RECOFTC brochure 2010
Get involved
RECOFTC welcomes new partnerships. We invite you to make use of our
community forestry products and services, as well as our on-site learning and
knowledge management facilities.
If you share similar goals, let’s work together to see a better world for people
and forests!
To find out about our current donors and partners, please visit our website.
Please contact us for more information.
RECOFTC – The Center for People and Forests
P.O. Box 1111
Kasetsart Post Office
Bangkok 10903
Thailand
Tel: (66-2) 940-5700
Fax: (66-2) 561-4880
Email: info@recoftc.org
Website: www.recoftc.org
A brighter future
Printed on 60% recycled and 40% sustainably sourced paper
As we fight to retain our forests, we can no longer
afford to ignore the skills and experience of local
people as effective forest managers.
Ensuring that they receive fairer rewards and benefits
for providing these vital environmental services will
also help lift millions of people out of the trap of rural
poverty, promising a much brighter future for both
people and forests.
Healthy forests: Local people hold the key
Why community forestry?
Never before have we been so aware of the value of our forests. Much more than
just sources of timber and other forest products, they protect our watersheds,
biodiversity, and the air that we breathe, and play a critical role in the global
fight against climate change.
By placing local people at the heart of forest decision-making and management,
community forestry can make sustainable forest management a reality. In many
countries it has successfully reversed forest destruction, and helped harness the
full value of forest benefits.
Forests are also vital for the 1.7 billion local and indigenous peoples who depend
on them for their livelihoods, sometimes for their very survival. Yet decades
of unsustainable forest management have left many forest-dependent people
victims of growth-driven development strategies in which they’ve had little or
no say.
During the past 30 years, governments in the Asia-Pacific have increased
their commitment, in ways such as in passing vital legislation and investing
in long-term institutional development. Today, tens of millions of local people
already manage more than 25 million hectares of forestland in the Asia-Pacific
region.
The costs of mismanagement are becoming increasingly clear. In the Asia-Pacific
region alone, nearly four million hectares of natural forest – an area roughly
the size of Switzerland – are still lost each year. What little remains is often so
severely degraded that it has little potential to generate lasting social, economic,
and environmental benefits.
Community forestry is now widely acknowledged as a powerful solution for
many of the challenges facing local people and wider society in: improving rural
livelihoods, enhancing community governance and empowerment, transforming
forest-related conflict, protecting and enhancing the environment, and helping
to fight climate change.
Yet history shows that failures in forest protection and biodiversity conservation
most often occur where local people’s needs, aspirations, skills, and knowledge
are ignored. Where traditional forest rights are threatened, forests stand to lose
almost as much as the local people themselves.
There is an urgent need to scale up the impacts of community forestry in the
region – for local, national and global good. Pro-poor forestry policies must be
put in place to make this happen, with a focus on securing clear and strong
rights, good governance, and fair benefits for all forest-dependent communities.
Intensive, ongoing support is essential to ensure that these policies become an
on-the-ground reality.
Local people are not the only key players in managing forests, but across the
Asia-Pacific, their sheer numbers and continuing forest dependence make them
one of the most important. Quite simply, local people hold the key to sustainable
forest management in this region.
Community forestry and poverty reduction
In Nepal, a study in seven districts showed that
over a ten-year period, for every $US50
invested in community forestry, one person
was lifted out of poverty.
With $US70 million to be invested in
community forestry there during the next
decade, a million more Nepalese people may
soon have a better life.
RECOFTC – The Center for People and Forests
Our vision
Since the 1990s, the area of forestry under community or household management
in our region has grown from a negligible amount to around a quarter of the
region’s forests. While not all this growth can be directly attributed to RECOFTC, the
organization is widely recognized as being a strong catalyst for making it happen.
RECOFTC is guided by the principles of clear and strong rights, good governance,
and fair benefits for millions of forest-dependent people.
During the past two decades, RECOFTC has trained over 10,000 people from more
than 20 countries in devolved forest management: from national policy makers,
researchers and practitioners, right through to local forest users. Training and other
learning events are central to all RECOFTC’s work and are complemented by on-theground projects, critical issue analysis, and strategic communication.
