The first ever ShareCom for Asia Forum was held virtually on 15 September 2021. A Steering Committee was organized, composed of well-known practitioners and advocates for social/community forestry in Asia, to oversee the direction and goals of the upcoming and future dialogues. ShareCom For Asia is supported by a Secretariat based at the Department of Social Forestry and Forest Governance, College of Forestry and Natural Resources, UPLB, with support from a group of Filipino volunteers from various institutions.
A crucial part of the project, “Assessing the Community-Based Forest Management (CBFM) Program in the Philippines through Stocktaking and Forest Fragmentation Analysis,” is the holding of a national forum where the results and findings of the study will be presented and validated with key stakeholders of the program. While the team was planning for the national forum in June 2020, it dawned on us — why not also organize an ASEAN-wide dialogue that has a unique setup and is designed to be sustained through the collective efforts of implementers, practitioners, advocates, supporters and students of social/community forestry in Asia. Thus, the idea of ShareCom For Asia, which stands for “Sharing Lessons, Advancing Collective Action in Community Forestry for Asia,” was born.
