Community Forest Management

This first installment in the Alliance’s "Great Ideas" video series looks at how Community Forest Management is helping countries achieve goals for people and conservation far beyond what conventional protected area strategies can do. The video features two notable authorities on the practice: Andy White, Coordinator at Rights and Resources Initiative and Mark Poffenberger, Executive Director of Community Forestry International.

Learn more about Community Forest Management

Report: Turning Point, What future for forest peoples and resources in the emerging world order?

Rights and Resources Initiative

Community Forestry International

Andy White, PhD

Coordinator, Rights and Resources Initiative
Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI) is a global coalition of organizations working together to help communities better manage their forests and recognize their rights. RRI’s 14 core Partners plus 120 Collaborator organizations engage directly in land and forest policy reforms in nearly 20 countries throughout Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

White, an expert in forest tenure and policy, coordinates strategic partner efforts to reduce deforestation and improve conservation. He has worked extensively in Haiti, Mexico and China and supervised policy research and engagement in Asia, Latin America and Africa.

Mark Poffenberger, PhD

Executive Director, Community Forestry International
Community Forestry International (CFI) is a nonprofit organization based in the Bay Area that partners with NGOs, government organizations, and research bodies throughout south and southeast Asia to create networks and facilitate exchange for sustainable community forest management. 

Poffenberger lived in Asia for twenty years conducting research, designing, evaluating, and implementing programs in forest and water management, agro-ecology, population dynamics and rural employment. He has written extensively on CFM issues and published Community Forestry in Southeast Asia (2006).