18 January 2012: The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and RECOFTC – The Centre for People and Forests have released a policy brief resulting from a meeting on forests and climate change adaptation in Asia, held in October 2011.

The brief stresses that forest adaptation activities that assist migration should be eligible for carbon financing, and that the adaptive capacity of forest-dependent people can be improved by the allocation of forestland use rights, local-level capacity building and improving forest-based products’ access to markets. It also underscores that national adaptation strategies should address adaptation within a broader framework of sustainable forest management (SFM) activities.

The brief highlights the impacts that climate change will have on the forest ecosystems of Asia. It also outlines key components of a forest-based climate change adaptation strategy for the region, which includes use of forest services and improved access for local communities, implementing SFM, and inter-sectoral planning. [Publication: Forests and Climate Change Adaptation in Asia]