Please consult the following PDF Documents:

Voices from the Forest.pdf

At a time when the space for civil society is shrinking, the need for people to be able to influence the powers that control their lives, and have the freedom to work together to tackle the challenges they face, is more critical than ever.

These reports from the frontline of the struggle against deforestation and illegal logging show how it can be done. Written by local journalists from tropical forested countries which have signed (or are negotiating) Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) timber trade deals with the European Union (EU), these stories offer snapshots of the lives of people dependent on forests for their survival, and underline how putting local people in the driving seat of the policies that affect them is key to keeping forests standing.

• In Indonesia, where illegal deforestation was once endemic and where the first ever FLEGT-license was issued in 2016, we discover how indigenous communities are drawing up maps of their ancestral lands to prove what is legitimately theirs, and helping resolve the chaotic mapping system which has helped drive illegal deforestation.

• In Liberia, we learn of the women who are finally getting their hands on the levers of power in the forest sector – in a nation where a lack of access to education and low literacy levels have long impeded women from making decisions on land and resources.

• In the Central African Republic we report on civil society's heroic efforts to overcome the legacy of a devastating civil war, and visit a village which is surrounded by natural wealth in the form of thick tropical forest, but whose struggles mirror those of much of the nation.

• In Honduras, where environmental defenders risk their lives every day, we see a rare example of how diverse interests and entrenched positions can be reconciled in a bitterly divided land.

• In Ghana, we report on how a new spirit of democracy has been ushered into remote villages as a result of changes in the country’s forest laws.

With the world’s forests disappearing at alarming rates and new threats to them looming, this report is further evidence of the crucial role forest communities can play in protecting them.

For more Information, please consult the following PDF Documents: