International Conference on Rights, Forests and Climate Change

CAPRi supported the Rainforest Foundation Norway (RFN) and the Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI) in organizing an international conference on Rights, Forests and Climate Change, which was held in Oslo, Norway from 15-17 October 2008.

The objective of the conference was to identify and propose practical ways forward to recognize and strengthen the rights of forest peoples within the context climate change. It brought together over 100 participants from academia, international organizations, governments, NGOs and civil society including indigenous peoples’ representatives.

The discussions, presentation and outcomes where summarized and posted on the conference blog at www.rightsandclimate.org.

The most important conclusions were:

• Strengthen rights and governance – establish an equitable legal and regulatory framework for land and resources;
• Prioritize incentives for communities – establish accountable funding mechanisms to ensure that incentives go to the right people;
• Monitor more than carbon – establish monitoring systems that monitor more than carbon and which are transparent and easily accessible to the public;
• Establish national and international mechanisms to ensure independent advice and auditing.