Hosted in Hanoi, Vietnam, from 18 to 20 August 2009, the First Regional People and Forests Forum on Carbon Financing and Community Forestry brought together more than 80 people from 12 countries, including key government, civil society, private sector, and international organization participants. During the three days, participant learning and discussion was stimulated through case study and topical presentations, expert panel discussions, a film viewing, group work sessions, and a field visit to Vietnam’s only afforestation/reforestation Clean Development Mechanism (A/R CDM) site.

... In Myanmar, people's participation has been prioritized as an imperative of national forest policy in 1995 endorsed by the community forestry instructions (DFIs). Today, there are about 42,148 ha of community forestry (CF) management by 572 user groups (USGs). In CF management, the people are engaging three types of activities: (1) to preserve of improve the production system such as planting trees and promoting the growth of trees, (2) to use forest resources for subsistence needs, (3) to get cash by selling the timber harvested or furniture made by the timber.

Local people hold the key to healthy forests, and if forest carbon-financing schemes are to succeed, they must actively engage and benefit these crucial stakeholders.

In December 2004, the passing of the Forest Protection and Development Law (FPDL) legally recognized community forest management (CFM) in Vietnam for the first time. Despite this step, skepticism remains about whether CFM can work in practice and to what extent legal recognition contributes to effective forest protection and management.

During 2008, in response to these concerns, the Forest Governance Learning Group (FGLG) visited 25 villages to learn from field implementation of CFM in seven provinces.

Decentralization in natural resource management (NRM) is increasingly promoted as it is believed to offer better management. This study explores the positive and negative aspects of the forestry conflict that sometimes increases with decentralization. Drawing upon the results of a case study from Sumatra, this study examines how forestry conflict under decentralization processes was viewed by stakeholders. The conflict involved a logging company and a local community, and centered on a disputed forest boundary.