Multinational - Promotion of land rights of forest communities in the Congo Basin

This project focuses on promoting the land rights of forest communities in the Congo Basin. It aims to reduce deforestation and forest degradation in the Congo Basin and to reduce poverty among forest communities in the region. The proposed project will provide the governments of Congo Basin countries and COMIFAC with a range of recommendations to support the development of legislation that will ensure better tenure security and livelihoods for millions of forest-dependent people, and provide the basis for a sound legislative framework for community-based approaches to forest management, small-scale forest enterprises and Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) mechanisms. In addition, it proposes to inform emerging national and regional policy positions and opinions on climate change and how national payment mechanisms for reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD) are being implemented. The project consists of various interdependent activity components: (i) "Analysing national contexts with regard to land tenure and the rights of forest communities"; (ii) "Carrying out case studies to improve understanding of the customary rights of forest communities"; (iii) "Setting up multi-stakeholder working groups/workshops to compare analytical work and field studies and draw up proposals for land tenure reform"; (iv) "Organise national multi-stakeholder seminars to strengthen legislation with regard to the land rights of forest communities"; (v) Publish proposals for forest tenure reform plans.