FAO has just launched the Social Protection Module of the Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) Toolbox. This module is intended for governments, development organizations and civil society working and advocating for expanding social protection systems for all. 

The module on social protection aims to provide knowledge on the expansion of social protection systems for forest-dependent people and communities (FDP and FDCs) to achieve social (e.g. access to health care), economic (e.g. increased income security) and environmental (e.g. forest conservation) objectives.

The module provides users with basic and in-depth knowledge, evidence and statistics on the socio-economic situation of forest-dependent people and communities and their limited social protection coverage and the urgent need for universal social protection.

Furthermore, it proposes approaches and provides tools, cases and learning materials to expand adequate and comprehensive social protection systems to cover FDP and FDCs, as well as to build policy and programme coherence between the social and forestry sectors. 

The extension of social protection should not be carried out in an isolated manner, but should be coordinated with other broader and sectoral policies (e.g. agricultural and forestry policies) to ensure the creation of synergies to maximize the economic and social benefits for FDPs, while guaranteeing the environmental sustainability of the sector.

Photo credit: ©FAO/Qiang Ma