This publication is FAO’s first comprehensive look at the impact of community-based forestry since previous reviews in 1991 and 2001. It considers both collaborative regimes (forestry practised on land with formal communal tenure requiring collective action) and smallholder forestry (on land that is generally privately owned). The publication examines the...

Globally, agriculture remains the most significant driver of global deforestation. Yet in Viet Nam, food security and forest cover have both increased significantly in the last 25 years thanks to economic and agricultural reforms as well as an increased emphasis on community-based forest management. As incomes have risen, forest cover...

A nationwide programme to transfer government-owned forest land to local communities is changing lives in The Gambia while promoting the sustainable management of its forests. As communities manage forest affairs and benefit from the proceeds from forest resources, more forest-friendly livelihoods such as beekeeping and soap making are boosting incomes...

Well-performing community-based forestry has the potential to rapidly restore forests in ecological terms and scale up sustainable forest management to the national level, while improving local livelihoods of billions of the most marginalized people around the world. This document highlights the findings from a forest tenure and community-based forestry assessment...

The specific purpose of the review is to assess the relevance, rigor and robustness of CIFOR’s existing research on property rights and tenure and identify emerging questions that CIFOR research ought to address in the future. To meet this objective, the consultant examined several aspects of CIFOR’s work, including questions...

This handbook is based on TFT’s seven years of experience working with smallholders to set up group certification systems in remote and diverse settings. It is designed to provide simple and practical solutions to the most common challenges smallholders face when trying to achieve group certifi cation. The information presented here is general in...

Community forestry in Cameroon is often seen as a way to redirect some of the benefits of timber exploitation to local communities. This paper presents a case study from the Kilum-Ijim Forest which is in an area that has insufficient valuable timber to be of logging interest but is, on...

The Tanzanian Government’s capacity to protect forests and woodlands has progressively declined, with a reduction in budgets and retrenchment of workers. Hence a question has emerged in recent years as to whether the main model of forest resource management involving protection by policing is the right way forward. One model...

Deforestation and the resulting environmental degradation is a major problem in the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia and a key factor challenging food security, community livelihood and sustainable development. Between 1955 and 1979, over 77 percent of the country’s forested area disappeared and it continues to lose 8 percent of...

This paper discusses an experience with innovative participatory research in Guatemala and Nicaragua that aimed to strengthen community capabilities in natural resource management. The Grassroots Assistance Project trained community members to document and critically reflect upon local experience with forest management and external assistance. Together with regional context studies undertaken...