What is community forestry?
Community forestry is a participatory forest management approached conceptualised in the early 90s aiming at transferring forest management techniques and responsibilities to local communities throughout The Gambia.

It’s in line with the forest policy 1995 to 2005 objective to manage 240,000 hectare of forest lands through communal or local participation.  The approach was planned and implemented in with collaboration The German government through the GGFP (Gambian German forestry project).

What is the present status of CF in The Gambia?
Since inception in early 90s, the CF approach has enable the management of 319 CFs throughout the country (30,000 hectare) which is about 12% of the envisage targeted forest land area.

How can a community join the community forest program?
The community forest program is open to any community (ies) that has a forest located on their traditional land area.  Then they express interest of managing that particular forest area through the various implementation area heads in every district or the administrative circle head located in selected areas within each division.

How is the CF program implemented?
Community forestry program is implemented in three phases.

Start-up phase
In the start up phase, the forest has to be identified and demarcated on the ground, a local organisation committee in charge of forest management has to be formed and trained on organisation committee in charge of forest management has to be formed and trained on basic CF issues, the situation and development options have to be analysed and finally a preliminary forest management plan has to be prepared.
During the start up phase, the communities have no additional rights to utilise the forest than they previously had before the process began.

Prelimary phase
The preminary phase star when the preliminary forest management agreement (PCFMA) has been signed by the communities and DOF.  The PCFMA grants the communities extended forest user rights for a define time period according to the rules and regulation specified therein.  Equipped with these rights, the communities shall demonstrate during this phase their capability to protect and manage the forest according to the plan established by them.  In this respect, the preliminary phase constitutes a probation period for communities during which they will gain increase skills and insights in forest management, if revealed that the communities performed adequately, the consolidation phase starts upon the conclusion off the eventually leads to the Community Forest Management Agreement (CFMA).

Consolidation phase
The CFMA grants the communities permanent ownership rights over the forest resources, but not over the land, according to the forest rules governing the management of the natural forest resources by local communities.
During the consolidation phase, the communities will be further trained in managerial and technical forestry skills until they have the capacity to manage the forest in sustainable manner.  This phase is open-ended but will come to a conclusion after the communities have achieved an adequate level of self management.

Who are the stake holders in CF implementation?
- Local communities, forest committees and village promoters
- Department of Forestry
- Local authorities (commissioner, chief and area councils)
- Other government organisation
- NGO both international and national level, specifically by providing technical, financial and training assistance for the program
- Foreign assisted program and projects 
- Community based organisation

Who are the beneficiaries of the CF program?
The managing communities’ gains 80% of all sales from community forest and 20% goes to the National Forestry Fund (NFF).
The 80% gained by the communities shall further be divided into two portions:  One for village development purposes and the rest for the development of the CF that generates the said income. 

Present constraint facing the CF program implementation
Within the process of CF implementation in the last two decades, various obstacles have emerged that are severely affecting or the retarding the implementation process of the program notably, conflicts, bushfires, staff mobility, motivation and retention.

Conflicts
According to the progress report 2006 on CF implementation which highlighted the existence of 100 conflicts throughout the country on CF implementation. The conflicts range from ownership issues to benefit sharing and different forest user interest. It foreseen that, in order to achieve the envisage targeted forest area outlined or recommended in the forest policy this conflict needs to be resolve to ensure expansion and steady management of the areas affected with such problems.

Bushfires
Annually about 75% of the county’s forest area is burnt.  This is a persistent negative aspect of forest management in The Gambia that retards the development of forest lands despite the necessary backing of the forest act to punish fire starters, the attitude of hiding culprits makes it impossible to apprehend anybody to face the consequences of the law.

Staff mobility
The department has posted staff almost in every district of the country, who needs to cover every village for program sensitisation and coordination of CF implementation activities. This staffs are mandate to a proper mobility which unfortunately every staff can’t access as of now and where as these mobility’s are available, the fuelling and maintenance is a frequent problem due to insufficient funds for program implementation.

What is your final word on community forestry in The Gambia? 
Well, I will like to express our need for support from NGOs and other government organisations in promoting the community forest concept throughout the country.  I would like to urge the participation of those in the tourism industry to grant the support for a broader sensitisation of the communities on the need to management the forest and the general environment sustainable.