Insecure titles over land, and unclear land and forest-use rights continue to hamper the efforts of the rural poor to secure their livelihoods throughout Southeast Asia. Agricultural expansion, illegal logging, new road infrastructure and settlements, mining concessions and increasing demands for land for food, fodder, fiber and bioenergy crops continue to result in the loss of forests and the increased vulnerability of communities who depend on land and natural resources. The exclusion of women and other marginalized groups from decision-making, rights and access to forest resources and benefits, especially where the value of land and forests has increased, continue to pose distinct governance challenges in many countries where there is weak implementation capacity. Recent tenure reforms provide greater legal recognition of customary and local authorities, indigenous territorial rights, and women’s rights. However, implementation of these reforms has been uneven and has led to mixed results, including in some cases, increased tenure insecurity.
Key questions and issues addressed in the session:
- How has traditional land been secured? Case study: Ancestral domains in the Philippines
- How have social movements by indigenous peoples affected current land reforms and forest reforms? Case study: Current land reforms and indigenous people’s movement in Indonesia
- Social Forestry initiatives and successes in the ASEAN region
- Tenurial dynamics in specific ASEAN countries, especially Cambodia
- Tenure and gender dynamics.
Background reading:
- A recent development of forest tenure reform in Indonesia: The Status of Masyarakat Adat as Rights-Bearing Subjects after the Indonesian Constitutional Court Ruling in Case Number 35/PUU-X/2012, report prepared by Samdhana Institute and Sajogyo Institute, Jan. 2013, Indonesia
- The role of social forestry in climate change mitigation and adaptation in the ASEAN region
- RRI. 2012. Respecting Rights, Delivering Development Forest Tenure Reform since Rio 1992. Washington:RRI
- Robinson BE, Holland MB, and Nauughton-Treves L. 2013. Does secure land tenure save forests? A meta-analysis of the relationship between land tenure and tropical deforestation. Global Environmental Change
- Lawry S, Samii C, Hall R, Leopold A, Hornby D and Mtero F. 2014. The impact of land property rights interventions on investment and agricultural productivity in developing countries: A systematic review. Campbell Systematic Review 2014.
Presentation:
