News Release
Media Contact: Alison Rohrs
+66 (0)2 940 5700 ext. 1308 [email protected] For Immediate Release
Finland C
ommits €2
Million to Improving
Livelihood Opportunities for Forest Dwellers in the Mekong Region
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland partners with RECOFTC – The Center for People and Forests to launch “ForInfo: Livelihood Improvement through Generation and Ownership of Forest Information by Local People in Products and Services Markets”
Bangkok — 16 March 2011 — The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland has committed to help improve livelihood opportunities for local forest communities in Cambodia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Thailand, and Vietnam. Over the next three years, the Ministry will provide approximately €2 million to RECOFTC – The Center for People and Forests in support of the new project “ForInfo: Livelihood Improvement through Generation and Ownership of Forest Information by Local People in Products and Services Markets.”
Today in Bangkok, Her Excellency Ms. Sirpa Mäenpää, Finnish Ambassador to Thailand, is signing the project agreement with Dr. Yam Malla, Executive Director of RECOFTC.
Throughout the Mekong region, local communities need clearer and more accurate information in order to access markets for forest products and services and to gain more value for their products. Payments for environmental services, including carbon mitigation, are increasingly available, but as yet, most forest communities are unable to capture these markets or even to comprehend them. When local people know how to generate quality information about their forest resources, they are better equipped to access markets for their products and services. Ownership of this information allows them to play a more active role in improving the benefits they receive.
Ultimately, improving rural people’s ability to generate and use information about forest resources can contribute to poverty reduction, the sustainability of forests, global efforts to mitigate climate change, and better abilities of communities to adapt to climate change.
“Poverty alleviation is the main objective of Development Cooperation of Finland. It is our strong belief that poverty, particularly in rural areas, can be reduced only by sustainably managing natural resources, both for the income they generate and for the environmental services they provide. Together, we must find more sustainable ways of fostering development, based on low carbon dioxide emissions and ecological as well as environmental sustainability,” said Ambassador Mäenpää at the signing ceremony, noting Finnish development policy guidelines for the forest sector.
News Release
data at the village level will ensure that local people understand the share and magnitude of rewards that they receive and can determine whether they are treated fairly,” she continued. “ForInfo also compliments very well the Finnish forestry-related activities in the Mekong region, which have been successfully implemented at Ministry level for years under the Sustainable Forestry and Rural Development project in Lao PDR as well as the Forestry Support Programme and Partnership and the Forestry Trust Fund in Vietnam.”
The ForInfo project will establish best practices for generating information about forest resources and will test these practices at pilot sites. It will also develop mechanisms to share information and data throughout the region, assess the role of information management in local people’s access to benefits, and share field-tested methodologies throughout the Mekong region and beyond.
The project will receive support from the governments of Cambodia, Lao PDR, Thailand, and Vietnam.
To execute the project, RECOFTC will partner with the European Union’s Enhancing the Economics for Ecosystem Services in Southeast Asia (ENTREP) project, the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), the Groupe Energies Renouvelables, Environnement et Solidarités (GERES) in Cambodia, Maeying Huamjai Phattana (MHP) in Lao PDR, the Netherlands Development Organisation (SNV), The Forest Trust (TFT), and the World Conservation Society (WCS).
About RECOFTC – The Center for People and Forests
RECOFTC’s mission is to see more communities actively managing more forests in the Asia-Pacific region to ensure optimal social, economic, and environmental benefits. Since its founding in 1987, RECOFTC has trained more than 10,000 people from over 20 countries in devolved forest management: from national policy makers, researchers, and practitioners, right through to local forest users. Training services and learning events are complemented by on-the-ground projects, critical issue analysis, and strategic communications.
