1 Concept Note
Executive Study Tour of ASFN Leaders/ Focal Points on “Social forestry, forest products trade and its relevance within the ASEAN Economic Community“
Chiang Rai, Thailand, 16-18 March 2015
1 BACKGROUND
ASEAN Countries commit to achieve a single market and production base by agreeing on the implementation of ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) hoping it will bring greater market access for ASEAN products globally, including forests products. At the same time, the role of forests in alleviating poverty in the region is undeniable knowing the fact that forest products account for 20 to 40 percent of total income of rural households.
However, often times, access to forest resources can be precarious due to the fact that forest-dependent communities have less control over the resources. As a result, they may not be able to significantly take the benefit from the forest to support their livelihoods.
Therefore, social forestry, often interchangeably used with community forestry, has been introduced as a solution that offers initiatives and efforts to manage forests sustainably by allocating rights and access to local people to manage forest resources. The approach enables community to get involved in decision making process over the management and use of the forests to ensure that they will benefit from the forests through a sustainable forest management.
Research evidence has proven that forest products utilized by the community are able to generate income and improve livelihoods of the households. However, a system to provide a fair trade mechanism of these products to reach the consumers still needs to be developed and secured. Such a mechanism will help communities to market their products more competitively and reach a wider range of consumers.
2 SCOPE OF STUDY TOUR PROGRAM 2.1 Focal themes
The Executive Study Tour will provide participants with opportunities to learn in the topics of social forestry, forest products trade and its relevance within the ASEAN Economic Community. 2.2 Learning objective and expected outputs
2 2.3 Case studies
The program will derive lessons learned from case study as follow;
1. The case study of community forest based management and sustainable livelihoods from Ban Huay Hin Lad Nai, Chiang Rai.
2. The case study of Doi Chang Coffee Farm, Chiang Rai.
2.4 Participants
ASFN Leaders/ focal points from ASEAN Countries (one representative for each country).
3 Program agenda and itinerary
Day Program Agenda Time Remarks Location
Day 0: Sunday, 15 March 2015
Arrival of the participants All day Airport pick up will be provided for all participants and
partners Chiang Rai Day 1:
Monday 16 March 2015
Session 1: Participants and program
introduction 08.00-08.30 Introduction of participants and facilitators, program objective and agenda Facilitated by
RECOFTC Session 2: Presentation and getting to
know RECOFTC, ASFN and ASFCC Partnership
08.30-09.00 A brief presentation on RECOFTC, ASFN and ASFCC
Session 3: Brief presentation and discussions on;
1. Social forestry in Thailand and its role in improving livelihoods 2. ASEAN Economic Community and
countries readiness
09.00-10.00 Presentation by : 1. RECOFTC/ ASFN 2. Dr. Ramon Razal, University of the
Philippines Los Banos
Coffee break 10.00-10.15
Session 4: Roundtable discussions: ‘Social Forestry and Forest Product Trades and Its Relevance with ASEAN Economic Community’
10.15-12.00 Facilitated by RECOFTC. Participants are expected to share their views on the given topic
3 Session 5: Communication workshop
for ASFN Leaders/Focal Points “Effective way in abstracting key points from research and policy papers”
13.00-15.30 Workshop will be facilitated by RECOFTC and CIFOR
Coffee break 15.30-15.45
Session 6: Field trip preparation 15.45-16.15 Facilitated by RECOFTC Brief city sightseeing and welcome
dinner 16.15-20.00 Facilitated by RECOFTC Chiang Rai Day 2:
Tuesday, 17 March 2015
Field site 1:
“The case study of community forest based management and sustainable livelihoods’
07.00-17.00 Facilitated by
RECOFTC Field site 1 Ban Huay Hin Lad Nai, Chiang Rai
Day 3: Wed, 18 March 2015
Field site 2:
The case of Doi Chang Coffee Farm, Chiang Rai, Thailand
07.00-15.00 Facilitated by
RECOFTC Field Site 2 Doi Chang, Chiang Rai
Discussions and closing:
Discussions: observation from the field
Wrap up and reflection
15.00-16.00 Facilitated by
RECOFTC Doi Chang, Chiang Rai
Day 4: Thursday, 19 March 2015
Participants depart to home countries All day Airport pick up will be provided for all participants and partners