Promoting the recognition of communal rights, practices and systems of forest management through enabling policies
Forest
tenure is a broad concept that includes ownership, tenancy, and other
arrangements for the use of forests. It is a combination of legally
or customarily defined forest ownership, and of rights and
arrangements to manage and use forest resources. Forest tenure
determines who can use what resources, for how long and under what
conditions.
More
than half of the world’s land are managed collectively by local
communities and indigenous peoples under various arrangements,
including customary tenure. They play an essential role in protecting
and managing the forests and forested lands. However, despite the
relationship of peoples and forests that have withstood time, legal
establishment of ownership, use, and protection are yet to be
improved. The importance of the establishment of legal frameworks and
policies in recognizing forest rights could not be further emphasized
as they establish the foundation of an effective forest management.
Target
Outcomes
Under
the tenure rights and governance theme, NTFP-EP facilitates the
creation of spaces that allow for multi-stakeholder approaches in
advocating for a community-centered forest rights agenda. NTFP-EP
targets the following outcomes:
- Government
policies and programmers promoting NTFPs and sustainable forest
management;
- Institutions
promoting equitable, gender-responsive and inclusive governance in
forest resources utilization and management;
- Regional
and local constituencies advocating for NTFPs, social forestry,
tenure and resource use rights are built, strengthened and expanded;
and
- Communities
are united and enabled to secure and enjoy their customary tenure
and/or resource use rights.
Strategic
Actions
- Facilitate
learning opportunities for government offices and civil society
organizations (CSOs) in participatory and multi-stakeholder
approaches to securing forest tenure and natural resources
governance.
- Conduct
evidence-based policy analysis on tenure rights and forest/natural
resources governance and prepare policy briefs with the academe and
CSOs.
- Advocate
for and support processes to secure NTFP permits, tenurial
agreements, memoranda of agreements, and recognition and
registration of community-based forestry, protected areas,
indigenous and local community conserved areas and territories
(ICCAs), and others.
- Demonstrate,
adopt, and promote FPIC principles and processes in the exercise of
NTFP-EP interventions, and advocate the same over policies and
projects that affect local and indigenous communities.
- Develop
and champion a community-centered forest rights agenda through
multi-stakeholder dialogue and site-based approaches; where
appropriate, employ negotiation, mediation, and litigation
strategies, and build key competencies around these.
- Build
and participate in technical working groups, multi-stakeholder
platforms, alliances, and coalitions for advocacy on forest rights,
particularly pertaining to resource use and access, safeguards, and
tenure.
- Conduct
awareness-raising (including learning and exchange activities) and
use multimedia and community-appropriate communications channels in
community capacity building.
- Develop
site level strategies (both short and long-term) for engaging
policymakers to improve resource access and community tenure rights.