Community-based forest enterprises
Photo by: Vongvilay Vongkhamsao For most people living in rural areas, especially the poor, forests and trees are the sources of food, fuel, fodder, medicines and building materials. In fact, about 1.6 billion people rely heavily on forests resources for their livelihoods, while 1.2 billion people in developing countries use trees on farms to generate food and cash.
The FAO promotes the creation of community-based tree and forest product enterprises to provide local communities with more opportunities to benefit from forest resources, while also having greater incentive to sustainably manage and protect those resources.
Community-based Forest Enterprises and Participatory Approaches
Community-based tree and forest product enterprises are designed with the help of participatory methodologies such as Market Analysis and Development (M A & D)
Community forestry refers to a component of participatory forestry that focuses on local communities as key stakeholders in managing common property resources.
Community-based Forest Enterprises and Millenium Developement Goals
Community-based tree and forest enterprises contribute to poverty reduction and to Goal 1 and Goal 7 of the UN Millennium Development Goals:
- Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people whose income is less than one dollar a day;
- Integrate the principles of sustainable development into country policies and programmes and reverse loss of environmental resources.
For more information on Millenium development Goals, please visit the
Millenium Development Goals Monitor website