MEDIA ADVISORY | ASEAN-Swiss partnership on social forestry: What has been achieved?

JAKARTA (Feb. 26, 2020) – Throughout Southeast Asia, new laws introduced to support social forestry and a large-scale transfer of control over forests to nearby residents have had a profound impact.

Transformative activities supported since 2011 by the ASEAN – (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Swiss Partnership on Social Forestry and Climate Change (ASFCC) helped lay the foundations for transformative political and institutional change through technical support and activities in ASEAN member states. The partnership was established to support ASEAN member states and facilitate regional-level coordination and knowledge-sharing on social forestry, in addition to people-oriented forestry, as a means to address climate change and achieve the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals. It also ensured the participation of citizens, in particular forest-dependent communities and Indigenous Peoples, engaging them with the goal of helping to preserve the region’s extraordinarily biodiverse forests and improve livelihoods.