Focal Areas

To achieve our vision and advance sustainable forest landscape development in the region, RMFN–Asia will focus on four interconnected areas in the 2025 to 2030 strategic period:

1. Resilience to climate change 
2. Forest landscape restoration and livelihoods
3. Gender, youth and social inclusion
4. Sustainable finance

Over the next five years, RMFN–Asia and our partners will follow the guiding principles of the International Model Forest Network and apply the following approaches:

Resource mobilization 

RMFN–Asia and its partners will collaborate to increase the flow of financial, material and human resources needed to support the network’s work and to enable its member Model Forests to achieve their goals. We will prioritize ensuring that stakeholders have the incentives and resources they need to engage in sustainable forest landscape development.

Research, technology development and innovation 

RMFN–Asia will support research to identify barriers to sustainable forest landscape development and ways to overcome these obstacles. This will include employing approaches that harness traditional ecological knowledge as well as exploring the use of new tools and technologies. We are committed to promoting participatory action research and technological development, ensuring that local stakeholders are actively involved. RMFN–Asia will share findings and new solutions within the network and beyond, so that best practices can be scaled up for broader impact.

Institutional strengthening and stakeholder empowerment

Through capacity-building activities, RMFNAsia will support and strengthen the stakeholder partnerships working towards sustainable forest landscape management in Model Forests. We will also support activities that empower and give visibility to representatives of marginalized groups, including youth and women. We expect that enabling such individuals to act as role models and leaders will boost participation by marginalized groups in the efforts of Model Forests to develop sustainable forest landscapes.

Community-based natural resource management

RMFN–Asia will support and advocate for approaches that enable communities in forest landscapes to manage local natural resources. Integrating the knowledge, needs and values of these stakeholders into decision-making processes is key to fostering inclusive governance and ensuring the sustainability of forest landscapes.

Communication and advocacy 

RMFN–Asia aims to increase awareness of approaches to forest landscape management that Model Forests show to be effective, and encourage uptake of these approaches both in and beyond Model Forests. We will share best practices, new tools and other lessons learned within RMFN–Asia and with wider networks of policymakers, practitioners, researchers and partners. To do this, individual Model Forests and the RMFN–Asia will facilitate networking and stakeholder dialogue, hold meetings, participate in events, publish findings and undertake joint projects with partner organizations.