Using the law as a tool to reduce harm from land-use change

A significant part of the clearance of natural forests is happening in order to use the land for agricultural activities. The legal frameworks governing this forest conversion are crucial and complex. They involve the laws of several different sectors (e.g. land, forest, environment and tax laws). The legal frameworks are also often unclear, incomplete or contradictory – which means the conversion is not adequately controlled. By association, this also creates significant climate risks. So there is an urgent need to recognise and respond to these problems. Legal reform is one clear route, and where this is used it is important that this is done via a participatory approach, for example, by including civil society and forest dependent communities in decision-making processes.