Cutting edge: how community forest enterprises lead the way on poverty reduction and avoided deforestation

Avoided deforestation has re-emerged as a tool to curb climate change. But how does paying poor countries to keep their forests~intact tally with poverty reduction? Doing both at the same time is a challenge, but a necessary one. Forests are not just crucial in~keeping the global environment stable; they are also a lifeline for hundreds of millions of the world’s poor. Fortunately, a solution~to both aims is already in place. Community forest enterprises, if run sustainably and democratically, can both avoid deforestation~and pull people out of poverty. Large industrial concessions, on the other hand, generally do neither. The challenge is to~overcome vested interests and pave the way for greater political support.