The Governors’ Climate and Forests Task Force Indigenous People and Local Communities Global Committee will convene for an ordinary session, setting the stage for a week of important dialogues and decision-making. This session will build on recent meetings in Ucayali, Peru and Santa Cruz, Bolivia, focusing on building out a long-term strategy for the Global Committee and the Guiding Principles for Collaboration and Partnership Between Subnational Governments, Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities. Make sure to check our dedicated page for updates.

The Global Committee meeting has support from the GCFTF Global Secretariat and the Climate and Land Use Alliance (CLUA).

Opening Session including a Governors’ Remarks and high-level announcements expected to shape the future of tropical forest conservation and rural development

9:00am – 6:30pm: Open Session to the general audience – open to the public

For the complete agenda make sure to check this page.

On Wednesday, the Government of Acre has curated a series of technical field visits for the participants of the annual meeting, offering a unique opportunity to explore firsthand innovative projects driving the New Forest Economy in the Amazon region. These visits will highlight successful territorial management efforts and sustainable practices in forest conservation, community development, and bioeconomy production. Participants will have the opportunity to choose from several distinct routes, each showcasing different aspects of sustainable development and forest management in Acre. These field visits aim to provide a hands-on learning experience, highlighting both challenges and successes in the region, and to feed into the workshops scheduled for Thursday, May 22. The following routes are available:

1. Forest Restoration and Fire Management: From the nursery to the forest 
This route offers an immersive experience with restoration efforts in the Rural Zone of the municipality of Capixaba, including agroforestry systems of fruit and coffee. Participants will visit an essential nursery to discuss the process of selecting and planting critical species to support restoration and economic development, as well as Acre’s state-of-the-art Integrated Center for Geoprocessing and Environmental Monitoring, which enables the government to monitor forest cover, conduct integrated fire management and command and control actions, and support sophisticated hydrometeorological monitoring,  land tenure analysis, restoration and forest replacement, and geoprocessing analysis. 

2. Natural Infrastructure and Jurisdictional REDD+: Protecting Forests at the Landscape Level
Visit the home of the legendary Chico Mendes, located in the town of Xapuri, which gave rise to the rainforest protection movement. This visit will foster engagement on the current challenges and opportunities of large-scale forest protection initiatives and financing mechanisms, and will include visits to cooperatively managed and produced brazil nuts and rubber. This route will also help center ongoing implementation of jurisdictional REDD+ actions to protect Acre’s forests, with a focus on benefits for traditional communities.

3. Establishing a Thriving Bioeconomy: Centering on social inclusion and the strengthening of traditional communities
Discover how Acre is partnering with local communities to value biodiversity and empower communities in order to  build a more inclusive, sustainable and resilient economic development that respects nature and promotes people’s well-being. Participants will visit community producers like Fazenda Filipinas, Dom Porquito, and Epitaciolândia to learn how they combine innovative practices around honey, livestock, and other local production to establish a thriving bioeconomy.

4. Governance and Benefits Sharing: Indigenous Leadership from Acre
Indigenous Peoples play a crucial role in conserving forests and utilizing native biodiversity. This route will dive deeply into mechanisms to ensure full and effective participation of Indigenous and traditional communities in the planning, design, and implementation of Acre’s forest protection and economic development programs, as well as rich sharing of experiences across the GCFTF Global Committee of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities. The visit will start at the Pro-Indigenous Commission of Acre (CPI-Acre), a Brazilian non-profit organization founded in 1979 whose mission is to support the indigenous peoples living in Acre in their efforts to exercise their collective rights – territorial, environmental, linguistic, socio-cultural – through actions that link the territorial and environmental management of indigenous lands, intercultural and bilingual education and public policies. This route will be led by Acre’s Extraordinary Secretary for Indigenous Peoples, Francisca Arara.

5. Intensifying Sustainable Production: Coffee and Cacao 
This route offers participants the opportunity to exchange on best practices for increasing sustainably sourced commodities as a key New Forest Economy building block. The route will include visits to Agrarian Reform Settlements with a high degree of deforestation, where communities are using sustainable technologies and family labor to intensify and diversify production in a more sustainable manner, generating employment and income, as well as reversing effects of past deforestation that have aggravated environmental disasters and climate change.

The field visits are a key component of the GCFTF Annual Meeting, providing participants with the opportunity to experience the innovative initiatives and projects that are transforming the Amazon region. From sustainable cacao and coffee production to forest restoration opportunities, from indigenous and community entrepreneurship and bioeconomy programs to jurisdictional forest protection and economic development opportunities, these site visits will provide field classrooms to exchange and highlight the real-world impact of the New Forest Economy in action.

For more details or to inquire about the field visit schedule, please contact us at martha.gtzfontes@gcftaskforce.org