Forest Governance

Overview

For the last ten years, PADEV has consistently assisted the Forestry Development Authority (FDA) to model a forest governance system that ensures compliance with the framework of community-based natural resource management To support communities to acquire the legal requirements that qualify them to attain Authorized Forest Community (AFC), PADEV introduced the Community Forest Organizing Committee (CFOC). This approach devolves greater responsibilities to local communities to go through the Nine-Step process. Adopted by FDA; this arrangement deters elite influence in the acquisition of AFC and allows forest fringe communities to navigate and appreciate the value in traversing the Nine-Step process without elite interference and influence. PADEV was the first to pilot and support communal forest governance institutions in communities at the peripheries of the Sapo National Park (SNP). When we set build governance bodies, we improve their institutional capacity, serve as their mentor and provide them foundational knowledge to manage their groups in a more responsible and systematic manner. Members of our team who lead forest governance activities are adept in the laws, policies and regulatory framework that guide sustainable forest management (SFM), biodiversity conservation, forest governance and climate change. The cadre of staff at PADEV made meaningful contribution to the development of the Community Rights Law (CRL) of 2009 with Respect to Forestland, led efforts to pilot it and actively participated in national and regional consultations which led to the development of the regulation to the law.