Although REDD-plus calls for activities with serious implications directed towards the local communities, indigenous people and forests which relate to reducing emission from deforestation and forest degradation; there is still ambiguity on involvement of these primary stakeholders in enhancing existing forests and increasing forest cover through appropriate incentive agreed upon by the consensus building process. Local communities of diverse endowment, in and around forest protection areas and designated national parks will be the primary target of consensus building since they are the primary stakeholder whose interest should be well addressed in policy together with local government, local and international NGOs, academicians and international funding agencies. This project seeks to implement its activities at multiple levels in the forest dependent communities of Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam. Towards the conclusion of project we expect a fair tangible benefit to local stakeholders through community empowerment, poverty reduction, and sustainable forest management under REDD plus concept.

With the financial and Technical support from Toyota Foundation, the project initiated in collaboration with: (a) Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand; (b) Andalas University, Indonesia; (c) Hue University of Agriculture and Forestry, Vietnam; from November 2013 to November 2014 with active participation from local, provincial, national and regional stakeholders in understanding and devising implications of policies to further workout in proper execution of REDD+. It was found that, Vietnamese forest policies are inclined towards principles of good governance and sustainable forest management with local participation at center stage. Conversely, forest policies of Indonesia  is ambiguous whereby it urges local participation and compliance towards international pledges on emission reduction but still depends on revenues from wood and forest based industries; specifically economic development policies have encouraged agricultural land expansion for oil plantations. Similarly, unclear benefit sharing mechanisms, lack of clarity on existing policies and tenure arrangement shuffled with identifying national parks as pilot sites for REDD+ have foreseen conflicts in Thailand. The skepticism on success of REDD+ mechanisms arisen with lack of policy clarity and complexities to address various drivers of deforestation in Thailand and Indonesia. The finding suggests that with integration of FPIC and reducing policy complexities with clear national mandate for transparent benefit sharing is crucial for undertaking REDD+ interventions in these three countries.

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