About the Conference
The Rights and Resources Initiative and the Rainforest Foundation Norway co-organized the International Conference Rights, Forests and Climate Change, held on 15-17 October in Oslo, Norway. Gathering representatives from governments, civil society and multilateral organizations, this conference was the first major opportunity for the rights community and the climate change community to exchange ideas, lessons and plans for the future. A major output of the conference was the decision to establish the Rights, Forests and Climate Change CSAG.
The conference stems from an increase in awareness of the need for clear tenure rights and community participation in the design, implementation and monitoring of climate change interventions. Participants in Oslo created a platform to take stock of the existing status of tenure, civil and political rights of forest communities at local, national and international levels and how these rights are considered in climate change discussions. Conference discussions emphasized the roles of forest communities and their rights in mitigation strategies and programs, andexplored the challenges communities without secure rights will face in adapting to climate change.
The postings under the Oslo Blog page reported on the event itself and tracked other issues at the nexus of rights, forests and climate change. With the formal creation of the CSAG, rightsandclimate.org was re-established as the online portal for the CSAG’s activites; these postings have been conserved as a useful resource. All conference presentations are available online here, via SlideShare.
