Agenda 21 recommends that sustainable management of all forest ecosystems and woodlands should be ensured through improved proper planning, management and timely implementation of silvicultural operations, including inventory and relevant research, as well as rehabilitation of degraded natural forests to restore productivity and environmental contributions, giving particular attention to human needs for economic and ecological services, wood-based energy, agroforestry, non-timber forest products and services, watershed and soil protection, wildlife management, and forest genetic resources. It also recommends carrying out surveys and developing and implementing land-use plans for appropriate greening/planting/afforestation/reforestation/forest rehabilitation.
This strategy features in the framework of Agenda 21 as formulated at UNCED (Rio de Janeiro, 1992), now coordinated by the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development and implemented through national and local authorities.
In Niger, beginning in 1987, an eight-year project was initiated that involved local participation in the development of a common property management plan for land located within a degraded national forest. In this case, nine villages formed a cooperative, with elected representatives. The initial function of the cooperative was to oversee the protection of the degraded lands until ecological productivity of the region was revitalized. Once the natural resources were ready for harvesting, the cooperative established a multiple-year extraction plan that apportioned the forest into sections by which harvesting would occur in alternate years. Rules and regulations determined the fair division of proceeds and reinvestment needs to sustain and expand their operation.