SUSTAINABLE LANDSCAPES FOR SUSTAINABLE LIVELIHOODS
NOV 17 – 18, 2016
BALI, INDONESIA
The production of rubber and rubber wood is a vital income source for rural communities in Thailand, particularly among the country’s smallholders. However, in the past, with no forest certification system in Thailand in place and adapted to their specific needs, certification of rubber wood had remained low. This all changed last week as The Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) held its annual PEFC Forest Certification Week meeting in Bali, Indonesia themed ‘Sustainable Landscapes for Sustainable Livelihoods’, featuring a series of workshops and two days of Stakeholder Dialogue open to all. The good news for the future of PEFC in Asia was the unanimous adoption of three more countries, including Thailand, ensuring the certification of a system better able to respond to the specific national context.
“Going beyond the more well-known contributions of forests to the planet, our research is recognizing the role of forests as repositories of food and contributors of food security in rural areas,” shared PEFC Secretary General and CEO Ben Gunneberg. “Moreover, there is growing evidence on how forests are contributing services that actually sustain and promote agricultural systems,” he concluded, underscoring some of the many complex interactions occurring in diverse forest-based landscapes all over the world.
