What Is Community Forestry?

This monograph uses community forestry as an all-encompassing operational term. The common denominators in all community forestry programs are their focus on the role of forest-dependent communities in managing resources and in sharing the benefits that flow from those resources. The programs falling under this heading engage in a range of activities, including sustainable management of large forest tracts, reforestation, agroforestry, and roadside plantations. An important aim is to promote productive relations between communities and governmental and non-governmental agencies.

Individual countries use terminology reflecting their own social and historical contexts. For example, in the Philippines the term upland development is commonly used. In Thailand many refer to social forestry, and in India joint forest management has become a major community forestry program. Other terms used in this field include co-management, rural development forestry, and community-based forestry. Because of community forestry's broad scope, some have suggested that forestry for sustainable rural development most aptly captures program aims.

Although this report focuses on the Ford Foundation's support for community forestry programs in Asia, a great many other aid agencies have also provided significant assistance. The Swedish International Development Agency and the United States International Development Agency are particularly important contributors in Asia, as are multilateral agencies such as the U.N. Food and Agricultural Organization, the World Bank, and the Asian Development Bank. There is a growing literature in this field. A few noteworthy references include:

• ■ Ascher, William. 1995. Communities and Sustainable Forestry in Developing Countries. San Francisco: International Center for Self-Governance, Institute for Contemporary Studies.

• ■ FAO (Food and Agricultural Organization). Forests, Trees and People Newsletter. Uppsala, Sweden: Department of Rural Development Studies, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Box 7005, SE-750 07, Uppsala, Sweden. This quarterly publication is distributed to field projects, institutions, organizations, and individuals interested in and/or working with community forestry activities. The network is designed to share information about improved methods of planning and strengthening community forestry activities and about ongoing or planned initiatives of potential interest to its members.

• ■ ODI (Overseas Development Institute). Rural Development Forestry Network Newsletter. London: ODI.

  This semiannual newsletter is published for the network of approximately 2,000 members and contains up-to-date literature and information. The members, most of whom are from developing countries, are natural and social science scholars and practitioners involved in forestry and rural development.

• ■ Lynch, Owen, and Kirk Talbott. 1995. Balancing Acts: Community-Based Forest Management and National Law in Asia and the Pacific. Washington, D.C.: World Resources Institute. This report describes and analyzes the various legal, historical, and cultural settings under which community-based forest management initiatives have been forged, and more important, are being revised in response to ever more severe forest degradation. Case studies include Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Papua New Guinea.

• ■ Poffenberger, Mark (ed.). 1996. Communities and Forest Management: a report of the IUCN Working Group on Community Involvement in Forest Management. Washington, D.C.: IUCN, The World Conservation Union.

  This report from the IUCN Working Group to the Inter-governmental Panel on Forests of the Commission on Sustainable Development gives an overview of global forest management transitions and includes five case studies from developed and developing countries. The report also lists recommendations on long-term strategies for supporting community involvement in the management of forests.

• ■ Poffenberger, Mark (ed.). 1990. Keepers of the Forest: Land Management Alternatives in Southeast Asia. West Hartford: Kumarian Press.

  This volume provides in-depth, historical case studies of forest management as well as tools and techniques for participatory management and community empowerment through social forestry. Case studies include Thailand, the Philippines, Java, and Irian Java.