There is a growing consensus that producer organizations are critically important for the sustainable use of natural resources. Representing the collective voices of farmers and forest-dependent people, indigenous groups and rural communities, producer organizations provide essential services to their members and are the building blocks of local democracy. Formal or informal, effective producer organizations identify and agree upon the means to manage their natural resources.
Section 3.1 entitled ‘Building blocks for viable community forestry enterprises’ shares RECOFTC's research findings that point out the challenges behind the growth of community forestry enterprises (CFEs) in the region and discusses why CFEs can indeed add value to local forest economies and help reduce poverty. This publication is published by the European Tropical Forest Research Network (ETFRN).
