The International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO), Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI) and others have co-organized a conference on forest tenure in Africa.

The conference, which convened from 25-29 May 2009, in Yaoundé, Cameroon, was organized in response to calls from African participants of the 2007 International Conference on Community Forest Management and Enterprise in Acre, Brazil. One of the main objectives of the Yaoundé conference was to push governments toward broader actions that secure land rights for forest communities in West and Central Africa. An ITTO and RRI study released during the meeting indicated that African countries have less control over land rights than do other tropical nations, with only two percent of forested land being owned or managed by communities, and explained how progress on land tenure could help slow deforestation and climate change and reduce poverty.
Links to further information
ITTO media release
ITTO, RRI report on tropical forest tenure assessment