Community Forestry

Community forestry is collective management of forests by local residents, often in collaboration with diverse interests that have competing claims on forest resources, to enhance community well-being and improve forest health. It entails reconfiguring relationships between communities, the [Page 552]state, and other groups that claim rights to ownership and the benefits of forest management. The goal is to rectify the negative environmental and social impacts of industrial-scale forestry, which has often had significant backing from the state. Although community forestry is intended to build the capacity of communities to steward natural resources and have a voice in their own affairs, it faces challenges in enabling broad and meaningful participation, defining community, and sustainable forest management.