enforcement policies and procedures.
2. State Parties shall develop effective regional means to support the
enforcement, development and harmonisation of national forest-related laws.
ARTICLE 12: COMMUNITY-BASED FOREST MANAGEMENT
State Parties shall:
a. adopt national policies and mechanisms to enable local people and
communities to benefit collectively from the use of forest resources and to
ensure their effective participation in forest management activities, including
affirmative steps to seek and encourage such participation;
b. develop regional guidelines and share information and expertise related to
community-based forest management; and
c. encourage local people and communities to grow and conserve trees and to
integrate them into existing farming systems.
ARTICLE 13: PARTICIPATION OF WOMEN IN FOREST MANAGEMENT
a. State Parties shall adopt national policies and mechanisms to enable the
effective participation of women in sustainable forest management, including
affirmative steps to seek and encourage such participation.
b. State Parties shall develop regional guidelines and share information and
expertise related to the participation of women in sustainable forest
management.
ARTICLE 14: TRANSBOUNDARY FORESTS
State Parties shall, where appropriate, establish programmes and enter into agreements
to promote the co-operative and integrated management of transboundary forests and
protected areas.
ARTICLE 15: PROTECTION OF FORESTS
1. State Parties shall take all necessary legislative, administrative and
enforcement measures to address natural and human-induced threats to
forests, particularly those that may have transboundary impacts.
2. State Parties shall adopt, strengthen and implement national, and where
appropriate, regional measures, which:
a. control human activities that threaten forests, including land and
natural resource-use practices that conflict with the principles of
sustainable forest management;
b. implement strategies for conservation of forests;
c. prevent and suppress uncontrolled fires, and facilitate transboundary
assistance in emergency situations;
d. identify and control plant pests, diseases and their vectors and to
develop early warning systems for these threats to forests; and
e. regulate and control the accidental or illegal introduction of alien
species and plant pests and diseases into the Region and to control,
and where appropriate eradicate, invasive alien species other than
exotic trees deliberately planted in managed plantations.
ARTICLE 16: TRADITIONAL FOREST-RELATED KNOWLEDGE
1. State Parties shall recognise, respect and protect the rights of individuals and