We are the Real Forest Heroes Message to the XIV World Forestry Congress from the Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities
By Souparna Lahiri* During the Global Forest Coalition (GFC)’s Fostering Community Conservation Conference in Durban, South Africa (31 August-4 September, 2015), just days before the World Forestry Congress (WFC) (7-11 September, 2015), Diego Cardona, the Chairperson, said: “Contrary to what is assumed in many international policy processes, local communities are not threats to forests, they don’t over-exploit them; they are actually the ones who have maintained these territories and guaranteed that they continue to exist and need policy support to continue …
