ABSTRACT
The exception to community management is, as we highlight, China, which has been devolving management and use rights from national and collective control to individual households, although collective ownership remains. Anecdotal evidence from Kenya shows that successful development of management plans is critical. However, not all forest groups are able to self-organize to manage local forests successfully in a sustainable manner. Forests are increasingly being claimed by the global community. In China, there are multiple levels of stakeholders. Government agencies in China maintain a certain level of control, using instruments such as logging quotas; in addition, because village collectives are legal owners of the forest lands, reform also entails a process of allocating forestlands from villages to individual households. Carbon sequestration is a non-marketed ecosystem service provided by forests in developing countries that is increasingly recognized as a public good of global importance.
