Community forest governance and synergies among carbon, biodiversity and livelihoods

Abstract

Forest landscape restoration has emerged as a key strategy to sequester atmospheric carbon and conserve biodiversity while providing livelihood co-benefits for indigenous peoples and local communities. Using a dataset of 314 forest commons in human-dominated landscapes in 15 tropical countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America, we examine the relationships among carbon sequestered in above-ground woody biomass, tree species richness and forest livelihoods. We find five distinct clusters of forest commons, with co-benefits and trade-offs on multiple dimensions. The presence of a formal community management association and local participation in rule-making are consistent predictors of multiple positive outcomes. These findings, drawn from a range of contexts globally, suggest that empowered local forest governance may support multiple objectives of forest restoration. Our analysis advances understanding of institutional aspects of restoration while underscoring the importance of analysing the interconnections among multiple forest benefits to inform effective interventions for multifunctional tropical forests.Forest restoration is emerging as a key climate mitigation strategy. In this study, the authors find that formalized local control and substantive involvement in rule-making are associated with synergies for carbon sequestration, biodiversity and rural livelihoods.

Published in

Nature Climate Change
2023, volume: 13, number: 12, pages: 1340-1347
Publisher: NATURE PORTFOLIO

SLU Authors

• Fischer, Harry

  • Department of Urban and Rural Development, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

Global goals (SDG)

SDG15 Life on land

UKÄ Subject classification

Forest Science
Human Geography
Social Sciences Interdisciplinary

Publication identifier

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-023-01863-6

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/126965