Project/activity information

Since the promulgation of the Forest Code Law 016/01 in 2001, no community forest has been created in Gabon yet, despite the inclusion of social provisions in this Law in order to promote the involvement of rural communities in the management of forest resources through the establishment of community forests. Thus, the purpose of these provisions is far from being achieved, as the lack of resources did not allow initiating and establishing pilot/model community forests in Gabon.

The project aims at contributing to the sustainable management of the rural forest estate, organizing the village estates and combating poverty in the communities established in the rural areas through the development of community forests. The specific objectives of the project will be: (1) Establishment of three pilot community forests; (2) Development of SFM guidelines for community forests from the model community forest experiment.

Expected outputs of the projects based on the two specific objectives are:
- Local communities have supported the project and are committed to actively participate in the process;
- The simplified management plan is developed and implemented for each community forest;
- Local development is supported by the resources generated by the implementation of the simplified management plan for each community forest;
- The community forest management directives are developed;
- The community forest allocation procedure is developed;
- Enactment provisions of the Community Forest Law are adopted and published;
- A Community Forestry Support Programme is established and made operational within the DGEF; and
- The legal institutional framework is disseminated to all partners.