Sharing the Wealth: Policy and Legal Frameworks to Support Equitable Sharing of Costs and Benefits from Community Forestry

Community forestry has great potential to improve the welfare of the estimated 450 million impoverished people living in and around forests in Asia. But the extent to which this potential is realized depends strongly upon whether communities are able to secure the benefits that community managed forests generate, and whether these actually reach the poorest at the community level. The real benefits obtained in return for the time and energy expended by communities in forest management helps to gain their long-term commitment to sustainable forest management.

The Second Community Forestry Forum was convened with the purpose of sharing experiences among peers on how to distribute the benefits and costs of community forestry more equitably. Policy makers from 14 countries in Asia (Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Mongolia, Nepal, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Timor-Leste and Vietnam) gathered in Bangkok from 23-24 March 2007 to share lessons learned, challenges and innovations on the pressing issue of benefit distribution from community forestry.

This report presents a synthesis of the discussions that occurred over the two days. It provides a useful resource for those within and outside government who share an interest in harnessing community forestry to support poverty reduction and sustainable forest management.