Forests for People

[

] 226

interests in policy development, forest product markets

and the development of appropriate support services. The

underlying reason is inadequate cooperation among forest

communities and their enterprises. Forest users’ organi-

zations, networks and alliances are essential to advance

community forestry and CFEs. There has been extensive

reliance on external intermediaries such as non-govern-

mental organizations and government agencies, with

a focus on short-term project approaches to providing

support. Building up community capacity is, however, a

long-term endeavour. Capacity-building is also needed

in forest agencies to create new attitudes and skills to

enhance their facilitation role.

In spite of its importance, traditional knowledge is not

usually enough when forests are managed for market-

based production purposes. Indigenous peoples and forest

communities typically lack essential managerial and tech-

nical skills, knowledge and experience in running CFEs

and accessing markets. This is a key constraint which

also makes communities vulnerable to external pressures

and illicit activities. Building up community capacity to

plan, utilize, monitor and control their forest resources

is therefore critical to reduce illegal logging and associ-

ated trade. However, in most ITTO-producing member

countries a shortage of targeted capacity-building and

training facilities, weak local intermediaries and inad-

equate support to community-based organizations are

retarding progress. Valuable lessons learned have been

accumulated in many countries but this knowledge has

not been sufficiently used to replicate and upscale success-

ful experiences. Traditional knowledge should not be lost

as it can provide invaluable support to sustainable forest

management if systematized, improved and disseminated

together with modern tools to increase competitiveness

and market-based approaches.

utilization and community investment. This is partly explained by

inappropriate legal and policy frameworks which have often been

designed for large-scale private operators and tend to be biased

against small-scale operators like CFEs.

In various ITTO producing member countries there is a lack of

clear government policies on community forest management, which

is reflected in the absence of targeted public support to this activ-

ity. National policies tend to overlook the economic potential of

community forestry and the important social, cultural and other

benefits of CFEs. Even where policies exist, forest authorities do not

tend to have confidence in the capacity of indigenous peoples and

communities to sustainably manage their forest resources.

Consultations with ITTO producing member country focal

points have revealed that, in countries with no or weak community

forests, government institutions do not fully understand commu-

nity priorities. In most countries, even where legal reforms have

been carried out, the regulatory frameworks reflect outmoded tenure

arrangements and can make it impossible for small-scale actors and

communities to benefit from the reforms. Discriminatory rules

and regulations can represent fundamental challenges for forest

communities and the rural poor.

Regulations often prevent legal

access to forests and markets, unduly raise the transaction costs for

community enterprises and promote unfair sharing of benefits and

corruption. In addition, arbitrary changes of rules and obligations

can have dire consequences for local people.

Regarding social assets, weak internal organization is often found

in forest communities, particularly those which have a heterogene-

ous ethnic population structure. This is often associated with differing

priorities and conflicting interests among community members, some-

times resulting in inequitable sharing of benefits. Basic organizational

capacity and effective participation of all members of the community,

including women and marginalized groups, are preconditions for

success in such targeted joint efforts as sustainable forest management.

Being small and isolated, forest communities do not represent the

necessary critical mass as a stakeholder group to promote common

Community forest nurseries have an important role to play in education

Ashaninka family in community forestry plantation, Peru

Image: Ruben Guevara, ITTO