Locally controlled forestry
What is locally controlled forestry?
Rights-holder groups have agreed on the following explanation for locally controlled forestry:
Local means near or in the forest, where you can literally hear and see what goes on, and are therefore able to appreciate on a daily basis the multiple values that forest landscapes provide. Conversely, policy-makers and investors are usually far from the forest and may focus on a narrower subset of forest landscape values (e.g. timber revenues) to the detriment of the integrated whole.
The word control is connected to rights and responsibilities, with an emphasis on the idea that local management and political control is good for the people and good for the forest.
Taken together, the words local control mean formal or informal ownership, management or use by forest dependent people such as smallholders, local communities and Indigenous Peoples, as opposed to those owned, managed or used by large companies or the state.
Locally controlled forests involve one billion people and one quarter of the world’s forests, providing $75 – $100 billion per year in goods and services and a broad range of other economic, environmental, social, cultural and spiritual benefits. Learn more about Locally Controlled Forestry (LCF)
