We find ourselves at a crossroads today, facing a profound reshaping of how the world regards its forests and people. The funding crisis in development circles will likely have devastating impacts on communities in the Global South.

These are the same communities who have endured much of the effects of the deepening planetary crises and who have done the most to radically confront them head-on. Their contributions are evident in the progress community forestry has made across the Asia-Pacific – a product of much painstaking community work, knowledge brokering, coalition building, policy formulation, legislative reforms and, indeed, funding, over decades.

This very work is at risk of being affected if priorities shift entirely elsewhere – and not, ultimately, among the smallholders of northern Thailand planting trees, crowdfunded by thousands, to reverse degradations in a watershed forest. Or the fishing communities of the Ayeyarwady Delta in Myanmar, who are farming mud crabs in the natural flows of their mangroves. Or the community forest enterprises of Indonesia, who are protecting their peatlands with benefit-sharing terms they helped write with a company that shares their common values.

These are the stories we tell in this year's annual report.

We also have stories of communities reshaping their commitments and relationships with forests. In Chiang Mai, Thailand, we have helped community forest members collect and own their biodiversity data, setting them up for a better seat at the negotiating table for recognition and funds. Our sustained work with coffee farmers in Viet Nam's Central Highlands has moved them away from monoculture coffee plantations and instead intercropping their lands with native crops and practices that build their soil. They are also building vibrant learning networks along the way. And in the mid-hills of Nepal, our small pilot saw big buy-in, with communities self-financing the construction of ponds that recharge the aquifers that feed their springs and wells.

These are stories of strength and initiative, of renewal and reimagining. But underneath them all is the real work: a lineage of deep-running grassroots work, strong community-rooted forestry discourses and practices, and the deepest histories and traditional knowledge of the soil, flora, fauna and people. Ultimately, these are stories of an ever-growing body of work, not a culmination, of RECOFTC's nearly four decades in the community forestry space.

What encourages me most is seeing how this knowledge continues to be shared and renewed. In Cambodia and Lao PDR, young people learn from community forest members on local conservation initiatives and livelihoods so they may better understand how they can amplify the importance of caring for forest, wildlife and overall biodiversity. These may seem like small moments, but they are how community forestry endures: through relationships, learning and the passing on of knowledge across generations and spaces.

Even as we navigate today's seismic shifts, we are clearer than ever about our commitments to making sure that those who tend to forests benefit from the work and are not burdened by it; that grassroots consensus defines how we care for our forests; and that we keep challenging our ideals of what community-led stewardship of our forestlands looks like.

We are both realistic and excited about finding new ways of working with partners new and old, across the rich tapestry of our forested landscapes. We are equally encouraged by the young people stepping into this work, bringing fresh perspectives while learning from the communities that have stewarded these forests for generations. And we hope to be working, and telling stories of our work, with sincerity, nuance and spirit for another four decades.

David Ganz
Executive Director
RECOFTC