Institute for Law and Environmental Governance - Stregthening Local Communities Participation in Forest Govern

General

The Constitution presents considerable challenges for the forest sector. The most critical issue is how forest management obligations will be shared between the national and county governments. At the county level counties are required to be largely self-s ustaining. This demand is already making communities and county leaders lay strong claims over natural resources which they target as source of revenue. Many new issues with important links to local forest governance are emerging in the global arena. There are emerging trends towards large land acquisitions by foreign firms for biofuel and agriculture. There is a lot of misconception misinformation and concern about these issues at national and local level. Most local communities do not understand what thes e means for their livelihoods and the sustainability of their forest resources.This project is premised on the need to empower local communities to actively and effectively participate in the implementation of Kenya?s Constitution 2010. It aims at empoweri ng communities to realize the host of constitutional provisions and rights on environment and natural resources.Project Objective: - to build capacity of local communities to participate effectively in forest governance by strengthening community institut ions (CFAs and CFA networks)- support implementation of the Constitution at county level by fostering participatory forest governance influencing the development of county legislation on forest management benefit sharing and forest concessions