The Rainforest Alliance believes that the best guardian of the forests are local communities and indigenous peoples. But forest communities often lack the enabling environment and access to the resources that would enable their forest-related enterprises to meet their full economic potential. Successful outcomes from community forestry can be explained partly by whether there is a community of practice linking local people to external forest professionals for mutual learning. To develop successful community forests, the Rainforest Alliance is convinced of the need for partnerships between communities and other organizations—government, NGOs, and private companies.

The Rainforest Alliance thus believes that action beyond individual supply chains is necessary to achieve our vision where nature and people thrive together. Through membership in Forest Allies, business partners support the Rainforest Alliance’s model of Integrated Community Forest Management (ICFM), which focuses on both preserving or restoring natural forests and partnering with communities to build strong local economies. Forest Allies has been designed as a mechanism for obtaining and pooling private sector funding for development projects focused on implementing ICFM.

This initiative, through the projects which it supports, contributes to the 1t.org vision and objectives. For the first 3 years, the partners will fund projects in Indonesia, Peru, Colombia, Guatemala and Cameroon, leading to approximately 338,850 HA sustainably managed, restored or protected, as well as 7,433 2000 Livelihoods improved. Forest Allies Projects include:

-The Smallholder Timber Project, Java & Lampung, Indonesia

The objective of this project is to support community cooperatives to deploy FSC smallholder certification, access new markets and build a successful enterprise. Key efforts include mapping of potential buyers, preparation for FSC RFSS smallholder standard audit, and conducting a cost-benefit analysis of FSC RFSS Regional standard w/ FSC Indonesia.

-The Indigenous Economies Project, San Martin, Peru

The objective of this project is to complement to existing responsible forest management project in Amazon Basin, expand to 6 additional Indigenous Communities to support enterprise development for Non-timber forest products, develop market promotion strategy for NTFP products from Indigenous communities. This project covers 6 Indigenous Communities; (2000 individuals); + 199,737 HA of humid tropical forest ecosystems in Amazon basin, largely intact and with great biodiversity.

-Restoring the Chiribiquete National Park Buffer Zone, The Yaguara II Indigenous Reserve Guaviare, Colombia

The objective of this project is to support agroforestry, forest restoration and NTFP development in the degraded buffer zone around the Chiribiquete National Park. This project will develop a NTFP plan on Shillinga (natural rubber tree), strengthen Asociación de Juntas de Acción Comunal del Capricho (ASOCAPRICHO) local business and agroforestry capacities, develop the agroforestry model with high-value species, and work on conservation areas. The project will cover 83,763 HA and a total of 283 indigenous peoples spread over 85 families

-Testing Productive Restoration, Maya Biosphere Reserve buffer zone, Peten, Guatemala

The objective of this project is to pilot and test “productive restoration concessions” to improve natural processes of forest regeneration in order to maintain the ecosystem of the buffer zone in the long term, define the forest management needs in the short, medium and long term in order to provide local families the resources they need (e.g. firewood, wood for construction) while restoring and protecting the forest, implement agroforestry practices in the short and medium-term with a vision for achieving long-term forest restoration, implement silvopastoral systems to recover soil fertility in agricultural and livestock areas as well as provide economic, ecological and cultural alternatives to the producers.

-The Cameroon Project, Mintom forest Landscape and in the Western Highlands, Cameroon

The objective of this project is to reduce tropical deforestation and enhance forest restoration in Cameroon through an Integrated Community Forest Management approach in which community rights over forest resources are strengthened to prevent forest conversion linked to agriculture, and forest-dependent communities generate higher incomes as economic incentives for forest conservation and restoration. This project is part of a bigger initiative “Removing barriers to biodiversity conservation, land restoration and sustainable forest management through COmmunity-BAsed LAndscape Management – COBALAM”. COBALAM interventions include the Western Highlands of Cameron (WHC) and the South region. Project outcomes and impacts include: forest-dependent communities have secured rights over 55,000 ha of forest resources and capacities to avoid large scale forest conversion, municipalities and communities strengthened to make forest management operations and agricultural production a sustainable business and incentives for forest conservation, communication, knowledge exchange and coordinated action with other actors to put forward integrated community forest management. This project covers 55,000 hectares of landscapes included in the Sustainable Landscape Management plans. 5,000 people in the municipalities, including 50% women, are expected to receive socioeconomic benefits from the uptake of sustainable management practices through this project.