"To prosper, people who depend on forests must use, manage and benefit from those forests. They must also be secure in the knowledge that they will be able to carry on doing so for the foreseeable future. The majority of forestlands in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) region are owned by central governments. However, many local communities and Indigenous Peoples live in and around these lands. They use, manage and rely on them but have no formal rights to do so. Prindex, the Global Property Rights Index, collects robust data on perceptions of land and property rights. A 2018 Prindex survey in Cambodia, Indonesia, Thailand and Viet Nam found that up to 62.3 million of people aged 18 and older felt insecure about their tenure rights.1 Even communities with some formal recognition of their right to use, manage and benefit from forestlands can feel insecure as those lands come under increasing pressure. Tenure arrangements throughout the world are complex and often contentious. Government officials, civil society, donors and rural communities recognize the need to increase tenure security in ASEAN. However, they have a limited understanding of how to do it. This report provides an entry point for state and non-state actors who face tenure issues as part of their work on social forestry. Social forestry is also known as community forestry, participatory forestry and village forestry. For consistency, this report uses the term social forestry. The main objectives of the report are to: ■ Provide an introduction and framework to customary and statutory tenure arrangements in ASEAN to help non-specialists understand and navigate their way around tenure issues ■ Identify the opportunities and challenges for customary and statutory arrangements that can help ensure people have secure tenure ■ Identify synergies and potential ways forward, recognizing the future pathways of social forestry through the programs of ASEAN Member States This report includes the following key conclusions and recommendations: Understanding the importance of tenure and addressing challenges: Secure tenure underlies numerous environmental and development goals. Tenure insecurity has been identified as one of the most significant barriers to achieving successful social forestry.2 Crucially, tenure insecurity is impeding progress on tackling the climate crisis. Therefore, strong and clear rights for local people that results in tenure security need to be prioritized throughout the region. This report provides an understanding of tenure arrangements and addresses common challenges faced by stakeholders in understanding tenure arrangements. It is a first step to unraveling the complexity and diversity of tenure arrangements across ASEAN. Further work is needed to fully break down barriers to discourse and make progress on improving tenure security to facilitate social forestry. For example, the diversity and technical nature of terminology in tenure arrangements is a significant challenge. To tackle tenure issues effectively, there must be both a common language to discuss them and a better understanding of forest tenure itself. ASEAN has an opportunity to help Member States work towards this through further research and partnership.....Preparing for a dynamic future: ASEAN faces unprecedented challenges from climate, biodiversity and land degradation crises. This means that social forestry needs to play a central role in the region over the next 10 years. Achieving secure tenure is a foundation for this.3 Conflict over tenure throughout Southeast Asia is escalating. Rapid economic growth in the region has reduced poverty but has also increased inequality and left marginalized communities even more vulnerable. This growth has also put more pressure on governments to expand development, which strains tenure arrangements and changes traditional community dynamics. Flexible, adaptable and multifunctional solutions to tenure issues are needed to cope with the challenges that lie ahead. They are also needed for meeting the changing needs and desires of communities in forestlands..."