A large number of indigenous people live in and benefit from forested areas particularly in South East Asia. The Rainforest Foundation estimates that tropical rainforests are home to 50 million indigenous forest peoples, while the World Bank estimates that around 60 million indigenous people are ‘almost wholly dependent on forests’.
With an increasing global focus on climate change, the role of the forestry sector in the fight against climate change is also gaining increased attention, particularly regarding reducing greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries (REDD).
Indigenous peoples living in the world’s tropical forests have been largely absent from REDD policy discussions. The purpose of this meeting was to seek views of indigenous people from the South East Asian region about REDD including to:
review the current situation in South-East Asia;
identify strategies for indigenous coalitions to fully engage as participants in national and international REDD planning, negotiation, and design processes;
identify technical assistance requirements of indigenous communities and forest dependent people, in particular ways to be involved in national participatory forest and carbon mapping exercises;
identify REDD pilot activities promoted by indigenous communities and forest dependent people that would serve to increase their standing in national planning processes and increase their technical capacity to benefit from REDD;
consider the development of learning network(s) and linking institutions; and
consider outreach, education, and training needs for indigenous people leaders.