A recent article in the New Era reports on earnings from registered community forests in Namibia.

Last year in Namibia” 16 registered community forests earned N$310″000 (USD$39″000) collectively for rural communities. A community forestry project” based on the Forest Act of 2001″ has enabled participating communities to gain an income from forest management and the marketing of non-timber forest products like wild fruits” honey from bee-keeping” and devil’s claw. There are currently 20″000 beneficiaries of the 16 registered forests in northeastern Namibia.

In addition to providing supplementary income for rural communities” the Namibian community forestry project has the added benefits of promoting sustainable conservation of forestland” strengthening resource-use rights for forest peoples” and improving food security.

Read about the Namibian community forest project here.