‘Protected’ forests not as safe as you think

Strictly protected tropical forests have annual deforestation rates much higher than forests managed by local communities.

Over 13 million hectares of forests are lost globally and community-based forest managed only comprises 8% of the world’s managed forests. Locking away forests in protected areas may not be the best way to conserve them.

The study looked at 40 protected areas and 33 community managed forests and found that, on the whole “community managed forests presented lower and less variable annual deforestation rates than protected forests.”