A pre-Congress event to put people and their organizations at the heart of the World Forestry Congress.

Saturday 5 September–Sunday 6 September 2015

See room, times and speakers:  Day 1 - Day 2

Communities, forest owners and forest and farm producers depend on and manage large areas of the world’s forests and surrounding landscapes. They play a central role in ensuring that forests contribute to sustainable development. When well organized and supported by an enabling environment, community forest managers and forest and farm producers can respond rapidly to changing economic, social and environmental conditions. They can more effectively adapt to climatic changes and forge practical solutions to sustainably manage forests and trees, while meeting their families’ livelihood, food and nutritional needs.

Though the vital role of local communities and their organizations is well recognized at many levels, much more still needs to be done to ensure secure access to resources, markets, services and investments. It is therefore essential that community-based forestry practitioners and other locally based forest and farm producers are represented adequately at the XIV World Forestry Congress, to directly provide their positive contributions, share their challenges, success stories and solutions to influence Congress outcomes.

This two-day pre-Congress warm-up event will bring together representatives from community-based forestry, forest and farm organizations, stakeholders from government and non-government organizations and other relevant stakeholders to:

• share their experiences and challenges
• share recent initiatives, developments and lessons
• build synergies and create a sense of common interest
• agree on key messages, a road map for action and a communication and outreach strategy for the World Forestry Congress

Click here to view the draft programme.

Read the proceedings of the event here (PDF).

Who can attend?

The pre-Congress event targets community-based forestry practitioners, forest and farm producer organizations, policymakers, academia and civil society organizations involved in aspects of community-based and farm forestry such as tenure, governance, small and medium-sized forest enterprises and livelihoods.

Interested in attending? Everyone registered for the XIV World Forestry Congress are welcome to apply for participation by sending a note of interest, no later than 17 August.

For more information, please contact [email protected].