Community based forest management (CBFM) is a type of social forestry which can help to manage forests more sustainably, slow deforestation and protect local livelihoods. CBFM involves community groups managing the forests they own or managing state-owned forests where they share customary land tenure rights. The implementation of CBFM Management is proven to have positive impacts on governance for forest and land, it allows local people to utilize ancestral knowledge for the maintenance of their lands, benefitting food security, cultural diversity, social cohesion and markets. However, the process of attaining CBFM and establishing land tenure for communities is a difficult one. Communities and lands often suffer due to conflicts in tenure and badly enforced land management practices, they must be protected in order to sustain the environment and improve the welfare of communities around the forest.

How SETAPAK helps?

• Promoting the rule of law and the rights of indigenous communities.
• Ensuring sound policy to support the rights of indigenous peoples.
• Supporting effective resolutions for issues related to the rights of the community management areas.
• Encouraging the expansion of community managed areas through basing area zoning on local wisdom and values of the local community.
• Supporting the development of CBFM for village forest, community plantation forest, and community forest proposals.
• Assisting in developing regulation and traditional institutions that promote customary land rights.
• SETAPAK’s partners in Borneo have supported legislating rules and improving policies to clarify the rights of communities and protect vital water sources and endangered forests from extractive industries.