Ensuring community participation in the sustainable management of forests is one of the main challenges in REDD+ implementation, but the Philippines is leading the South East Asian pack with community rights already being legally incorporated into the REDD+ process, according to Yurdi Yasmi, Manager at the Centre for People and Forests (RECOFTC).
“Some [countries] are more advanced in community management, such as the Philippines where the role of communities has been [legally] recognised. Approximately 8 percent of forest land is managed by communities and indigenous people in this region but not many of these rights have been formally recognised,” he said in his address at the ASEAN Conference for Social Forestry today in Brunei. Read More
