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Forestry for Sustainable Rural Development
By the
mid-1980s, in addition to its programs in the Philippines and
India, the Foundation had developed community forestry programs in
Thailand and Indonesia. By 1990 related programs in China and
Bangladesh were under way. The box on page 7 contains summaries of
the Foundation's community forestry programs in the six countries.
The box below provides rough estimates of the land areas and
populations that could potentially benefit from community forestry
programs in each of the six countries. Although lack of reliable
information makes these numbers only broad estimates, they reveal
the impressive potential of these programs to reach the 225 million
to 555 million people whose livelihoods depend on these forest
lands.
Area of Forest Land Available for Community
Forestry and Populations
Involved in Asian Country Programs
| Country |
Potential Land Area
(km2) |
Percent of Total
Area |
Potential Population
(millions) |
Percent of Total
Population |
| Philippines |
100,000 |
62 |
10-20 |
16-31 |
| Indonesia |
1,273,714 |
67 |
30-85 |
16-46 |
| Java |
33,047 |
25 |
20 |
19 |
| Outer Is. |
1,240,667 |
70 |
10-65 |
13-81 |
| Bangladesh |
13,500 |
8 |
5-10 |
5-9 |
| Thailand |
205,246 |
40 |
10-15 |
18-27 |
| India |
300,000 |
9 |
50-250 |
6-28 |
| China |
1,500,000 |
16 |
90 |
8 |
| Total |
4,666,174 |
|
225-555 |
|
Elements
of Community Forestry Supported by the Ford Foundation
Activities
supported by the Ford Foundation have addressed five interrelated
aspects of community forestry:
-
Strengthening
villagers' control over their livelihoods, especially through more
secure access to public forest lands and greater voice in forest
management. Efforts to broker relations between communities and
more powerful interests, including government forest departments,
have concentrated on increasing the rights of