The Community-Based Forestry (CBF) Stocktaking Reports form part of a regional series developed under the project “Global Transformation of Forests for People and Climate: A Focus on West Africa.” These profiles capture the status and progress of participatory forest management across 15 countries in West Africa, documenting each country’s history, legal and institutional frameworks, forest area under different CBF regimes, and the impacts and challenges of community engagement in forestry.

Each country report provides a snapshot of how national policies, forest laws, and local governance systems have evolved to include communities in forest management—whether through community forests, co-management, joint forest management, or participatory conservation. The reports also assess enabling conditions such as tenure rights, institutionalization, civil society engagement, and gender inclusion, offering comparative insights that help governments, practitioners, and partners understand the regional dynamics of community-based forestry.

Together, these profiles aim to strengthen evidence-based dialogue and cooperation among countries in the region, supporting a transition toward more inclusive, transparent, and sustainable forest governance systems. They serve as a resource for policymakers, researchers, and development actors to identify lessons learned, common bottlenecks, and opportunities to scale up community-based forest management across West Africa.