Who Keeps Rainforests Standing?

​This Land Dialogues session brings together leaders from the Amazon, the Congo Basin, and Southeast Asia to explore what helps rainforests stay standing in practice. Many of the world’s most intact forests are found in Indigenous, Afro-descendant, and local community territories, yet forests still face growing pressure from logging, extraction, and competing land-use decisions. The session will examine how decisions over forests are made, who influences them, and why some governance systems are able to hold over time while others break down.

​Through real examples from across rainforest regions, speakers will discuss how governments, laws, and territorial governance systems interact on the ground, and what this means for keeping forests standing. The session will use a fishbowl format with an open chair, allowing audience members to join the discussion directly alongside speakers. Together, the conversation aims to move beyond high-level commitments and focus on what is actually working in practice, and why.

Agenda
Doors open from 9:00am
9:30–10:00am — Registration and coffee
10:00–11:30am — Land Dialogues session
11:30am–12:00pm — Light reception