The Yale Forest Forum is excited to announce the next speaker series for the spring 2021 semester, jointly hosted by The Forests Dialogue and the Urban Resources Initiative.
The Promise and Practice of Community-Based Forestry
Community-based forestry intends to create pathways for local people to have decision-making control of forest management. The key strategy of community-based forestry is to equitably empower all local stakeholders through a long-term, landscape-based, and inclusive approach to supporting local communities to secure their land and resource rights, stop deforestation, find alternative livelihoods, and foster gender equity. Key community stakeholders include historically marginalized groups such as Indigenous people and ethnic minorities, as well as those who have geographic, economic, social, and cultural relationships with their local forests. Small holders and family forest owners are important parts of community forestry models as well. The Community Based Natural Resource Management paradigm places natural resource protection and management responsibility with the local people in exchange for a sharing of the benefits derived from that protection and sustainable management.
Speakers will describe their personal and organizational experience with community forestry, the benefits of this inclusive approach, and address challenges to ensure equitable participation and sustainable forest management.
Join us every Thursday from February 4-April 29 from 11:30am-12:10pm ET.
| Date | Speaker | Title & Organization | Talk title | Speaker Information | Readings | Webinar |
| Feb. 4 | David Ganz | Executive Director, RECOFTC | Community Forestry: Foundations and practice for improving lives and landscapes | Biography & Abstract | Chapters 1-3 | Slides, Recording, Q&A |
| Feb. 11 | Víctor López | Program Officer, Natural Resources and Climate Change, Ford Foundation | Achievements, Challenges, and Perspectives of Community-Based Forestry in Central America | Biography & Abstract | Chapter 4, e360 article | Slides, Recording |
| Feb. 18 | Caroline Scanlan | GreenSkills Manager, URI, Yale School of the Environment |
A University Model for Clinical Urban Community Forestry Training |
Biography & Abstract | Slides, Recording | |
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Feb. 25 |
Bhishma Subedi | Executive Director, ANSAB | Community Forestry for Conservation, Livelihoods, and Sustainable Development in South Asia | Biography & Abstract | Pages vii-xii, Pages 54-65 | Recording |
| Mar. 4 | Milagre Nuvunga | Executive Director, Micaia Foundation | The Evolving Nature of CBFM in Parts of Africa with Particular Emphasis on Mozambique | Biography & Abstract | Chapter 5 | Recording |
| Mar. 18 | Erika Svendsen | Social Scientist/Team Leader, NYC Urban Field Station, U.S. Forest Service | On the Frontlines of Change and Transformation: How the community forester is essential to our shared future | Biography & Abstract | Recording | |
| Mar. 25 | Kim Yuan-Farrell | Executive Director, The Park People | Building Community Tools for Urban Forestry | Biography & Abstract | Recording | |
| Apr. 1 | Fernanda Rodrigues | Executive Secretary, Brazilian Forests Dialogue | Community Forest Management Experiences in Brazil: Scenarios and case studies | Biography & Abstract | Chapter 6 | Recording |
| Apr. 15 | Marcus Colchester | Senior Policy Advisor, Forest Peoples Programme | Some Lessons from Engaged Anthropology and Human Rights Activism | Biography & Abstract | Slides, Recording | |
| Apr. 22 | Cécile Ndjebet | President, African Women’s Network for Community Management of Forests (REFACOF) | What Makes Community Forestry a Success? Examining Tenure, Gender, and Community Entrepreneurship | Biography & Abstract | Chapter 7 | Slides, Recording |
| Apr. 29 | Duncan MacQueen | Principal Researcher and Leader, Natural Resources Research Group, International Institute for Environmental and Development | Organizational Innovations that Make Community Forestry Prosperous | Biography & Abstract | PDF 1, PDF 2 | Slides, Recording |