ASEAN-Swiss Partnership on Social Forestry and Climate Change

Southeast Asia is one of the world’s most vulnerable regions to climate change and environmental degradation due to high population growth, growth in consumption and economic activities in coastal and mountain areas. More than 100 million poor people in the region heavily rely on the forests that cover about 50% of the total land area. Deforestation in ASEAN countries significantly contributes to greenhouse gas emissions, but forests also help to mitigate global warming and contribute to reduce vulnerability of the rural poor.

Contribute to food security through sustainable, efficient and effective use of land, forest, water and aquatic resources by minimizing the risks and impacts of, and the contributions to climate change. The project addresses two specific objectives:

1. Social forestry approaches integrated into the climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies of ASEAN and its member states;
2. Socio-economic benefits derived from the inclusion of communities, women and vulnerable groups in forestry and climate change adaptation and mitigation measures.

Forestry and climate change officials and decision makers in ASEAN member countries. Also targeted are ASEAN citizens, particularly poor people living in and around forests in mountainous and coastal zones.

Three main objectives are formulated for the phase:

1. A coordinated social forestry framework integrated into ASEAN and in climate change strategies of member states;
2. Effective knowledge sharing and networking on the role of social forestry in climate change
3. Assessing and applying adaptation strategies and best practices from selected communities and upscale them throughout the region.

Risultati fasi precedenti:  

SDC has been supporting social forestry concepts for more than three decades in East and Southeast Asia by fostering capacity building and research. Phase I of the ASEAN-Swiss Partnership on Social Forestry and Climate Change (ASFCC) has established a functional network to bring these results to the policy level. The role of the people depending on forests in addressing climate change has meanwhile been widely recognized. Up-scaling the social forestry/climate change nexus to a higher policy level is an important next step now to secure sustainable development in ASEAN States.

Fase 2 01.01.2014 - 31.07.2017   (Completed)