Community Forest Management and Conservation
We promote community forest management and conservation grounded in strong local rights, supporting sustainable livelihoods and contributing to global climate and conservation goals
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We promote community forest management and conservation grounded in strong local rights, supporting sustainable livelihoods and contributing to global climate and conservation goals.
Across the forested tropics, Indigenous Peoples and local communities sustainably protect and manage forests for their livelihoods. However, many lack secure tenure rights over their lands. Their access to these forests is increasingly under threat as they are converted into industrial plantations or are claimed for logging and mining. This undermines the traditional collective rights that communities have over their land and resources, threatens forest-based livelihoods, and contributes to biodiversity loss and climate change.
With clear rights and autonomy over the use and conservation of their forests, and with these rights adequately defended, communities can continue to manage their forests sustainably. Increasing global recognition and evidence of the importance of community forest management and conservation presents a window of opportunity to boost support for communities and develop supportive policies and financing.
By 2030, forest management and conservation by Indigenous Peoples and local communities in our focus landscapes will support sustainable livelihoods, grounded in strong local rights. Moreover, community forest management and conservation will be a key component of national and international climate and biodiversity policy and financing frameworks.
Our approach is based on the following four components.
To learn more about our initiatives or to collaborate with us, please contact Maartje de Graaf, Lead on Community Forest Management and Conservation at maartje.degraaf@tropenbos.org
Deep in the forests of Guarayos, Bolivia, lies an invaluable treasure: lush vegetation, diverse wildlife, and the unwavering commitment of three Indigenous community forest organizations (CFOs) dedicated to its protection.
After dedicated effort and persistence, nine local communities in Bafwasende, DR Congo have secured their rights to more than 320,000 hectares in the form of local community forest concessions (CFCLs). This was the result of more than three years of advocacy, lobbying and collaboration with various stakeholders, including our partner Tropenbos DR Congo as well as provincial and national authorities.
Community forest management can contribute to local development, while playing an important role in the protection and restoration of the world’s forests — crucial to tackle the global biodiversity and climate crises. The success of community forest management is influenced by the functioning of community-level governance arrangements. What role can the NGOs play in supporting and strengthening community-level governance?
In a recent article in Tropical Conservation Science, a group of authors from the TBI Network and RECOFTC argue that NGOs supporting community forestry can play a role in facilitating bottom-up governance processes. This requires long-term commitments. Moreover, it requires investments in the skills of NGO practitioners to facilitate highly complex and dynamic social processes.
Leaders of Indigenous, Afro-descendent and peasant communities from Bolivia, Colombia and Suriname came together in August 2022 to share experiences with territorial governance and sustainable forest management. This resulted in a unique opportunity to learn and connect. For the Saamaka people from Suriname, it not only provided practical lessons but also inspiration to continue their struggle for land rights.
In August 2022, an unprecedented gathering occurred. This was the Gaan Kuutu, a regional exchange where 26 representatives from indigenous, tribal and peasant communities in South American had the opportunity to share first hand their experiences in how to best manage their lands.
In Colombia, the government recognises the right of Indigenous groups to use and manage their forests in Indigenous territories, called 'resguardos'. In this video Indigenous people and peasants talk about their perceptions of the forest, and how they can learn from each other.
After having received a village forest permit, the village of Laman Satong in West Kalimantan can earn money from its forest by selling carbon credits. However, the money should not be the prime motivation to protect the forest, according to one of the village’s customary elders.
In Indonesia, local communities can apply for a village forest permit, which gives them the right to use and manage forests that are located on state lands. In theory, this provides an incentive for sustainable forest management, which in turn generates income for the community. In practice, it is not always that easy. In this video Yohanes Dogol, the head of the village forest committee of Laman Satong in West Kalimantan, Indonesia, describes some of the challenges they are facing.
Laman Satong is a small village located on the foot of two forested hills in West Kalimantan, Indonesia. The forests are formally owned by the government, but in 2011 the community successfully applied for a so-called village forest permit, giving them the legal right to sell forest products for a period of 35 years.
In Indonesia, forest tenure has long been a source of conflict. About two thirds of the country's terrestrial area is classified as state-forest land, even though local people have been living there for many generations. When the government allocates these areas for production or conservation purposes, local people face the threat of losing access to their traditional territories. To resolve this, the Indonesian government launched an ambitious social forestry program in 2014, giving communities formal rights to use and manage forests that are located on state land. Significant progress has been made, but many challenges remain. This video introduces the program and highlights some of the conditions for success.
Indigenous, tribal and peasant communities from Bolivia, Colombia and Suriname recently exchanged their experiences with territorial governance. According to Biza Akienboto, member of the Saamaka tribe in Suriname, this will help them prepare for the formal recognition of their territorial rights.
NGOs that support community-based forest conservation often focus on communities that have formal titles to their forest, as this is considered a main condition for success. According to Marieke van der Zon, PhD student at Wageningen University, the importance of having formal titles is overstated. Instead, she stresses that the key to conservation success lies in community-based monitoring and enforcement
The Bolivian government sees community forestry as a way to achieve objectives related to both climate change and development. However, to truly unleash the potential of community forestry, the capacity of communities needs to be strengthened and the regulatory environment needs to be improved, says Humberto Gómez Cerveró.
In Viet Nam, large areas of forests are traditionally managed by ethnic minorities. Allocating forest lands to these communities can result in better forest management, contributing to climate change mitigation and adaptation goals, says Tran Nam Thang of Tropenbos Viet Nam.
The Filipino government can generate new momentum and resources for its longstanding community-based forest management programme, by placing it more centrally in its climate policies. This could benefit forest-dependent communities, but only if mistakes from the past are not repeated, argues Heidi Mendoza. It requires a better understanding of the conditions and constraints for community forestry.
With a forest cover of 93%, Suriname is the most forested country on the globe. Its forests are home to five Indigenous Peoples, who have been living there since long before the country became occupied by Europeans. Next to the Indigenous Peoples, Suriname’s forests are populated by Maroon communities who mostly live along the rivers. They are descendants of enslaved Africans who fled the colonial Dutch plantations and established independent communities deep in the interior rainforests, where they could not be found. Today, there are a total of six Maroon tribes, spread over hundreds of villages, making up almost 14% of the population. Both the Indigenous and Maroon communities depend on the forest for their food, medicines and construction material. Also, they are increasingly involved in commercial timber extraction.