RECOFTC’s revitalized mission is now a mission of ‘more’; more communities more
actively engaged in managing more Asia-Pacific forests.
RECOFTC – The Center for People and Forests, is an international
organization with a vision of local communities actively engaged in
managing Asia-Pacific’s forests to ensure optimal social, economic,
and environmental benefits.
Clear and strong rights are essential if local people, especially the poorest and most
vulnerable, are to actively engage in and benefit from forest management. RECOFTC
works on strengthening local people’s rights to access, use, and own forests through
tenure, policy, and market reforms.
Good governance is essential for the development and implementation of
‘community friendly’ national forest policies, programs, and regulatory frameworks.
RECOFTC promotes the rule of law, transparency, accountability, and the
meaningful participation of people in local decision-making processes. Local people
must be empowered to make their own choices and have their voices heard.
A fair share of beneits for local people from forestry is essential to help reduce
poverty and motivate active participation in forest governance and management.
RECOFTC aims to increase and diversify sustainable income generation opportunities
from forest management, and to ensure that benefits are shared equitably.
“RECOFTC has always been with us in the course of forest-based community
development and community-based forest development.”
Dr. Nguyen Ba Ngai, Deputy Director General of Vietnam Directorate of Forestry
Our focus
RECOFTC has four thematic programs.
Expanding community forestry: Through our frontline country programs,
RECOFTC works to secure rights for forest-dependent communities to manage
their forests. RECOFTC-supported sites – maintained in close partnership with
communities, NGOs, and all levels of government – demonstrate good practices
and develop key lessons, which are shared nationally and internationally to
accelerate the scaling up of community forestry and its impacts.
People, forests, and climate change: In the Asia-Pacific, local people hold
the key to forests fulfilling their potential for climate mitigation and adaptation.
Community forestry is also a key means of strengthening local livelihoods,
and increasing communities’ resilience to the impacts of climate change. We
advocate for pro-poor climate change strategies and policies, working to ensure
that all forestry stakeholders, especially those at the grassroots level, are prepared
to meet the social, economic and financial challenges that lie ahead.
Transforming forest conlict: Marginalized communities, powerful commercial
plantation developers, corruption, unclear land tenure laws – stories of local people
involved in conflicts over forest resources regularly fill the pages of the region’s
newspapers, vividly exposing the scale of damaging impacts. By better understanding
conflict dynamics, this program promotes lasting solutions at both the policy and
community levels, helping to mitigate and prevent the destructive impacts of conflict.
Securing local livelihoods: RECOFTC’s innovative livelihoods program seeks to
realize the full potential of forest-related resources. By analyzing the opportunities
and constraints of local people’s access to market-based forest activities this
program proposes solutions that are both pro-poor and socially just. lt helps
ensure that local people have the skills and knowledge to engage meaningfully
in emerging opportunities, such as Payments for Ecosystem Services, carbon
markets, certification schemes, and non-timber enterprises.
Where we work
RECOFTC is headquartered in Bangkok, Thailand, and works throughout the
Asia-Pacific.
In 2010, RECOFTC established country program offices in Cambodia, Indonesia,
Thailand, and Vietnam. This recognizes the commitment these four countries
have made to scale up community forestry. RECOFTC’s enhanced on-the-ground
presence will help ensure this commitment is turned into tangible results.
In other countries in the region, RECOFTC has well-established partnerships,
particularly in China, India, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Nepal, Papua New Guinea, and
the Philippines. They are a source of vital lessons that RECOFTC shares widely
both within the region and beyond.
RECOFTC’s increased country focus, cutting-edge thematic programs, and close
support of grassroots networks are rapidly affirming the organization’s niche as
the community forestry knowledge hub for the Asia-Pacific region.
• Country program ofices
• Strong relationship with local partners
What we can do for you
Impacts
RECOFTC’s work in advocacy and strategic communications influences
community forestry at many levels. Here are a few recent highlights.
