This policy brief discusses the opportunities and challenges facing social forestry in Southeast Asia and recommends that ASEAN Member States, universities and international research organizations mainstream participatory action research (PAR) in social forestry to overcome these challenges and maximize these opportunities. 

This policy brief examines the legal reform process in forestry across ASEAN Member States and provides pathways for other countries to learn more about successful implementation of legal reform. 

Participatory forest management has been considered as a practical and effective strategy for sustainable forest management, especially in situations where land tenure is not securely settled. For effective forest restoration, local communities, as the cornerstone of participatory management, should be provided with incentives to facilitate their participation and active role.

A new report developed by GIZ highlights success factors and 7 practical entry points for mainstreaming Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA) into policies and planning, based on 16 case studies from Mexico, Peru, South Africa, Philippines and Viet Nam in the following contexts:
1. National climate change policies (NDC, NAP)

This study investigates different provisioning services in the peri-urban landscapes of Manila conurbation through a case study of two villages in the Jala-Jala municipality of the Laguna de Bay area in the Philippines. Laguna de Bay is an ecologically productive and important watershed for the urban and peri-urban areas of Manila for the provision of food, freshwater, and other materials.

Ifugao province of the Philippines has a traditional muyong forest system that supplies water and prevents soil erosion of the world-famous Ifugao rice terraces. The socio-political structure of Ifugao has been the key to the maintenance and communal use of land, as well as the muyong forest, without causing excessive damage to the land. Recently, the Ifugao is facing various challenges viz.

Participatory mapping is a valuable approach for documenting the influence of human activities on species, ecosystems, and ecosystem services, as well as the variability of human activities over space and time.

Natural disasters are projected to increase in number and severity, in part due to climate change. At the same time a growing number of disaster risk reduction (DRR) and climate change adaptation measures are being implemented by governmental and non-governmental organizations, and substantial post-disaster donations are frequently pledged.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has developed a series of Technical Guides to elaborate and provide more detailed guidance on thematic areas contained within the Guidelines.