The Governance of Forests Initiative (GFI) Guidance Manual

The GFI Guidance Manual provides a qualitative framework for assessing forest governance based on three components (Actors, Rules, Practices) and five principles of good governance (Transparency, Participation, Accountability, Coordination, Capacity). It offers a menu of indicators across six thematic areas—Tenure, Land Use, Management, Revenues, Institutions, and Cross-Cutting Issues—to help researchers and civil society organizations diagnose governance weaknesses and support sustainable forest management and REDD+ programs.

• The Governance of Forests Initiative (GFI) is a global network of civil society organizations from Brazil, Indonesia, Cameroon, and the United States that promotes policies to strengthen forest governance for sustainable forest management and improved local livelihoods.
• The GFI framework defines forest governance through three foundational components: Actors (people and institutions), Rules (policies, laws, and regulations), and Practices (how actors apply rules at an operational level).
• Good forest governance is benchmarked against five core principles: Transparency (revealing actions for scrutiny), Participation (meaningful input from diverse stakeholders), Accountability (oversight, answerability, and enforcement), Coordination (horizontal and vertical cooperation), and Capacity (resources to perform functions).
• The GFI Indicator Framework is organized into six thematic areas: Forest Tenure, Land Use, Forest Management, Forest Revenues, Cross-Cutting Institutions, and Cross-Cutting Issues.
• GFI indicators are qualitative and designed to evaluate the quality of processes rather than measuring specific impacts or outcomes.
• Each GFI indicator consists of a title, a diagnostic question, and three to six 'elements of quality' that guide data collection and structured assessment.
• The framework uses a mixed-methods approach for data collection, relying on laws, policies, civil society and government reports, and interviews with stakeholders such as government officials, academics, and indigenous peoples.
• The GFI indicators can be adapted to assess programs to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+), specifically regarding stakeholder participation and government capacity.
• Pilot assessments of the GFI Indicator Framework were conducted by civil society organizations in Brazil, Cameroon, and Indonesia between 2009 and 2011.
• The framework is applicable to any forest ecosystem (tropical, temperate, boreal) and any governance regime, including publicly owned, privately owned, or community-managed forests.

APA

Williams, L., Breitfeller, J., & Lim, C. (n.d.). The Governance of Forests Initiative (GFI) Guidance Manual. World Resources Institute. https://wriorg.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/gfi_guidance_manual.pdf

Chicago

Williams, Lauren, Jessica Breitfeller, and Celine Lim. The Governance of Forests Initiative (GFI) Guidance Manual. World Resources Institute, n.d. https://wriorg.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/gfi_guidance_manual.pdf.

Wikipedia

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BibTeX

@techreport{williamsndgovernance, author = {Williams, Lauren and Breitfeller, Jessica and Lim, Celine}, title = {{The Governance of Forests Initiative (GFI) Guidance Manual}}, institution = {World Resources Institute}, url = {https://wriorg.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/gfi_guidance_manual.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }