Land-use Planning
WCS and project staff from the Forestry Administration and Ministry of Environment are engaged in participatory land-use planning (PLUP) at several project sites.
PLUP is a planning process, initiated at village level, in which all villagers and other stakeholders jointly plan the use, protection and allocation of all land and water areas within their village boundaries. They are assisted in this process by neutral facilitators from outside the village.
PLUP helps the villagers to clearly define how they will use or protect their village land in the future, in cooperation with the relevant government institutions. In this process, management responsibilities are also clarified, as well as access rights to natural resources. The process often results in villagers receiving official tenure over their land and natural resources, and reduces the risk that they will fall victim to illegal 'land grabbing' in the future.
