![©FAO Qiang Ma ©FAO Qiang Ma](/images/forestrylibraries/default-album/banners/img_0660_1100.jpg?sfvrsn=1f110858_0)
Social protection and forestry
Social protection is a set of policies and programmes designed to help reduce and prevent poverty and vulnerability, and ensure income security. Most food insecure and poor people with the greatest need for social protection live in rural areas and depend on natural resources – including forests – for their livelihoods. Forests serve as a safety net in times of crisis and increase the resilience of forest communities. However, forest-dependent communities are also vulnerable to ecological degradation and climate change, and are often in remote and disconnected rural areas characterized by low levels of market development and poor access to public goods and social services.
Social protection involves three pillars:
- Social assistance: alleviating chronic or transient poverty through non-contributory programmes, which are publicly provided, for most vulnerable individuals or households with limited other means of adequate support that can be provided in-kind or in cash.
- Social insurance: mitigating risks associated with poor health, old age, pregnancy (and post-natal care), unemployment, work injury and disability. Social insurance is derived from contributory schemes with part funding coming from the state.
- Labour market protection: creating employment and promoting livelihoods through generated economic opportunities, improved quality of employment and protects workers through improved working conditions, as well as training and skills development that target unemployed and underemployed rural workers.
FAO works to:
- expand the coverage of social protection to forest-dependent communities, households and forest workers
- strengthen the coherence between forestry and social protection policies and programmes
- improve the role of rural forest producer organizations in social protection
- promote decent forestry employment opportunities
Forestry and social protection must be better aligned, says new report
![Forestry and social protection must be better aligned, says new report Strengthening coherence forestry and social protection](https://www.fao.org/images/forestrylibraries/default-album/banners/strengthening-coherence-forestry-and-social-protection4c98b74e-9e17-4513-b5ab-f0a09a9f21b0.jpeg?sfvrsn=a54122e3_1)
Approximately one-third of the world’s people depend on forests for their livelihoods and are often poor and geographically, politically and socially marginalized, according to the publication, entitled Strengthening coherence between forestry and social protection for sustainable agrifood systems transformation – Framework for analysis and action.
FAO has estimated that 251 million people living in tropical forests and savannahs in developing regions have incomes of less than USD 1.25 per day.
“Forest dependent people are among the poorest in the world,” said Ewald Rametsteiner, Deputy Director of FAO’s Forestry Division.
“At the moment there are often gaps in social protection for these people that forestry is effectively trying to fill. There is huge potential to improve lives by making sure these policies are complementary and consistent.”
Reducing poverty and vulnerability
Social protection – defined as a set of policies and programmes for addressing economic, environmental and social vulnerabilities to food insecurity and poverty by protecting and promoting livelihoods – is recognized as a critical strategy in reducing poverty and vulnerabilities to shocks in countries. Yet it does not reach many remote rural people.
Meanwhile, forestry policies seek to build resilience and improve the livelihoods of the people who depend on and manage forests sustainably.
The report, which builds on published evidence from different continents and case studies from China, Burkina Faso, Kenya, Uganda and the United Republic of Tanzania, presents evidence on vulnerabilities of forest-dependent people and analyses existing gaps in the provision of social protection for them.
It explains the overlap between forestry and social protection and the potential for consolidating efforts, preventing duplication and making more efficient use of scarce resources.
The report also proposes a framework for strengthening the coherence between forestry and social protection policy and programmes for poverty reduction and forest conservation.
The report recommends that governments, development partners and civil society organizations develop cross-sectoral policies and “packages” of social protection and forestry interventions. They need to share information, clearly define shared targets and harmonize monitoring and evaluation systems.
The necessary finance can be leveraged through cross-sectoral investment plans, global financing schemes, pooling of funds and investment of local taxes, according to the publication.
Related publication
Publications@Model.TitleStyle>
Events@Model.TitleStyle>
22/ 7
2020
Social protection for forest-dependent communities: Building on the response to the COVID-19 pandemic for more resilient forest livelihoods
Virtual Event, 22/07/2020
Increasing knowledge on the role and opportunities of social protection in the COVID-19 response and to support recovery for forest-dependent communities.
5/ 6
2019
6/6
2019
Expert meeting to discuss the draft guiding framework for strengthening coherence between forestry and social protection for forest-dependent communities
Rome (Italy), 05/06/2019 - 06/06/2019
The objective of the expert meeting is to provide technical comments and inputs to the draft guiding framework for strengthening coherence between forestry and social protection for forest-dependent communities. FAO Forestry Division is developing this guiding framework in cooperation with the UNU-MERIT.
19/ 7
2018
Creating synergies between forestry and social protection
Rome (Italy), 19/07/2018
Since 2016, FAO has worked to expand the coverage of social protection measures to forest-dependent communities and to strengthen coherence between forestry and social protection.