Community forest management

Backgrounder

Introduction 

Community forest management is initiated by communities living near forests, and/or by governments or development partners in response to destruction of forests. It can also be called participatory forest management, community-based forest management, or joint forest management. In community forest management, the community has the right to make significant decisions on how a forest and its resources are used, managed, and conserved, and they typically exercise those rights through community forest associations. Communities that live near forests are motivated to care for them since they help provide their livelihoods. Community forest management can be applied to manage natural forests and woodlands, as well as community-owned plantations and woodlots.

Why is this subject important to listeners?

Because forest communities in sub-Saharan Africa should know:

• How communities living next to forests can organize themselves in order to conserve it.
• The benefits communities can receive by effectively managing and conserving forests.
• The types of by-laws communities should enact and follow to help manage their forests.
• How to sustainably use forest resources.
• How to collaborate with governments and development organizations to develop sustainable income-generating activities—either inside or outside of the forest—that don’t compromise the forest.
• How deforested forests can be replenished with trees, and how to replenish forests with the best and most appropriate tree species.
• How to create, manage, and sustain community forest management groups.

What are some key facts about community forest management?

• In East and West Africa, communities are more likely to manage and conserve forests if they can earn an income and livelihoods from them.
• One of the key tasks of community forest management is to determine how a forest’s natural resources can be used—and which uses are not sustainable. Communities need training on how to harvest forest resources sustainably, without destroying them.
• Community forest management reduces poaching and the incidence of illegal logging.
• Communities living next to forests must be involved in preparing a plan on how forest land will be used, managed, and protected. The plan must include a community-generated map that shows where and how forest resources like timber, honey, and fuelwood will be harvested.
• Communities need to prepare by-laws to govern how the forest is used and protected, and include fines or other community-sanctioned kinds of disincentives for those who violate forest management plans.
• Efforts to conserve forests should be linked to improving the livelihoods of neighbouring communities. Research in Tanzania has linked degradation of natural resources to low income levels in communities living near forests.
• There are many ways communities can organize for forest management. In Ghana, the government has established Community Resource Management Areas (CREMAs) which bring together communities that share common resources to jointly manage their shared resources without discrimination among them. CREMAs serve as buffers for parks and reserves, which host threatened forests.

What are the big challenges in community forest management?

• Low-income communities that depend heavily on forests for daily sustenance are less likely to be concerned about or able to implement long-term forest management.
• In northern Ghana and elsewhere, communities that depend heavily on forests for sustenance sometimes clash with authorities responsible for forest management over resource use.
• In Kenya, communities managing forests lack the power to prosecute illegal loggers and wildlife poachers they detain for misusing resources.
• Unclear policies, by-laws, or plans on how communities can equitably share forest resources and any income they generate.
• Where forest resources like wood are scarce, they may be insufficient to be shared by a community near a forest.
• Forest communities may have conflicts among themselves over sharing and using forest resources.
• There are almost no forests managed by communities in Uganda because most decisions on forest activities are made at the household level.
• In Nigeria, despite the fact that the population is growing and forest resources are declining, there is little effective community forest management to protect and restore forest resources.

For further information, please see documents 1-25.

Gender aspects of community forest management

• In Tharaka Nithi, Kenya, women participate in forest management more often than men, since men work away from home and far from the forest. Women are also the most affected by environmental degradation since they gather water, firewood, and building materials from forests.
• In Tanzania, although women possess knowledge and skills related to managing natural resources, they have limited roles in forest management due to a gender hierarchy that restricts their involvement.
• In West Africa, women are often unaware of their rights to land, forests, and trees and how they can benefit from forest products or services. They also don’t know that they have the right to make decisions on how to manage forests.
• In Cameroon, men prefer planting trees with the potential to bring high income, while women, who care for children and other family members, may opt for trees that provide fruits and fodder, have medicinal properties, and improve soil fertility.
• In Ghana and Burkina Faso, women influence their husbands’ decisions on which shea trees to conserve in half of families, while in the other half, men select which shea trees to conserve.

