Community-based forestry

Normative work

• FAO embarked on a process of developing a framework for use at national level, to carry out quantitative and qualitative assessments of the extent and effectiveness of the various existing CBF regimes. The framework will also help to determine the extent to which legal recognition or transfer of forest rights to communities is contributing to sustainable forest management, and to improvements in key environmental, social and economic outcomes that benefit smallholders and communities.
• In the process of developing the above framework, FAO organised a meeting that brought together experts from Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Europe to share their professional perspectives and to exchange views on key issues and challenges related to national and global assessments of extent and effectiveness of community based forestry.
• FAO is also in the process of compiling a global report that looks back over the last 40 years of Community Based Forestry (CBF) and reviews the extent and effectiveness of the various CBF regimes in delivering biophysical and socio-economic outcomes around the world.
• Guidelines for institutionalising and implementing community based forest management in sub-Saharan African countries have been developed.