Increasing access in Cambodia: Working closely with the Forestry Administration,
local governments, communities, and NGOs, RECOFTC has helped 60,000
families from 450 forest dependent villages gain rights to sustainably manage
nearly 200,000 hectares of forest land. We directly support more than half
of the country’s 400 community forestry sites, and a half of those with legal
agreements, through training, facilitating partnerships, and more.
RECOFTC provides innovative solutions for people and forests. We deliver:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Paving the way in Indonesia: RECOFTC has supported communities in South
Sulawesi, where we helped to establish one of the first officially recognized
Village Forests in the country. This inaugural site in the Bantaeng district has
the potential to open the door to the expansion of community forestry across
the country.
Improving forest management in Thailand: So far, more than 32 communities
and the National Community Forestry Network have gained the necessary skills,
knowledge, and motivation to manage their forests through RECOFTC’s training
programs. Supported by a stronger government mandate and capacity building
activities, 19 sub-district administrative organizations have been able to improve
community-based natural resource management policies and increase support
to their local communities.
“RECOFTC is acting as a bridge between scientists and local people, and CIFOR
is delighted to see its research used so creatively in the field.”
Frances Seymour, Director General of the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR)
•
•
•
Analysis and action research
Project design, development, and management
Expert consultancy and evaluation
Open subscription and custom-designed training programs
Study tours to key demonstration sites in the region
Support of grassroots networks to increase voice, inluence, and
agency
An online knowledge hub, social networking, and a monthly
e-newsletter
High quality publications and interactive learning tools
Training and meeting facilities
A Bangkok-based Community Forestry Resource Center
RECOFTC’s publications, including its monthly electronic roundup of the latest
regional community forestry news, events, and analyses are freely available from
the RECOFTC website, www.recoftc.org. Open to all, the Community Forestry
Resource Center in Bangkok houses more than 6,500 publications and other
digital resources. Come and visit us when you are in Bangkok!
Wherever possible, RECOFTC delivers capacity building activities and publications
in both English and regional languages.
RECOFTC welcomes new partnerships. We invite you to make use of our
community forestry products and services, as well as our on-site learning and
knowledge management facilities.
If you share similar goals, let’s work together to see a better world for people
and forests!
To find out about our current donors and partners, please visit our website.
Please contact us for more information.
RECOFTC – The Center for People and Forests
P.O. Box 1111
Kasetsart Post Office
Bangkok 10903
Thailand
Tel: (66-2) 940-5700
Fax: (66-2) 561-4880
Email: info@recoftc.org
Website: www.recoftc.org
A brighter future
Printed on 60% recycled and 40% sustainably sourced paper
As we fight to retain our forests, we can no longer
afford to ignore the skills and experience of local
people as effective forest managers.
Ensuring that they receive fairer rewards and benefits
for providing these vital environmental services will
also help lift millions of people out of the trap of rural
poverty, promising a much brighter future for both
people and forests.
Healthy forests: Local people hold the key
Why community forestry?
Never before have we been so aware of the value of our forests. Much more than
just sources of timber and other forest products, they protect our watersheds,
biodiversity, and the air that we breathe, and play a critical role in the global
fight against climate change.
By placing local people at the heart of forest decision-making and management,
community forestry can make sustainable forest management a reality. In many
countries it has successfully reversed forest destruction, and helped harness the
full value of forest benefits.
Forests are also vital for the 1.7 billion local and indigenous peoples who depend
on them for their livelihoods, sometimes for their very survival. Yet decades
of unsustainable forest management have left many forest-dependent people
victims of growth-driven development strategies in which they’ve had little or
no say.
During the past 30 years, governments in the Asia-Pacific have increased
their commitment, in ways such as in passing vital legislation and investing
in long-term institutional development. Today, tens of millions of local people
already manage more than 25 million hectares of forestland in the Asia-Pacific
region.
The costs of mismanagement are becoming increasingly clear. In the Asia-Pacific
region alone, nearly four million hectares of natural forest – an area roughly
the size of Switzerland – are still lost each year. What little remains is often so
severely degraded that it has little potential to generate lasting social, economic,
and environmental benefits.
