UN FAO, 2010 - Two Sides

126
Global Forest Resources Assessment 2010
FIGURe 7.5
Trends in management of public forests by region, 1990–2005
Africa
Asia
europe
North and Central America
South America
0
200
400
600
800
1 000
(million ha)
Public administration 1990
Public administration 2005
Private corporations and institutions 1990
Private corporations and institutions 2005
Communities 1990
Communities 2005
other 1990
other 2005
Note: oceania is not shown because of a low level of data availability.
Conclusions
The increased number of reporting countries compared to FRA 2005 is encouraging
and might indicate that countries are becoming more aware of the importance of
gathering forest tenure data as a basis for the development and implementation of
policy and legislation.
Public ownership remains the predominant ownership category in all regions and
at the global level, although the area of forest under public ownership has declined
in the past 15 years. The most notable changes at the regional level are the increased
devolution of management responsibilities from the state to the private sector –
especially in Central Africa and the Russian Federation – and to local communities
in South America and Southeast Asia. Furthermore, it is expected that major shifts
in forest ownership and management will continue as a consequence of forest tenure
reform in China (in favour of private ownership by individuals and families) and
possibly in Latin America (with the growing role of the private sector in Brazil). In
Africa, the role of the state remains dominant with some management rights devolved
to private corporations in the high forest cover countries of Central Africa and to
communities in Eastern and Southern Africa.