Local people hold the key to healthy forests, and if forest carbon-financing schemes are to succeed, they must actively engage and benefit these crucial stakeholders.

Carbon financing may provide promising new opportunities for maintaining and even improving the health of the world's forests and, if designed well, to reduce rural poverty. But if schemes such as ‘REDD' fail to deliver tangible benefits to Asia-Pacific's 450 million forest-dependent people, then the social and economic impacts could be severe. Ultimately, this increases the risk that forest-related mitigation efforts will fail.

Key country decision-makers and over 80 participants from 12 Asia-Pacific nations considered these issues at the First Regional Forum for People and Forests: Carbon Financing and Community Forestry, held in Hanoi, Vietnam, from 18 to 20 August 2009.