Community forestry is now widely acknowledged as a powerful solution for
many of the challenges facing local people and wider society in: improving rural
livelihoods, enhancing community governance and empowerment, transforming
forest-related conflict, protecting and enhancing the environment, and helping
to fight climate change.
Yet history shows that failures in forest protection and biodiversity conservation
most often occur where local people’s needs, aspirations, skills, and knowledge
are ignored. Where traditional forest rights are threatened, forests stand to lose
almost as much as the local people themselves.
There is an urgent need to scale up the impacts of community forestry in the
region – for local, national and global good. Pro-poor forestry policies must be
put in place to make this happen, with a focus on securing clear and strong
rights, good governance, and fair benefits for all forest-dependent communities.
Intensive, ongoing support is essential to ensure that these policies become an
on-the-ground reality.
Local people are not the only key players in managing forests, but across the
Asia-Pacific, their sheer numbers and continuing forest dependence make them
one of the most important. Quite simply, local people hold the key to sustainable
forest management in this region.
Community forestry and poverty reduction
In Nepal, a study in seven districts showed that
over a ten-year period, for every $US50
invested in community forestry, one person
was lifted out of poverty.
With $US70 million to be invested in
community forestry there during the next
decade, a million more Nepalese people may
soon have a better life.
RECOFTC – The Center for People and Forests
Our vision
Since the 1990s, the area of forestry under community or household management
in our region has grown from a negligible amount to around a quarter of the
region’s forests. While not all this growth can be directly attributed to RECOFTC, the
organization is widely recognized as being a strong catalyst for making it happen.
RECOFTC is guided by the principles of clear and strong rights, good governance,
and fair benefits for millions of forest-dependent people.
During the past two decades, RECOFTC has trained over 10,000 people from more
than 20 countries in devolved forest management: from national policy makers,
researchers and practitioners, right through to local forest users. Training and other
learning events are central to all RECOFTC’s work and are complemented by on-theground projects, critical issue analysis, and strategic communication.
RECOFTC’s revitalized mission is now a mission of ‘more’; more communities more
actively engaged in managing more Asia-Pacific forests.
RECOFTC – The Center for People and Forests, is an international
organization with a vision of local communities actively engaged in
managing Asia-Pacific’s forests to ensure optimal social, economic,
and environmental benefits.
Clear and strong rights are essential if local people, especially the poorest and most
vulnerable, are to actively engage in and benefit from forest management. RECOFTC
works on strengthening local people’s rights to access, use, and own forests through
tenure, policy, and market reforms.
Good governance is essential for the development and implementation of
‘community friendly’ national forest policies, programs, and regulatory frameworks.
RECOFTC promotes the rule of law, transparency, accountability, and the
meaningful participation of people in local decision-making processes. Local people
must be empowered to make their own choices and have their voices heard.
A fair share of beneits for local people from forestry is essential to help reduce
poverty and motivate active participation in forest governance and management.
RECOFTC aims to increase and diversify sustainable income generation opportunities
from forest management, and to ensure that benefits are shared equitably.
“RECOFTC has always been with us in the course of forest-based community
development and community-based forest development.”
Dr. Nguyen Ba Ngai, Deputy Director General of Vietnam Directorate of Forestry
Our focus
RECOFTC has four thematic programs.
Expanding community forestry: Through our frontline country programs,
RECOFTC works to secure rights for forest-dependent communities to manage
their forests. RECOFTC-supported sites – maintained in close partnership with
communities, NGOs, and all levels of government – demonstrate good practices
and develop key lessons, which are shared nationally and internationally to
accelerate the scaling up of community forestry and its impacts.
People, forests, and climate change: In the Asia-Pacific, local people hold
the key to forests fulfilling their potential for climate mitigation and adaptation.