For further information, please see documents 2, 3, 10, and 11.  

Predicted impact of climate change on community forest management

• In Masindi district, western Uganda, clearing the forest is leading to rains failing and community members becoming vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.
• Degradation of the Mau Forest in Kenya has prompted actions to restore it to save the livelihoods of communities bordering the forest and make them climate-resilient.
• The government of Nigeria’s Cross River State (with 50 per cent of the country’s forests) is involved in ongoing efforts to reduce the impacts of climate change through helping communities benefit from forest-based livelihoods by using forest resources sustainably.
• Climate change is expected to decrease the volume of biomass available in forests in Burkina Faso (and elsewhere) and cause the disappearance of some species of plants.

For further information, please see documents 9, 13, and 23.

When is community forest management necessary?

Communities begin community forest management for a variety of reasons, including:

• Land degradation caused by poor forest use and management.
• Climate change effects resulting in dry weather and vegetation loss.
• When the community lacks the skills and capacity to fight natural resource depletion that threatens their livelihoods.
• When low-income communities living next to forests overuse natural resources.
• When communities rely on a forest for food and resources such as firewood.
• When conflicts arise in a community over inequitable sharing of forest resources or when there is intense competition over the minimal natural resources available.
• When there is poaching of wild animals by communities living near the forests.

Factors to consider before implementing community forest management

• A community has to be educated on how they will benefit by protecting and conserving the forest. Such benefits can include access to timber and non-timber forest products from plots set aside for such purposes.
• Communities have to be involved in governance and decision-making structures from the beginning when community forest management is being setup, so that they don’t feel they are losing their forest and its resources to outside sources. That also minimizes their resistance to forest conservation ideas presented.
• It’s important to identify the rare plant, tree, and wildlife species that need to be protected and not used for domestic use.
• By-laws need to be written to govern how a forest’s resources will be sustainably shared by neighbouring communities.
• There is the need to consider the appropriate governance structure for the resource management and equitable benefit sharing.
• Communities need to conduct research in order to discover how the community will benefit from forest management, how forest resources will be safeguarded, and how the community would replenish the forest if it becomes depleted.
• It’s important to discuss how forest resources will be protected from environmental damage, deforestation, and poaching.
• Communities need to create a process for solving internal conflicts, which often arise when forest resources become scarce due to harsh weather and/or overuse.
• Communities should consider the importance of introducing renewable energy innovations to the community to reduce overreliance on forest resources as energy sources (e.g., fuelwood) and prevent deforestation.
• There is a need to train community members on sustainable forest and land use practices while using the forest for their livelihoods. Communities will have to make decisions on what resources can be used, from what areas of the forest, in what quantities, and what frequency.
• Communities should take note of lessons learned from previous projects in order to increase the chances of success when implementing a new community forest management plan.
• It is also necessary to have enabling legislative/policy framework at the national level for community resource management.

For further information, please see documents 1, 4-8, 14-19, 20-25.

Agroforestry systems

One of the approaches often used by community forest management associations is agroforestry. Agroforestry is a land use system where trees or shrubs are grown together with agricultural crops, or in livestock pastures. When practiced carefully, trees and shrubs don’t hinder the crops’ growth and leguminous trees even add nutrients like nitrogen to the soil, while shading crops like maize, beans, vegetables, and bananas when it’s hot. Trees and shrubs often used in agroforestry systems include: Grevillea robusta, leucaena, Sesbania grandiflora, velvet bean, Gliricidia sepium, and Calliandra calothyrsus. Trees and shrubs also attract bees and, by establishing hives, communities can harvest honey. In agroforestry systems, trees and shrubs can also provide fodder for livestock like goats and cows.

For further information, please see document 12.

Two success stories in community forest management

1. Ekuri forest conservation initiative, Nigeria

In 1991, the Cross River National Park was established by the state government in Nigeria’s Cross River State. Near the park was a 33,600-hectare forest considered to part of the park that the 600-member subsistence farming Ekuri community began conserving from the 1980s to prevent proposed logging activities of the national park. The forest includes the old and new Ekuri villages, which are seven kilometers apart. After the park was established, the community requested the park’s authority permission to manage the forest by themselves. Their request was approved and they were assigned a community forest officer who helped them build a community-managed forest system that was the first of its kind in Nigeria.

In return for conserving the forest, the Ekuri community benefits from the forest through farming, harvesting non-timber forest products, making handicrafts, small-scale trading of edible forest leaves and bush mango, and hunting and fishing. Two 50-hectare plots are set aside for the community to harvest the timber and non-timber forest products they need.

In 1992, the Ekuri community group was launched as the Ekuri Initiative, a formal entity. The Ekuri Initiative includes the Ekuri people (called the general assembly), a board of trustees, a project coordinator, and support staff like the local guards who patrol the forest. The board of trustees has ten members, including four women, who are selected from both villages. Leadership rotates every four or five years. In the initiative’s micro-credit groups, women outnumber men.

At the start of every year, Ekuri community villages meet and plan the year’s activities and set aside the finances needed. During those meetings, decisions on how money is spent must be approved by both Ekuri villages and a year-end report is presented to the community for evaluation, accountability, and feedback. Draft policies are presented to the general assembly before being evaluated by the board that oversees the Ekuri Initiative. This board makes decisions in accordance with the priorities of the Ekuri community. Community members are more willing to comply with decisions since they are involved in making them; they are not imposed by outside authorities.

Women are involved in decision-making at all levels and in all activities, including forest governance, community development, and poverty reduction activities. Decisions are based on balancing the use of forest resources with conservation activities.

Through the years, the two Ekuri communities have implemented measures to ensure that long-term forest conservation is prioritized over their immediate livelihood needs. The Ekuri Initiative is mandated to perform controlled logging and selling wood in the interest of the community, with the income allocated to paying local forest guards. Logging occurs in designated plots and for trees that are at least 70 centimetres in diameter at breast height, while smaller trees are left to mature and produce seeds.

Trees on individual lands or compounds are owned by the community. Community members are allowed to harvest trees for domestic uses, for example, to build houses or furniture, but not for commercial purposes. No one other than Ekuri community members is allowed to harvest and sell non-timber forest products, and community members can only sell to Ekuri Initiative-registered dealers.

The community uses the forest lands according to established protocols. Community members are responsible for arresting illegal loggers. Over the years, community members who illegally harvest trees have been prosecuted in court.

While the Ekuri Initiative is considered a model of community forest management in Nigeria, there are still challenges. The Ekuri community worry that logging concessions issued by the state government and plans to build a superhighway will overexploit the forest and result in expropriation of their land. According to Edwin Ogar, a founding member of the Ekuri Initiative, such overexploitation would destroy the habitat of 350 bird species as well as African buffalos and elephants, chimpanzees, monkeys, and other endangered wildlife, plant, and tree species.

Ekuri Initiative has received many grants and environmental awards over the years. In 1997, the Ford Foundation provided funds for demarcating community land boundaries after negotiations with neighbouring communities. The funding also provided training on how to develop timber inventories and initial land use plans for the forest. In 2004, the Ekuri Initiative won a $5,000 Equator prize.

For further information, please see documents 4-6, 17, 18, 22, and 24.

2. Arabuko Sokoke Forest Conservation

In 1993, National Museums of Kenya and Nature Kenya introduced the Kipepeo Butterfly Project to low-income communities living next to the 41,600-hectare Arabuko Sokoke Forest in coastal Kenya. The Kipepeo Butterfly Project involves community members in breeding moths and butterflies and exporting their pupae to insect parks in Europe and the U.S where they hatch and attract visitors within their 12-day lifespan.

