The concept of payments for ecosystem services (PES) has been identified as a promising mechanism for use in Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania, with several potential advantages and benefits, including the ability to raise new funding for landscape management, increase the efficiency of conservation approaches, secure ecosystem services (ES), and benefit poor rural communities. Starting from understanding the complex relationship between human dependence on natural resources and the environment, this paper aims to determine the degree to which the various criteria affect the success of PES that involve forests. Primary data were collected using a mixed questionnaire that was sent to institutions that had implemented PES schemes in the region and 25 case studies of PES implemented in the region from various publications were used for the secondary data. The data were mainly analyzed using comparative analysis. The results indicated that PES success is higher when bundled ES are considered, financing is medium- to long-term, implementation is at the regional level, combined transaction types (cash and in-kind) are used, and both private buyers and public sellers are involved. This paper provides a good benchmark for decision makers on PES performance and the model presented may serve as one of the tools for improving livelihoods and ensuring the achievement of sustainable development goals.

Covering 45% of Nepal’s national territory, forests play a key role in maintaining the daily life of most rural communities. Community forestry is a participatory forest management approach for managing state-owned forests by local communities. By assessing the link between national level forestry goals and the community forestry outcomes, this study aims to measure the performance of community forestry towards achieving sustainable forest management goals. The 3L causative benchmark model was used, with some adaptations to fit the national context of Nepal. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews, a questionnaire survey, as well as using secondary sources such as policy documents, governmental and non-governmental reports, and scientific papers. Results reveal that community forestry is oriented towards achieving sustainable forest management goals, but there are aspects where further improvement is needed: forest product diversification, marketing and business, and planning and management of the non-marketable forest ecosystem services. Community forestry’s role in managing the conflicting interests between stakeholders and promotion of the forestry sector in society is judged to be beneficial. There is an envisaged positive pathway to enhance the performance of community forestry through strong forest tenure rights, community friendly policies and regulations, and proper technical and business support from forest authorities.

The high dependency on forest resources and the fact that forests play an important role in the lives of people in poorer rural areas are well known forest characteristics. This depicts a deep connection between people and nature. For the rural communities, forest ecosystems display another important role, namely in alleviating poverty through stable provisions of vital functions and livelihoods. The present study aims to identify what influences the current level of the local communities of the Republic of Moldova’s dependence on forests, who still face poverty-related challenges, and how ecosystem services provided by forests are perceived by the rural population. After six years since the last forest dependency research, this time the level of dependence is investigated using the same methodology, but through improved socio-economic conditions. Although the consumption of non-timber forest products decreased, the pressure on forest resources remained at the same level due to the high dependence of communities on firewood. The highest dependency was found in low-income households, manifested by their necessity to spend an average share of 18.8% from their total income on firewood due to their restricted access to forest resources. Since most Moldovans rely more heavily on subsistence-oriented forest products such as fuelwood, forest management sustainability efforts might not be achieved as long as the need for wood products exceeds the supply, and neither will the living conditions of the poor be improved. Solutions should be sought based on cross-sectoral and long-term approaches by involving all stakeholders, and not neglecting local communities.

Introduction: This research explores the perceptions of local forest communities in Kakamega Forest Ecosystem (KFE) regarding forest conditions, associated threats, Ecosystem services (ES) provision, and associated challenges with a focus on socioeconomic differences (wealth categories). Effective forest management is imperative for sustaining ES, but in KFE, threats to the forest and challenges local communities face hinder their provision.Methods: Mixed method research was utilized, with qualitative data collected through Key Informant Interviews (KII), Focus Group Discussions (FGD), and quantitative data gathered through household surveys.Results and discussion: The findings indicated that wealthier households exhibited a positive correlation with perceptions of unchanged ES provision, while poorer households showed a positive correlation with perceptions of decreased ES provision. Local communities generally perceived an improvement in forest conditions across the wealth categories. However, unexpectedly, poorer households associated highly improved forest conditions with decreased ES provision, indicating challenges related to access to ES. In contrast, middle and rich households expressed a positive correlation with perceptions of severely degraded forest conditions. Illegal logging emerged as the most significant threat to KFE, regardless of wealth category, followed by a lack of awareness of conservation efforts, with significant differences in perception across wealth categories. Surprisingly, animal grazing was perceived as a relatively low threat, with significant differences between wealth groups highlighting the importance of land ownership. The allocation of harvesting rights to non-local community members was identified as the most significant challenge faced by the local community, irrespective of wealth. Additionally, the prohibition of maize planting in the Plantation Establishment for Livelihood Improvement Scheme (PELIS) emerged as another major challenge across wealth categories, underscoring the importance of PELIS lands for cultivating staple foods. The electric fence was also perceived as a challenge by the local community, with significant differences between rich and poor households, reflecting the greater reliance of poorer households on provisioning ES.Conclusion: This research provides valuable policy insights on community outreach, agricultural crops, harvesting, and the monitoring of participatory forest management (PFM). The findings support more inclusive, sustainable, and equitable management of KFE and other forest ecosystems to enhance the wellbeing and livelihoods of local forest communities.

Protected areas are considered the backbone of biodiversity conservation, but their management often fails because local people are not involved, and their needs are ignored. A socioecological approach has been demonstrated to be effective in improving the relationship between conservation efforts and human wellbeing through a better understanding of the interdependence between nature and people. This relationship can be observed through the case of the Kichwa indigenous communities within Yasuní National Park, Ecuador, as they have retained a very close relationship with forest ecosystems. Using key respondent interviews, along with semi-structured interviews and focus groups, this research describes the complex relationship between changing forest ecosystems and human wellbeing. The results highlight food, health, and cultural identity as the most important benefits that communities obtain from forests. The research also sheds light on how people in the investigated area perceive the dynamics of socioecological systems, indicating petroleum, infrastructure development, and small-scale agriculture as the most important direct drivers and land governance and the presence of colonists as the most important indirect drivers of changes to forest ecosystems. This paper demonstrates the importance of monitoring socioecological systems and adapting management to balance complex economic, social, and ecological challenges.