Land tenure rights

The Multi-Stakeholder Forestry Programme is the product of the first multistakeholder design process to be undertaken in Nepal’s forestry sector. The Programme will build on the achievements of over 20 years of forestry work of the Government of Nepal supported by the UK, Switzerland and Finland. The Programme is designed for 10 years and to be implemented in two phases. NRs 4.45 billion has been agreed as joint grant funding assistance by these three donors for an initial 4 years.

No one knows for certain when nature first became a commodity, that is, when nature was first divided into discrete units that could be bought and sold. You could argue that it was when the fruits of harvest were first traded for other goods. Or maybe you could say that the first instance was California’s 1851 water right’s system. But regardless of when it began, the use of commodification and markets to solve environmental problems has reached an unprecedented level.

Peruvian indigenous organizations along with the Forest Peoples Program, an international non-profit that defends the rights of native forest-dwelling peoples, said in a recent report that carbon emission reduction programs tied to the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation, or REDD, a United Nations-led program, are hurting indigenous rights.

While Asia’s rapid growth has lifted millions out of poverty, persistent pockets still remain in areas beyond the embrace of development.

Some 450 million people in Asia-Pacific live in and around forests, depending on them for subsistence, shelter and a way of life, which has been indigenous to their societies for generations. However, their status remains largely unacknowledged as governments retain administrative control over two-thirds of forestland in Asia.

Iowa-based investor Bruce Rastetter and fellow investors in the industrial agricultural corporation AgriSol Energy have their sights on 800,000 acres (325,000 hectares) of land in Tanzania that is home to 162,000 people.