Mabu community forest, Mozambique. Why Community Forest Management matters

The briefing advocates for Community Forest Management (CFM) as a superior model for forest conservation and climate action compared to industrial logging and state-led protected areas. It highlights CFM's role in carbon storage and biodiversity protection, while warning against market-based mechanisms like REDD+ that may lead to land grabbing. The document recommends that governments recognize communal land tenure and prioritize CFM to meet international biodiversity targets.

• Community Forest Management (CFM) contributes to climate change mitigation through high levels of carbon storage and by reducing or reversing forest loss in countries such as Brazil, Honduras, Niger, and Nepal.
• CFM is often more effective at halting deforestation and biodiversity loss than absolute protection regimes; a meta-analysis of 40 Protected Areas and 33 CFM experiences across Mexico, South America, Africa, and Asia showed CFM areas had a lower and less variable annual deforestation rate.
• Successful CFM initiatives are underpinned by specific variables, including tenure security, clear ownership, local authority, strong local leadership, and congruence between the socioeconomic and biophysical boundaries of resources.
• Market-oriented mechanisms such as REDD+ and carbon markets are viewed as antithetical to CFM because they increase the risk of land grabbing by external investors and may force communities into complex legal contracts with little benefit.
• The 'Protected Areas' approach used by the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) can threaten CFM by excluding communities from their territories, despite evidence that CFM can be equally or more effective.
• CFM supports climate change adaptation, specifically in coastal areas, where activities like mangrove restoration provide protection against extreme weather events.

APA

Friends of the Earth International (2015). Mabu community forest, Mozambique. Why Community Forest Management matters. https://www.foei.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Why-Community-Forest-Management-matters-Lobby-briefing.pdf

Chicago

Friends of the Earth International. Mabu community forest, Mozambique. Why Community Forest Management matters. 2015. https://www.foei.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Why-Community-Forest-Management-matters-Lobby-briefing.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Friends of the Earth International |title=Mabu community forest, Mozambique. Why Community Forest Management matters |date=November 2015 |url=https://www.foei.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Why-Community-Forest-Management-matters-Lobby-briefing.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{friendsoftheearthinternational2015mabu, author = {{Friends of the Earth International}}, title = {{Mabu community forest, Mozambique. Why Community Forest Management matters}}, institution = {Friends of the Earth International}, year = {2015}, month = nov, url = {https://www.foei.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Why-Community-Forest-Management-matters-Lobby-briefing.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }