The countries with the largest area of forest cover in the world gathered recently in Peru for their annual meeting. The tenth edition of MegaFlorestais was organized by the National Forest and Wildlife Service of Peru (SERFOR), in coordination with the Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI), the US Forest Service and the European Forest Institute.
The MegaFlorestais network meets each year to discuss the successes and challenges of forest management and governance.
Delegations from Guatemala, Brazil, Cameroon, Canada, China, United States, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sweden, Mexico and Peru, along with world forestry experts, met April 13-17 in Puerto Maldonado and Cusco to discuss alternatives for the sector and present global perspectives.
This year’s meeting focused on “Combating deforestation and promoting the contribution of forestry to green growth: the role of tenure, trade and government policy.”
The meeting, which allowed the exchange of ideas and experiences in forest management in an informal atmosphere, sought to facilitate dialogue among leaders and experts to identify innovative solutions for the current challenges in forest governance.
Anne Larson, Principal Scientist at CIFOR and a specialist on governance, decentralization, tenure rights and gender equality participated in the session “Tenure Reforms and supporting community forestry: Status and lessons from implementation.”
Larson emphasized the importance of events like Megaflorestais, which promote the exchange of experiences and perspectives on forest management. “Megaflorestais offers an incredible opportunity, where global leaders can meet to discuss frankly and in private, the issues affecting the world’s forests, their countries and institutions to find solutions.”
Larson currently coordinates research in Peru for two global comparative studies: one on multilevel governance and another on forest tenure.
Fabiola Muñoz Dodero, Executive Director of SERFOR, co-chaired the event as representative of the host country along with Sally Collins, coordinator and founder of MegaFlorestais.