ABSTRACT
In the Netherlands, novel types of community forestry are emerging. The original interpretation of community forestry as common property management connected to indigenous or traditional ecological knowledge hardly applies to these modern manifestations of community forestry. The Dutch cases are primarily based on common identities rather than on common property, and they focus on the management of integrated green spaces rather than of forests only. These examples illustrate how in response to processes of modernisation, both the institutional context of community forestry and its management orientation are changing. In response to dynamics in cultural ecological knowledge, two novel forms of community forestry are identified in the Netherlands: (i) rural approaches towards the management of green spaces reflecting biocultural memories, and (ii) peri-urban approaches towards the management of innovative green spaces reflecting biocultural creativity. While pertinent to the Dutch context, we argue that our proposed reconceptualisation of community forestry to community-based green space management characterised by a sense of shared identity may offer value for cases in other economically developed countries too.
