Forest-dependent people require social protection because they are often poor, geographically, politically and socially marginalized, and vulnerable to a variety of risks and shocks. Forestry and social protection programmes and policies share similar objectives of reducing vulnerability of forest-dependent people, enhancing economic inclusion and promoting sustainable development. Therefore, coherence, should be sought to ensure complementarity in objectives and coverage. FAO aims to promote linkages between social protection and agriculture, food security, nutrition, natural resource management, decent rural employment and resilience building.

This document presents a guiding framework to assist mainly governments, development organizations and civil society organizations (CSOs) in attaining coherence between social protection and forest policies to improve the well-being of forest-dependent people.

The framework guides the provision of knowledge and evidence on the vulnerabilities of forest-dependent people and analyses gaps in the provision of social protection to forest-dependent people; frames the rationale for promoting the coherence between forestry and social protection; and identifies the enabling environment and options to coherently design and implement forestry and social protection at the programme and operational levels.