September 2016: The International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO) is highlighting the outcomes of projects in Colombia, Indonesia and Panama as part of the growing evidence that local communities can be excellent forest managers, to the extent that policies on land tenure, markets and other factors allow.

According to ITTO, four projects focused on building the capacity of communities to restore their lands and sustainably manage their forests, and on creating the enabling conditions for them to do so. The Indonesian project aimed to improve the participation of forest-dependent communities in promoting the sustainable use of non-timber forest products. Its success was attributed largely to the participatory approach used in the development of training modules, management plans, business models and policy options and the active participation of stakeholders. The Colombian project helped find alternative productive activities for communities that formerly cultivated illegal coca. It resulted in the development of various tree-based land-use options such as agroforestry, silvopastoral systems and rubber cultivation. The ITTO project in Panama resulted in the establishment of three community-based forest enterprises to implement sustainable forest management plans, act as commercial and marketing focal points, and supervise and monitor the transport of timber in the area to help reduce illegal logging. A second project helped three ethnic groups in the Chepigana Forest Reserve to implement agroforestry and sustainable forest management practices. A close working relationship with participating communities and respect for their cultures, traditions and ideologies were deemed to be essential for success, while long-term technical assistance was considered necessary for sustainability.

The projects feature in the latest edition of the Organization’s ‘Tropical Forest Update.’ Other articles in the Update address: an assessment by the World Resources Institute of the ITTO Guidelines for the Restoration, Management and Rehabilitation of Degraded and Secondary Tropical Forests, calling for their reassessment to increase their impact; efforts in Guatemala to conduct an inventory of native Dalbergia species with a view to assessing their conservation status; illegal logging of bubinga in Cameroon; wildfire in Togo; and market trends. [Tropical Forest Update 25, no. 2]