Assessing the Governance of Tenure for Improving Forests and Livelihoods

This paper presents a tool for understanding the strengths and limitations of forest tenure reforms. It was developed to recognize the resource use rights of local communities, with the overall objective of improving forest governance and reducing poverty. It draws upon the internationally endorsed Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests as its basis, and serves as an important instrument to inform the revision of forest policies and laws. Many countries around the world have parallel tenure systems: statutory tenure introduced during the colonial period and then adopted by countries upon independence, and customary tenure based on local rules. Through the adoption of statutory tenure, countries have attempted to replace customary tenure systems. This has resulted in a loss of rights of local communities, an increase in poverty among populations, tenure insecurity for rural communities and others, and conflict due to overlapping and unclear tenure arrangements. As experienced in the test countries, the findings and recommendations emerging from the assessments can provide valuable insights into the strengths and limitations of existing tenure arrangements and reforms and help generate ideas for boosting their performance by improving forest governance, strengthening local livelihoods, and contributing to a range of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).