National Strategy for Community Forestry. The Way Ahead.

The National Strategy for Community Forestry is a strategic document applicable at the national level for the medium to long term (5-10 years) whose overall goal is to ensure that forest resources and biodiversity are managed sustainably and equitably producing a wide range of social, economic and environmental goods and services for the optimal benefit of all citizens while still maintaining a minimum of 60% of the land under forest, thereby contributing to “Gross National Happiness”. Therefore te long term vision for community forestry is for a future that is sustainable, affordable, makes a significant contribution to rural livelihoods, poverty reduction and improved forest condition and is resilient to climate change. The following strategic goals are outlined: (1) Enhance the regulatory framework for Community Forestry to ensure that it is enabling rather than enforcing; (2) Manage Community Forests by applying principles of Sustainable Forest Management to achieve both conservation and development outcomes; (3) Manage Community Forests to generate income as well as a wide range of other goods and services; (4) Manage Community Forests to contribute to a reduction in rural poverty; (5) Meet rural timber requirements from Community Forests to the greatest extent possible; (6) Base the management of Community Forests on principles of good governance; (7) Improve awareness of the general public and Government staff about all aspects of Community Forestry; (8) Build capacity to plan for and manage Community Forests; (9) Base technical and socio-economic approaches to Community Forestry on good science; (10) Monitor and evaluate the biophysical and socio-economic outcomes of Community Forestry.
The strategy aims at making forestry more productive and sustainable. At the strategic level, community forestry should balance conservation with sustainable utilization.
The strategy also aims at recuding rural poverty through community forestry. The objective is to ensure that rural communities are able to meet the majority of their timber demands from their own community forests, and derive economic benefits from the sustainable management of their forests through sale of forest products and services.
In addition, the strategy seeks to enable more inclusive and efficient systems in the field of community forestry. In this context, the vision is for community forests available to all rural communities that are able and willing to manage them. The active participation of women is promoted.
The instrument also seeks to increase the resilience of livelihood to disasters. The objective is that community forestry management carried out in an adaptive, flexible, action learning manner to respond positively to uncertain social outcomes and unintended consequences as well as future shocks from climate change or other events.
In the field of governance, one of the guiding principles is support decentralization and devolution through empowerment of local communities to manage their local forests. At this regard, Strategy 6 seeks to base the management of Community Forests on principles of good governance (embracing transparency, accountability, participation, predictability, empowerment, inclusiveness, equity and benefit sharing) and in line with decentralisation and devolution policies.