tint Lwin Thaung opened the Regional training course on Strengthening Forest Tenure Systems and Governance yesterday by underscoring the importance of strengthening the capacity of government officials as well as civil society organizations on forest tenure systems and governance to develop more diverse forest management strategies in the region. He also highlighted RECOFTC's role in continuously providing relevant training to increase involvement and capacity of more stakeholders in ASEAN member states.

The training is conducted under the framework of the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security (VGGT), endorsed by the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) in 2012, and based on the forest tenure reform guidelines developed by FAO in 2011. With the continuous shift from state forest control towards local forest management during the last few decades across Asia and the Pacific, the success of this transformation now relies on the adjustments in regulatory frameworks and governance to ensure stakeholders are able to participate, know their rights and understand and fulfill their responsibilities.

The course is attended by 14 participants, eight of whom are women, working for government as well as civil society organizations. In the succeeding days, they will share and review experiences in forest tenure from different countries, and analyze current forest tenure systems and formulate with strategies to improve them.

RECOFTC – The Center for People and Forests with support from the ASEAN-Swiss Partnership on Social Forestry and Climate Change (ASFCC) and the ASEAN Social Forestry Network (ASFN), organized the training course which runs from September 21-28, 2015.