Guidelines for establishing collective forest enterprises: - The case of Équateur Province

Guidelines for establishing collective forest enterprises: The case of Équateur Province in DRC The case of Équateur Province in DRC 3 THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO (DRC) took a momentous step in this direction and signed is the second largest country in Africa, and one of the into law a Ministerial Decree No.25, which completes richest in the world in natural resources. [...] The purpose of this briefing is to share the key elements of RFUK and GASHE’s approach and lessons learnt from the experience in Équateur so that it can benefit more communities, and to promote convergence amongst practitioners in favour of rights- based development alternatives to extractive models. [...] the characteristics and potentialities of the territory (including elevation, types of soil, types of vegetation, proximity to roads and markets, and simplified inventories of key resources) • Visualising livelihood, cultural, and conservation activities currently taking place • Reaching a common understanding of current development problems, and agreeing on pathways to use land more efficiently t. [...] In most cases, including in Équateur, communities chose to devote most of their collective territory to conservation – an area of forest that should only be used for cultural and spiritual activities and 10 The legal framework in DRC calls for the development of a simple management plan that must be approved by the authorities (this plan is not a precondition to obtain a community forest, however). [...] cutting administrative costs and fees that RFUK’s and GASHE’s work in Équateur has been possible thanks to the generous support from UK Aid, the US Agency for International Development, the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation through the Norwegian International Climate and Forest Initiative and various Trusts and Foundations throughout the years.