Forest Foundation Philippines, in celebration of International Day of Forests 2024, has formally launched its suite of Sustainable and Inclusive Landscape Governance capacity development tools and knowledge products, which aim to advance forest conservation advocacy from varying capacities.
Taking up the challenge to arrive at new ways of making forest conservation more accessible and inclusive to the growing number of environmental advocates in the country, Forest Foundation lived up to the celebration’s theme, Forests and Innovation: New Solutions for a Better World, by offering the public opportunities to upskill their advocacy efforts through various knowledge products, including easy-to-follow dialogue toolkits and interactive online courses.
The toolkits and learning products developed in collaboration with the Foundation’s grantee, Habi Education Lab, are based on a series of consultations with forest governance actors and conservation practitioners, skillfully designed for the use of the wider public.
“Building on the rights, knowledge, and capacities of local communities that have guarded these forests for centuries will help to conserve and restore forests and forested landscapes. It will strengthen livelihoods, conserve biodiversity, and build climate resilience for the benefit of all. This is a golden opportunity that we should not miss. We need to help the communities to position themselves as strong, legitimate, and indispensable voices in the decision-making that affects the forests,” asserts Tropenbos International Executive Director Joost van Montfort.
“These toolkits are oriented towards enabling everyone to be part of the solutions. These distilled knowledge materials aim to strengthen support for advocates, understanding each stakeholder’s context, and developing ways forward, especially for women, youth, and indigenous peoples,” underscores Forest Foundation Philippines Executive Director, Atty. Jose Andres Canivel.
The launch served as a gathering of new and familiar faces, highlighting the importance of such tools in sowing seeds of knowledge and seeds of hope, recognizing everyone’s capacity to contribute to the mission of protecting forests, and building on each other’s strengths leveraging the lessons learned from stories and insights of people who have worked on the ground.
Visit the links below to access the resource materials:
