Identifying salient forest SES attributes for sustainability: A multi-country study

- We investigate the relationship between thirteen attributes of local forest SES and sustainability.
- We used data from 83 forest SESs across seven countries.
- Five of the thirteen attributes were significantly associated with sustainable SES while four were associated with unsustainable SES.
- The results can assist decision makers to improve policy for locally managed forests.

The question of under what settings locally managed forests will lead to successful conservation without frustrating the local people's subsistence outcomes remains contested. This research investigates the relationship between attributes of locally managed forest SES and its forest and livelihood outcomes using data from 83 forest SESs across seven countries. The data were obtained from the International Forestry Resources and Institutions (IFRI) database. Thirteen predicators that were selected from the attributes of forest, user group and governance of the local forest SES were used to evaluate their influence on SES sustainability. Our results showed that sustainable forest SES was significantly associated with forest size, diversity of the NTFP that is extracted from the forest, networks among the forest users, rule making by external non-forest harvest organizations in dispute resolution, and benefits sharing. On the other hand, the distance of forest users' settlements in the forest, rule making for forest protection and harvest quantity as well as sanctions by external non-forest harvest organizations were found to be significantly associated with unsustainable forest SESs. Our findings have important implications for the ongoing discourse on how to promote sustainable forest management at local level. The results on the success factors can assist decision makers to improve the chances for the success of forest governance that rely on local people who depend upon forests.