This annual progress report highlights key achievements and lessons learned of the “Grassroots Capacity Building for REDD+” project in the Asia‐Pacific region, between August 2011 and July 2012.

This assessment builds on existing data and analysis from two prior publications: From Exclusion to Ownership, which was published by the Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI) in 2008 and provided data for nine countries in Asia, and Tropical Forest Tenure Assessment – Trends, Challenges, and Opportunities, jointly published by RRI and the International Tropical Timber Organization in 2009 and

An international workshop on Forest and Land Tenure Reform was held in Vientiane on 28-29 August, 2012. The workshop was hosted by the National Assembly of Lao PDR, with support from RECOFTC – The Center for People and Forests through the Rights and Resources Initiatives (RRI). The key objectives of the workshop were:

"The main argument for community forestry, in the context of climate change, is that it responds to multiple interests.  Forests, and in particular community forestry, represent a bundle of assets and benefits.

A national seminar on Gender, Forestry, and REDD+ was held on 27 July, 2012 at the Himawari Hotel in Phnom Penh. The seminar was initiated by Pact and organized in collaboration with WOCAN (Women Organizing for Change in Agriculture and Natural Resources) and the Center for People and Forests (RECOFTC).

Since few years the climate temperature is constantly ​rising up due to high emission of Green House Gases (GHG's) which is one of the main reason for climate change.

Conflict over forest resources is one of the major challenges in forest management. Researchers have observed that the number and severity of forest conflicts in Asia has increased over time, and that forest conflicts are now widespread across the region. In Cambodia in 2009, 236 community-outsider conflicts were recorded.

El objetivo de este estudio es contribuir al análisis de los elementos institucionales y legales de los países de América Latina que favorecen o limitan la implementación de un mecanismo REDD+ (Reducción de Emisiones por Deforestación y Degradación) en ellos.

While participation is seen as an important part of sustainable natural resource management, it is not always successful – a number of studies to date indicate conflicting values and power inequalities can significantly undermine participatory processes.

The principle that indigenous peoples and local communities have a right to give or withhold their Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC) to developments affecting natural resources is not new. However, experience using FPIC in REDD+ implementation is still limited in the Asia-Pacific region, and there are few materials that explain and train practitioners in its concepts and practice.

Over the past two years, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and RECOFTC – The Center for People and Forests have brought together regional experts to reflect on the outcomes of the 15th and 16th Conference of the Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).