No abstract

Community forests managed by indigenous, traditional, and local communities must be environmentally, socially, and economically sustainable for their benefits to persist. Certification of community forests communicates that products harvested there meet these standards. However, certification of community forests has been limited, particularly in Africa. Financial analysis, review of audit reports, and a survey of forest managers were used to explore monetary and non-monetary social costs and benefits of Forest Stewardship Council certification for 14 timberproducing community forests managed by traditional peoples in south-eastern Tanzania. Direct monetary costs of certification outweighed monetary benefits, threatening economic sustainability. Nevertheless, forest managers believed that community forests should retain certification because they valued its non-monetary benefits, which were consistent with the Forest Stewardship Council's social principles. This study demonstrates that certification of community forests can help indigenous and traditional peoples ensure safe working conditions, strengthen forest tenure rights, sustain multiple community benefits, and protect culturally-important sites, however, financial barriers persist.

In Africa, forest tenure reform to decentralize forest management from central governments to local communities has been occurring since the 1990s to promote forest conservation, poverty alleviation, and sustainable forest-based livelihoods. African governments and donor organizations continue to invest in community forestry, raising the question of what contributes to "success." The present study examines social, economic, and biophysical factors that contribute to success, or lack thereof, in community forestry in southeastern Tanzania. There, community forest enterprises produce commercial timber from natural stands in community forests certified by the Forest Stewardship Council. We compare success across 14 certified community forests using local criteria, emphasizing total revenue earned because half of this revenue is invested in creating community benefits, which incentivize sustainable forest management. Our methods include financial analysis, analysis of potential linkages between success outcomes and attributes of villages and community forests, key informant interviews, and a survey of forest managers. We found that for community forestry with community forest enterprises that produce commercial timber to be most successful, success factors for both community forestry and small-scale, forest-based enterprises must be present and co-occur. In particular, we highlight the importance of having large community forests with a high natural endowment of merchantable timber species for success. A favorable national policy environment, good governance and support at the community and district government levels, secure tenure, tangible benefits, and long-term technical and financial support from a local organization were also important. In addition, we examine the role of forest certification in contributing to success, finding it does so by reinforcing many other success factors. We draw insights from the Tanzanian case that may be relevant for community forestry elsewhere in Africa where community forest enterprises producing commercial timber operate or are desired.