The project was introduced to provide alternative livelihoods to community members who depended on illegal logging and poaching wild animals from the forest. Over the years, the forest had become degraded as more than 100,000 community members in 50 villages exploited its resources. Most are farmers who grow crops like maize, cassava, and beans, and cash crops like coconut and cashew. They cut down trees for building, fuelwood, charcoal production, and to make carvings. There was also poaching of antelopes, rodents, birds, and rare wildlife species, for example, Aders duikier, golden-rumped elephant shrew and Sosoke bushy-tailed mongoose, for bush meat. Conserving it was vital because the biodiversity-rich Arabuko Sokoke forest is the largest single block of natural coastal forest remaining in East Africa, with the largest concentration of endemic and endangered plants and animals.

During the project’s feasibility study, when the idea of earning a living by selling butterfly and moth pupae was proposed to communities living next to Arabuko Sokoke, most rejected it because of cultural beliefs that it was morally wrong. A few community members decided to try it, while others adopted a wait-and-see attitude. When the receptive members started to earn an income from selling pupae a few years later, there was a surge in sign-ups for the project. Afterwards, the Kenya Forest Service reviewed the Forest Act and introduced a clause that established co-management of the forest, giving the nearby communities a stake in managing forest resources. This eventually resulted in the creation of community forest associations.

Nature Kenya and National Museums of Kenya ran awareness campaigns to sensitize communities living next to the forest on the importance of conserving it. The communities were required to forego illegal logging and hunting bush meat and embrace a sustainable model of using resources like wood and plants used in herbal medicine. At the inception of the project, locals were encouraged to plant trees at their homes to reduce their dependency on the forest.

The Kenya Forest Service restricted local communities’ access to natural resources to the first three kilometres within the forest. They were allowed to collect poles in the first kilometre and firewood within the second kilometre. The third kilometer was dedicated to biodiversity conservation, with non-extractive, eco-tourism activities such as bird watching and bicycle riding allowed.

Nature Kenya, Friends of Arabuko-Sokoke Forest, and A-Rocha Kenya purchased and distributed tree and fruit tree seedlings to the communities to plant in their farms. These provide foliage to attract insects like butterflies. To ensure the community would benefit quickly, the species provided were fast-maturing like Casuarina, Azadirachta indica (neem), and Gmelina arborea. Beekeeping was also introduced.

Over 10,000 locals are involved in the butterfly project and the other income-generating activities that were introduced along with it, including apiculture, agroforestry, and aloe and mushroom farming. The butterfly project can earn each participant between $100 and $200 US per week. The community also makes efforts to replant indigenous trees, which has improved forest cover.

Msanzu Karisa is a butterfly keeper in his 40s and a father of three. Since joining the Kipepeo Butterfly Project in 2006, he has seen the economic benefits. He earns 40,000-50,000 Kenyan shillings ($300-385 US) per month from selling 200-400 butterfly pupae. With these earnings, he has educated his siblings and bought an acre of land where he plans to build a home. Mr. Karisa belongs to a butterfly rearing group with 70 members. Members rear butterflies individually, but each group has a representative who aggregates the pupae and delivers them to the Kipepeo Project centre. The project pays community members for the pupae, then sells them to international buyers. The representatives also meet with project management staff to discuss production, marketing, and issues related to the butterfly rearing groups. Each individual member gets paid for the butterflies they deliver. Pupae that are not shipped abroad are reared at the Kipepeo Project centre. Visitors to the centre are charged a fee to see them, and the money earned is shared among the butterfly keepers at the end of the year.

Mr. Karisa says the success of the butterfly project has motivated community members to conserve Arabuko Sokoke Forest and be vigilant in reporting poachers or illegal loggers to Kenya Forest Service, which has reduced such infractions.

Over the years, the Kipepeo Butterfly Project has received funding from donor organizations. For example, in 2003, USAID gave $1.2 million for conservation activities such as tree planting and the butterfly rearing project.

For further information, please see documents 1, 7, 8, 14, 16, 19, and 21.