WHAT IS THE OBJECTIVE OF COMMUNITY FORESTRY?
• 3.LESSONS LEARNED: ENABLING ENVIRONMENT FOR COMMUNITY FORESTRY AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT • 4. COMMUNITY FORESTRY AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: THE CHALLENGES • 5.SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS 1 Community Forestry United, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Rome, Italy. 2.WHAT IS THE OBJECTIVE OF COMMUNITY FORESTRY? Since its formal inception, community forestry has been often perceived primarily as a strategy to halt deforestation by maintaining or increasing forest cover, rather than as a strategy to meet what had been the initial objectives of both conserving forests and providing both direct and indirect benefits for communities that would support rural development. This emphasis on conserving or expanding the forests rather than rural development is not surprising since during the initial development of community forestry environmental issues, especially the perception that forest resources were declining because of the fuelwood needs of communities, were ve
