Community forests are widely recognized for their ability to improve rural livelihoods and increase forest cover. Not as much attention has been focused on their potential to conserve biodiversity and on the economic benefits this can bring to communities.
Addressing this gap is important for countries such as Thailand as they work to meet their commitment of protecting 30 percent of their territory for nature by 2030. This ‘30x30’ target is part of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework that parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity agreed in 2022.
While protected areas are the standard approach that governments use to conserve nature, community forests could also contribute to the 30x30 target if they can be shown to conserve biodiversity. Through our Darwin Initiative, RECOFTC is working with our partner, the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), to develop a capacity development initiative for biodiversity management-integrated community forest management planning across Thailand’s community forests.
In June 2023, we hosted a consultation with participants from government agencies, civil society organizations and technical experts to discuss key issues and trends related to biodiversity in the context of Thailand’s community forests. In July and August 2023, we led two three-day training workshops for members of 28 community forests from 10 Thai provinces. The first workshop focused on the importance of data collection and biodiversity surveys. In the second workshop, participants learned how to do such surveys and integrate them into their community forest management plans.
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We now have a simplified method for assessing and monitoring biodiversity to provide community forest users with data that they can use to plan the conservation of their biological resources, as well as sustainably utilize and develop forest-based products and services.
These developments will ensure better management of biodiversity in community forests by informing changes to management practices. We also hope the documented information will lead to opportunities for community forests to become recognized under ‘other effective area-based conservation measures’ or gain more support in the future. Ultimately, biodiversity management could also enable community forests to attract new flows of finance while helping Thailand to achieve the 30x30 target.