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Working towards sustainable development
through small forest enterprises
Laura Schweitzer Meins, Sophie Grouwels and Rao Matta, Food and Agriculture Organization
A
ll people need forests and trees – for clean air and
water, for construction materials and furniture, for a
wide variety of edible and pharmaceutical products and
as aesthetic retreats. For some, however, that reliance is more
deeply experienced. Estimates have indicated that as many as 60
million of the world’s poorest people depend almost completely
on forests for their subsistence and survival.
1
Through hunting,
gathering and shifting cultivation, these populations consume a
range of forest products, such as fruits, roots, bush meat, oils,
gums, medicinal plants and fuelwood.
An even greater number make use of forests for cash income genera-
tion. Approximately 350 million rural people living in and around
forests rely upon forest resources as a source of supplemental
income. A further 500 million to one billion smallholder farmers
grow trees or manage remnant forests on their farms for subsistence
and supplementary income generation and 45 million artisans and
other individuals work in or run informal forest-based enterprises.
2
Small forest enterprises
Many forest-dependent communities have few options for generat-
ing income. Moreover, they lack the means for – and incentives to
encourage – the caretaking of the forests around them.
Under these circumstances, forests are often used as
a source of quick and inexpensive or free resources.
This is problematic because harvesting under these
circumstances is usually carried out without sufficient
knowledge of or regard for long-term sustainability of
the forest ecosystem and its resources.
Small forest enterprises (SFEs) have generated a lot
of excitement as a tool for sustainable development
because they can serve as an engine for economic devel-
opment and a driver for environmental conservation,
most particularly in areas in which people are closely
tied to the natural resource base. Already, SFEs repre-
sent as much as 80-90 per cent of overall enterprise
numbers and can account for more than 50 per cent of
forest-related jobs.
3
While SFEs based on locally and sustainably harvested
forest resources can provide a good income generation
option for people in rural communities and can be a
mechanism for achieving improved environmental
protection, such outcomes can only arise if there is a
supportive, enabling environment. This means having
A market in Brazil selling traditional forest-based oils, creams, ointments and medicines
A basket weaving enterprise in Lao PDR
Image: Roberto Faidutti, 1999
Image: Thibault Ledecq, 2011