To increase forest farmers’ income and promote the rapid development of collective forest areas, China has implemented reforms of its collective forest tenure system since 2003. The main thrusts of these reforms have been clarifying property rights, reducing taxes, liberalizing business operations, and regulating the transfer of rights over forest land. It is demonstrated that forest farmers have been greatly motivated to engage in forestry production since being granted use rights over forest land and disposal rights over forest. However, the allocating of forests to individual households has also resulted in forest land fragmentation and small-scale management, which have hampered individual farmers’ access to technical services, forest fire prevention, pest and disease control, forest road construction, etc. Collective management is an effective way of solving these problems. Supported by the government, various forms of forest farmer cooperative organizations (FFCOs) have been established and have rapidly increased in number. This report collects and assesses good practices from the FFCOs in China. Case studies are an effective tool for exploring and understanding the development experience and existing problems of FFCOs. This report gathers case studies on FFCOs of different types to analyse their successful experiences and good practices, and to identify their role in poverty reduction. The report therefore not only facilitates the healthy and sustainable development of FFCOs in China, but also contributes to a larger best practices document for forest producer organizations in developing countries around the world.

Type of Case
Printed publication (book, sourcebook, journal article…)

Publisher
FAO

Region
Asia Pacific

Biome
All

Forest Type
All forest types (natural and planted)

Primary Designated Function
All