Integrated Forest Landscape Management for Strengthening the Northeastern and Eastern Forest Corridors To strengthen the conservation of globally significant biodiversity in four landscape complexes of North-eastern and Eastern Thailand through improved management of forest landscapes Note: Disbursement data provided is cumulative and covers disbursement made by the project Agency. 1. Strengthened inter-departmental collaboration and landscape level planning will enable greater coordination among various line agencies responsible for forest and land use management and help reduce overlaps and confusion between various regulations and practices. Clarifying land use and forest boundaries and use rights will assist people to have greater certainty and confidence to invest in land and agricultural/forest production.2. Mainstreaming biodiversity will trigger improvements in the production of ecosystem services for the benefit of people and nature while conserving habitats and species. The assessment on biodiversity-related incentives and economic opportunities for local communities will provide opportunities for communities, particularly women and youth, to improve their livelihoods through the sustainable use of biodiversity. Diversifying livelihoods based on the sustainable use of biodiversity will increase resilience of rural communities and help with adaptation to climate change. Vulnerability of farmers to climate influenced events, such as droughts and floods, will be decreased by improving the flow of ecosystem services (notably provisioning services such as NTFPs, timber and water), through biodiversity friendly and climate resilient management of forests and farmlands, that enhance livelihood benefits and diversification. An effective knowledge management strategy will enable sharing of good practice, increasing the capacity and capability of participating communities to improve agricultural and forest productivity while conserving biodiversity. It will also enable up-scaling and sustainability. The project will support state forest plantations (FIO) and private forest plantations including small-scale agroforestry to adopt SFM that has biodiversity conservation principles embedded. Applying SFM on private forest plantation and in agroforestry will increase the value of wood products and contribute to reducing global warming.3. By targeting the improvements listed above to high priority landscapes in the four forest complexes, improvements to biodiversity corridors and a reduction in HWC will be achieved. This will increase the area of landscapes under improved practices to benefit biodiversity and expand the area of landscapes that meet national or international third-party certification (incorporating biodiversity considerations). By improving the management of corridors and buffer zones in forest landscapes, reducing encroachment of forests and reducing HWC, the project will contribute to the improved conservation of several threatened species (notably, Asian elephant, Indo-Chinese tiger, and banteng) and reduce pressure on High Conservation Value Forest within protected areas and Reserve Forest. A co-benefit of the project will be carbon sequestered/emissions avoided in the Agriculture, Forestry and Other Land Use sector.Decent Rural Employment4. In rural Thailand, decent work is predominantly associated with livelihoods based on agriculture, fisheries and forests. Decent work can be considered to include “opportunities for work that is productive and delivers a fair income, security in the workplace and social protection for families, better prospects for personal development and social integration, freedom for people to express their concerns, organize and participate in the decisions that affect their lives and equality of opportunity and treatment for all women and men.”[i]5. The project has a strong focus on improving rural livelihoods through community forestry and agriculture by generating and distributing livelihood benefits through commercial activity and linking smallholders to financial institutions and markets which will incentivize local communities to manage forests and other natural resources sustainably and improve community-level resilience.  REF _Ref48898962 \h  \* MERGEFORMAT Table 14  08D0C9EA79F9BACE118C8200AA004BA90B02000000080000000D0000005F00520065006600340038003800390038003900360032000000  provides a summary of how the project will support decent rural employment, based on the four pillars described in FAO’s guidance material.[ii] Table  SEQ Table \* ARABIC 14  Project Support to Decent Rural Employment    Prioritized Groups       - Small-scale farm and forest producers, and plantation owners including contributing family workers - Small-scale processors and aggregators of farm and forest products - Women and youth within the above categories - Specific vulnerable groups (e.g., land poor and landless people, disabled people, elderly people, and single- households)       Pillar 1: Employment-creation and enterprise-development       - Participatory analyses with vulnerable groups on specific rural employment issues related to farms and forests - Consider the impact of technology options on the number and quality of jobs created - Ensure that relevant groups within the targeted rural areas are involved effectively in consultations - Women and men small-scale farm and forest producers supported in accessing fair markets and sustainable value chains and supported in accessing training, financial services, and other productive assets, with priority to rural businesses owned by women and youths - Provide Market Analysis and Development training on how to develop viable market options for forest and farm products. - Implement training for government agencies and project partners to enable them to undertake participatory approaches with local target communities       Pillar 2: Social protection       - Asses, document and disseminate institutional innovations and good practices of organized collective action, including through local groups, with strong impacts on social protection       Pillar 3: Standards and rights at work       - Socially responsible agricultural and forest production supported to reduce gender and age-based discrimination - Promote compliance with national labor legislation in the rural areas - Address the constraints of women, youth, and other specific groups workers in getting organized, notably through community forestry       Pillar 4: Governance and social dialogue       - Promote the inclusive participation of local people, particularly women - Support local communities in strengthening democratic organizations and networks of producers and workers, particularly in the informal food and forest economy - Build capacity to empower forest and farm producers to organize into legalized associations and women to undertake leading positions - Undertake knowledge exchange events to refine and endorse the most promising approaches for climate-resilient forest and agricultural landscape management.                              [i]  https://www.ilo.org/global/topics/decent-work/lang--en/index.htm       [ii]  FAO, 2010. Rural Employment, Guidance Material #1: Guidance on How to Address Decent Rural Employment in FAO Country Activities (2nd ed.). http://www.fao.org/3/i1937e/i1937e.pdf