Forest Peoples Programme: facing the challenge |
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Forests cover 12% of the planet and nearly all are inhabited. Many of the peoples who live in and have customary rights to their forests have developed ways of life and traditional knowledge that are attuned to their forest environments. Yet forest policies commonly treat forests as empty lands controlled by the State and available for 'development' - colonisation, logging, plantations, dams, mines, oil wells, gas pipelines and agribusiness.
These encroachments often force forest peoples out of their forest homes. Some conservation schemes to establish wilderness reserves also deny forest-dwellers' rights. Cut off from their ancestral territories, forest peoples face poverty, the erosion of their customary institutions, loss of identity and cultural collapse.
Our approachForest Peoples Programme (FPP) advocates an alternative vision of how forests should be managed and controlled, based on respect for the rights of the peoples who know them best. We work with forest peoples in South America, Central Africa, South and South East Asia, and Central Siberia to help these communities secure their rights, build up their own organisations and negotiate with governments and companies as to how economic development and conservation is best achieved on their lands.
FPP
Founded in 1990, FPP has grown into a respected and successful organisation that bridges the gap between policy makers and forest peoples. The Forest Peoples Project is its charitable arm. Through advocacy, practical projects and capacity building, FPP helps forest peoples deal with the outside powers that shape their lives and futures.
Web content
This site contains documents prepared by FPP, information from our partners, and other materials of relevance to indigenous peoples, forest-dependent communities and forests.
