Community forestry can help reduce deforestation and poverty in tropical countries, but not always both.

Abstract

This paper provides information on the impacts of community forestry policies on poverty alleviation and forest conservation outcomes. In the six years community forestry had been operating, the programme in Kalimantan, Indonesia was associated with both reduced deforestation and poverty in just over half of cases. In other cases there were positive outcomes for forest conservation or poverty alleviation, but not both. Importantly, benefits to forests and people varied substantially depending on where the community forestry was established (in particular the land-use zone designation), and also on underlying community livelihood characteristics.

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