Secure tenure is widely recognized as an essential foundation for achieving a range of rural economic development goals. However, tenure rights remain insecure across forest areas in many low and middle-income countries, undermining development objectives and creating risks of negative impacts on local people.

Part of the Conference on Community Land and Resource Rights serires, the Reducing Inequality in a Turbulent World event will focus on scaling-up strategies to secure indigenous, community and women’s land rights. Alongside the event, PROFOR will hold a meeting to introduce a new PROFOR knowledge program on Securing Forest Tenure Rights for Rural Development. The program aims to contribute methodologies, tools and knowledge resources that would enable policy makers, civil society actors, donors and practitioners build measures to strengthen forest tenure and avoid negative impacts within relevant projects and initiatives. In particular, the meeting will seek input to the development of an Analytical Framework for understanding and assessing forest tenure frameworks and their effective realization, with a focus on securing tenure of indigenous peoples and local communities. 

Moderator: Malcolm Childress, Co-Executive Director, Land Alliance

Speakers:

• Gerardo Segura Warnholtz, Sr. Natural Resources Management Specialist, The World Bank
• Jenny Springer, Director, Equator Group