CIFOR–ICRAF publishes over 750 publications every year on agroforestry, forests and climate change, landscape restoration, rights, forest policy and much more – in multiple languages.

CIFOR–ICRAF addresses local challenges and opportunities while providing solutions to global problems for forests, landscapes, people and the planet.

We deliver actionable evidence and solutions to transform how land is used and how food is produced: conserving and restoring ecosystems, responding to the global climate, malnutrition, biodiversity and desertification crises. In short, improving people’s lives.

Introduction

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This chapter focuses on community forestry in the USA and in California in particular illustrate the dense webs of collaboration involving local communities on the one hand and federal, state, county, and local district authorities; potential funders; environmental organisations; consultants; buyers; etc. on the other. Community forestry also encompasses assessments of its present and potential roles in addressing issues from global climate heating, habitat and biodiversity losses to local concerns over access and benefit sharing, strengthened tenure rights, distributive equity, transparency, and good governance. The chapter discusses the concept of CF as a system for local development, with evidence showing that the original intentions of community forestry to deliver social and economic benefits to communities have largely been captured by private operators, mirroring the experiences described in Liberia. Globally, on paper, legal recognition of the tenure rights of Indigenous peoples and local communities has increased compared to a baseline established in 2002.

DOI:
https://doi.org/10.4324/9780367488710-1
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