Community forestry is also a key means of strengthening local livelihoods,
and increasing communities’ resilience to the impacts of climate change. We
advocate for pro-poor climate change strategies and policies, working to ensure
that all forestry stakeholders, especially those at the grassroots level, are prepared
to meet the social, economic and financial challenges that lie ahead.
Transforming forest conlict: Marginalized communities, powerful commercial
plantation developers, corruption, unclear land tenure laws – stories of local people
involved in conflicts over forest resources regularly fill the pages of the region’s
newspapers, vividly exposing the scale of damaging impacts. By better understanding
conflict dynamics, this program promotes lasting solutions at both the policy and
community levels, helping to mitigate and prevent the destructive impacts of conflict.
Securing local livelihoods: RECOFTC’s innovative livelihoods program seeks to
realize the full potential of forest-related resources. By analyzing the opportunities
and constraints of local people’s access to market-based forest activities this
program proposes solutions that are both pro-poor and socially just. lt helps
ensure that local people have the skills and knowledge to engage meaningfully
in emerging opportunities, such as Payments for Ecosystem Services, carbon
markets, certification schemes, and non-timber enterprises.
Where we work
RECOFTC is headquartered in Bangkok, Thailand, and works throughout the
Asia-Pacific.
In 2010, RECOFTC established country program offices in Cambodia, Indonesia,
Thailand, and Vietnam. This recognizes the commitment these four countries
have made to scale up community forestry. RECOFTC’s enhanced on-the-ground
presence will help ensure this commitment is turned into tangible results.
In other countries in the region, RECOFTC has well-established partnerships,
particularly in China, India, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Nepal, Papua New Guinea, and
the Philippines. They are a source of vital lessons that RECOFTC shares widely
both within the region and beyond.
RECOFTC’s increased country focus, cutting-edge thematic programs, and close
support of grassroots networks are rapidly affirming the organization’s niche as
the community forestry knowledge hub for the Asia-Pacific region.
• Country program ofices
• Strong relationship with local partners
What we can do for you
Impacts
RECOFTC’s work in advocacy and strategic communications influences
community forestry at many levels. Here are a few recent highlights.
Increasing access in Cambodia: Working closely with the Forestry Administration,
local governments, communities, and NGOs, RECOFTC has helped 60,000
families from 450 forest dependent villages gain rights to sustainably manage
nearly 200,000 hectares of forest land. We directly support more than half
of the country’s 400 community forestry sites, and a half of those with legal
agreements, through training, facilitating partnerships, and more.
RECOFTC provides innovative solutions for people and forests. We deliver:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Paving the way in Indonesia: RECOFTC has supported communities in South
Sulawesi, where we helped to establish one of the first officially recognized
Village Forests in the country. This inaugural site in the Bantaeng district has
the potential to open the door to the expansion of community forestry across
the country.
Improving forest management in Thailand: So far, more than 32 communities
and the National Community Forestry Network have gained the necessary skills,
knowledge, and motivation to manage their forests through RECOFTC’s training
programs. Supported by a stronger government mandate and capacity building
activities, 19 sub-district administrative organizations have been able to improve
community-based natural resource management policies and increase support
to their local communities.
“RECOFTC is acting as a bridge between scientists and local people, and CIFOR
is delighted to see its research used so creatively in the field.”
Frances Seymour, Director General of the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR)
•
•
•
Analysis and action research
Project design, development, and management
Expert consultancy and evaluation
Open subscription and custom-designed training programs
Study tours to key demonstration sites in the region
Support of grassroots networks to increase voice, inluence, and
agency
An online knowledge hub, social networking, and a monthly
e-newsletter
High quality publications and interactive learning tools
Training and meeting facilities
A Bangkok-based Community Forestry Resource Center
RECOFTC’s publications, including its monthly electronic roundup of the latest
regional community forestry news, events, and analyses are freely available from
the RECOFTC website, www.recoftc.org. Open to all, the Community Forestry
Resource Center in Bangkok houses more than 6,500 publications and other
digital resources. Come and visit us when you are in Bangkok!
Wherever possible, RECOFTC delivers capacity building activities and publications
in both English and regional languages.