Community forestry is a new concept in the Congo Basin. Outside Cameroon, there are currently no community forests in Central Africa. Despite growing interest expressed by national governments, civil society and donors, the potential of community forestry is still widely misunderstood but deserves to be explored.

Here are some of thoughts on the role of community forestry in strengthening forest and climate governance that emerged from a side event. The event was hosted on 24 October by Fern and its partner members of the African Network on Communities’ Rights (ACRN) of Cameroon, the Central African Republic and Congo.

 During the meeting, participants underscored the importance of developing innovative community forests models that can help protect forests, improve the livelihoods of local communities and increase carbon sequestration, which is the aim of CoNGOs, a collaborative project led by a consortium of NGOs which harnesses community forests to serve communities and ensure sustainable forest management.

 Participants in the meeting agreed on the need to move beyond the conventional contrast between community forestry and industrial logging towards a new paradigm, built on lessons learned from the Cameroonian model.

 The EU which is providing the CBFP Facilitation until the end of 2018 is expected continue supporting improved forest governance in the Congo Basin, including through the use of FLEGT VPA to foster community participation in forest management.

Read more...