Sustainable Management of Forest Resources for Village Development

Tropenbos Suriname together with Van Hall Larenstein University of Applied Sciences are developing a project to offer a tailor-made training program on ‘Sustainable Management of Forest Resources for Village Development’ directed to staff members of RO and representatives of villages which practice community forestry.

The project will use the methodologies developed by Tropenbos Colombia for developing training programs in intercultural contexts. The process starts with consultation between RO and the village on the needs of the village and what RO can do to address these needs. Through an assessment of the village and its environment, the process results in a jointly formulated development plan for community forests and the preliminary formulation of locally driven, natural-resource-based, economic and sustainable small-scale projects that support village development.

At the end of the project the skills of the participants on issues such as sound decision-making and policy planning will be improved. Furthermore, the participants will gain knowledge and develop the necessary skills to assist village communities to articulate their needs, give advice, and co-develop locally driven small scale development projects. Additionally, villagers will be able to better negotiate and deal with loggers, resolve conflicts, and manage community forests.

Community forests managed in a sustainable way not only benefit the local communities, but society in general, as the various agricultural and timber exploitation activities in the forest can be regulated and sustainable. Suriname will also be able to better fulfill its obligations towards global conventions on climate change and biodiversity.