Forest Tenure Policy in Asia: an overview World Bank Conference- Land and Poverty 2015 Ganga Ram Dahal, PhD International Consultant- Forest Tenure Policy

Presentation outline Concept and framework of tenure and governance Status and trends of forest land tenure- global and regional- mainly Asia Initiatives toward forest land tenure reform in Asia Key issues and forest tenure policy gap in Asia Forest tenure and its relation with LIFE (Livelihoods, income, forest condition and equity) Key lessons and recommendations

Resource materials State of the World’s Forest- SOFOFAO, 2014 What Future for Reform? RRI, 2014 Reforming Forest TenureFAO, 2011 Community Forestry in Asia and the Pacific- Pathways to Inclusive Dev.RECOFTC,2013 What Rights?RRI, 2012 VG on Responsible Gov. of Tenure FAO, 2012 Forest Tenure in Asia- Status and Trends Dahal et al RECOFTC, 2011 Forest Resource Assessment- FRAFAO, 2010 Forest for PeopleCIFOR Good Governance and Natural Resources Tenure in South East Asia FAO- 2008

Concept of Forest /Land tenure and governance Tenure is a bundle of rights and a broad concept encompasses a range of rights- use, management, exclusion, access and alienation etc. Forest/Land Tenure is a relationship, either legally or customarily defined, among people as individuals or groups with respect to forest/land Governance refers to the process and set of rules by which decisions are made and implemented. Ownership refers to a particular type of tenure. Exclusive and permanent rights

Categories of Forest Land Ownership Public Administered by the government Designated for use by communities and indigenous groups Private Owned by individual and firms Owned by communities and indigenous groups 5

Global forest land tenure trends

Statutory recognition of tenure, by region: uneven progress. comparison between 2002 & 2013

Forest ownership status ( FRA 2010 )

MANAGEMENT OF PUBLIC FOREST (FRA 2010)

Statutory forest land tenure distribution: percentage in selected Asian countries AS OF 2013

Relative position of selected countries in Asia (2013)

Some Initiatives towards Forest Land Tenure Reform in Asia – In Indonesia: Recent Constitutional Court Ruling of 2013, HTR, Hutan Desa – In Lao PDR: National Land Policy; communal land titling – In Cambodia: Land Law of 2001 – In Thailand: Land Reform- formalizing occupancy rights – In the Philippines: CARP IPRA Law 1997, and Executive Order 263 of 1995 for CBFMA – Vietnam: Forest land Allocation to communities- 1.8 m LUC – Nepal: Community, Leasehold, Collaborative, Buffer zone – India: Forest Rights Act- 2006, JFM – China: Collective forest, allocating forest land to households

Key issues and forest tenure policy gap in Asia Declining natural resource base: Land degradation/deforestation averages at 1.3 % per year Unclear property rights over forest land: titling is mostly absent In Lao PDR, all land belongs to the national community. In Vietnam, property rights belong to the people and state administers land on their behalf. In Cambodia Land Law requires 5 years to become recognized as legal owner. In Thailand, the law allows private/full or conditional and occupancy or usufruct rights. Myanmar: no formal land titling at all- 70 percent of land under CRONIES control

Key issues and forest tenure policy gap in Asia (cont.…) Overlapping claims and land use conflict Large scale land acquisition /land grabbing Unequal land distribution- land concentration vs land fragmentation- small holders. Economic model vs subsistence farming for livelihood of the poor farmers Economic potential of forest resources has not fully realized yet

Livelihoods, forest condition and equity are dependent variables of secured tenure Forest Land Tenure - Forest Mgt model - Regulations - Security - Market LIFE LIVELIHOODS INCOME FOREST CONDITION EQUITY CIFOR Research on Tenure: Forests for People Anne Larson, Carol Colfer and Ganga Dahal 2010

Key lessons and recommendations Recognize and respect all legitimate tenure rights hold and their rights Safeguard legitimate tenure rights against threat and infringements Promote and facilitate the enjoyment of legitimate tenure rights Provide access to justice to deal with infringements of legitimate tenure rights Prevent tenure disputes, violent conflicts and corruption

Key lessons and recommendations Forest tenure is in transition as many government in Asia are transferring forest/land ownership to other actors A more diversified and balanced tenure system could provide a basis for improving forest and local livelihoods. Secured tenure provides enabling environment for private sector investment; ensures rights of IPs and communities and increases economic benefits