 My name is Aaron Russell. I'm here with Dr. Tind from Director General of RECOFT headquartered in Bangkok He is kindly been willing to join us for a conversation. Thank you very much. I Think it might be useful for some people in the audience who might not know about community forestry You can just give a basic overview about how community forestry differs from traditional forest conservation. Oh Yes, thank you very much for this question actually We got to go back to the history of forest management if you Talk about the forest management. Actually, we are not really managing the forest or trees We are really managing the people. Yes, right? So I can start this a history of the community forestry from at the beginning, but it become more Prominent and more popular some sometime in 1975 Because of the at the time the trend of the forest management need to have a more focus on the Object of the needs to supply the local people need So and also they realize the rule of the local people and the people in the forest management We started that time the community forestry sometime in 1975 a bit more Institutionally, yeah, yeah, and how does it function differently from traditional forest management? Of course Traditional forest management is very much focused on the either timber production or the some of the conservation value and trying to protect the Ecological services and ecological function the community forestry is trying to address the The the needs of the local people at the same time looking after the the different aspect of forest management as well And it's trying to promote the rule of the people participating in forest management So it's a very unique nature make sure that the people have the rights to participate in the management of the forest and Over the last 20 odd years since community forestry has really started to take shape in Southeast Asia What would you regard as the key lessons that you've learned in terms of what makes community forestry initiative successful? The oral lesson we we learn all the last 20 or 30 years, of course The the acceptance of this Management style management system is getting realized by in the most of the stakeholders especially the international community as well as the most important in the national government and the private sector as well But the challenge we are facing is the speech, you know The recognizing this and also the extending community managed forest in the region has been very slow There's as also I mentioned in my panel speech the time to bid the trust between the local communities and the government is really take time because historically traditionally most of the forests are owned by the Government is a public SS right so they've given that rights to the Communities of the local people There's a lot of process you need to go and understand the role of the local people how they really contribute to the management of the forest So that take quite long and that's a bit of challenge, you know to get the secure 10 years and also the rights So tenure is a really bundle of rights. So it's recognizing the access to the forest and so also the managed Right to the forest and also the they can make a decision, you know What sort of thing they can do for the forest assessment is a bundle of rights a tenure So to speak a bit challenging, but of course that we feel that there's a momentum, you know, this is the Increasing the importance of the community forestry to address the number of the issues is very relevant Yes, also the very practical thing for you the most cost-effective way as well I think one of the key issues that has been raised in number of the panel discussions today and yesterday is that There's a greater need for Intersectoral coordination and looking at the the landscape as a whole How would you if you were to explain the role of community forestry within the landscape? How would you how what were the key points you'd like to emphasize? About its contributions and and how it should be understood within the landscape, okay, of course We are part of the landscape the community managed forest are part of the landscape Unfortunately the escape very small and spreading everywhere so we need to have a some sort like an integration or consolidating the existing the Community forest and need to address, you know, they are really contributing to the overall Landscape-level deployment objectives, you know, the thing is, you know It is easy to talk on the stage But it is quite difficult to implement in the ground because you have to manage and you have to talk bring the a number of people coming from the different interests and different stakeholders, you know, so Understanding the the rule of other other disciplinary is really important. What is your role? What are they doing and also their understanding about us is also really important So we need to do a lot of public awareness and information sharing to the other sector as well What is our role? What we are doing for them? What what is good for them having us in the sort of landscape approach? So this is a really important aspect, you know, we need to build the trust We need to understand the role of each other as well so that we can come the collectively but as I said Easy to say on the stage But in reality, it's really spent a lot of time and also to build a trust building and the investment and especially talking about this Sharing the benefit is a really sensitive issue and very touchy issue So we still need to find a way to do that But of course, definitely we are part of the overall landscape that make the case. Yeah I think it's a very interesting point in terms of scale that community forestry Institutions typically function at a very local scale Then we have the the the great integration of Southeast Asia and through ASEAN through the infrastructural development the Connectivities in terms of capital markets labor natural resource extractions from one country to another What would you how would you like to how would you position those very regional? Drivers of Linus Chage and their relationship to community forestry Very challenging Especially the the the landscape of the communities are changing as well You can see we are still talking about 450 million people still rely on the forest resources in the region Asian Pacific region But the trend has been changing a lot of the urban migration Because of the kind of find the right livelihood in their communities So moving to the cities and there are a lot of the urbanization issue So sometime in reality is if you go and look at the community even you can find the younger generation In the community in the village the only old people or the women or the children left behind So how we will cope this kind of transition, you know, what is the requirement? You know to community tree Attracted for the communities to come back to the to the community landscape and also addressing to linking to this sort of Regional development asian in economic integration everyone everybody want to of course have a development They really want to see the their life must be a little easier can make a bit of money and have a living standard It's very high as well But the challenge is they need to have the right information so that they can make the right decision This is a one of the ski message to continue to provide those community and also the right investment You know so that you can maintain this that community in the landscape is really important And I guess as a final type of question Well, what do you regard the quite the roles of ngo's versus the government versus the private sector in Contributing and facilitating the effectiveness of community forestry particularly as you say Younger generations are moving to cities and it's changing the way that community forestry institutions need to operate How do you how do you regard what do you describe the the roles of those different types of organizations? that When you define the role, of course the Every sector has they are very much focused role as well in the traditionally focused area the government want to Make sure that they are having the policy and legal framework and institutional And they make sure that they are really providing the service to the looker people But at the same time the ngo's Traditionally, they are not really getting along with the government, you know trying to See the what's the weakness of the government But of course ngo can be a sort of playing the very Proactive role, you know making sure that and partnership with the government providing the friendly advice Okay, you are doing the right thing or you're not doing the right thing So that sort of partnership including the private sector, you know most of the time private sector and the government they are very much Getting along together very easily, you know That most of the private sector when they involve in the government sector, you know the whole politics change the landscape change So at the end of the day, they need to have a very broad view About their role and understanding What they are doing? Are they doing the right things for the long run for the communities? This is really important aspect, you know the Government may need to change or redefine their role and at the same time the private sector You know promoting more responsible business and investment For the for the fake of the the the younger generation and also the for the long term sustainability If you don't have a you know the business model that we really don't look at the sustainable business model You just quick and run, you know at the end of the day, you have nowhere nowhere to run We have only one earth to live One up People think that they can run away from the problem the issue Nobody can run away. Everybody we are in the same sort of like global village Right, you may escape only just only for a short time, but in the long run you have been in this trap So what to say is that people everybody need to define their role and to contribute something Think about the right things for the the overall landscape as well as for their responsible community This is my point Thank you very much for taking the time to talk to us and we look forward to working together with you in the future Definitely Thank you