Community-forest management

June 2019: Regions engaging in small-scale community-forest initiatives show a 37% reduction in relative poverty and relative deforestation. These initiatives combine environmental conservation with human development and could make vital contributions to achieving the SDGs in low income countries.

Summary

Regions engaging in small-scale community-forest initiatives show a 37% reduction in relative poverty and relative deforestation. These initiatives combine environmental conservation with human development and could make vital contributions to achieving the SDGs in low income countries.

Information

Over the last decades, active promotion of community-based forest management has led to multiple small-scale initiatives, aiming to combine natural resource conservation efforts with human development. In a new study, scientists suggest that regions engaging in community-forest management practices experienced a 37% reduction in relative poverty and relative deforestation. Simultaneously, these initiatives promote carbon sequestration, support biodiversity, and contribute to the local livelihoods of people.

Implications & Opportunities

Community-forest management practices could strengthen land rights for local communities, create jobs, conserve resources, and prevent environmental degradation of ecosystems. Expanding these efforts on a larger scale could significantly contribute to achieving the SDGs and is especially attractive for low income countries such as Nepal, where more than a third of the forests are managed by a quarter of the country’s population.

Limitations

Evaluating the impact of community-based projects is often limited by data availability on forests, people, and institutions. Therefore, methodologies often use different quantitative approaches and show great variation in the magnitude of the benefits achieved.

Sources

Oldekop, J.A, Sims, K.R.E., Karna, et.al. 2019. Reductions in deforestation and poverty from decentralized forest management in Nepal.Nature Sustainability. DOI: 10.1038/s41893-019-0277-3

The Asian Age. 2019. Community-forest management can help in achieving Sustainable Development Goals. Retrieved from https://www.asianage.com/life/more-features/120519/community-forest-management-to-can-help-in-achieving-sustainable-development-goals.html