Project Aim

This project follows on from the Wild Coffee Conservation by PFM (WCC-PFM) project by supporting both the wild coffee conservation and the Participatory Forest Management (PFM) work across the whole of the four weredas, whether or not these areas have wild coffee in the natural forest. The focus is on community engagement and building capacity and institutions to sustain local activities which will maintain the forest. The aim is to extend the area of PFM forest, bringing most of the forest in these four districts under community management and so helping achieve active forest management and protection by the communities to prevent illegal deforestation and  maintain both the wild coffee and the natural forest.

Specific aims of the project are fourfold, namely:

  • to maintain the existing forest and its biodiversity, with its wild coffee understory, allowing the coffee to evolve naturally in the face of climate change;
  • to strengthen local control over the forest by introducing communal land certification,
  • to prevent further deforestation of this natural forest by building the capacity and motivation of the community forest management groups; and
  • to empower communities to manage forest resources profitably and develop sustainable use regimes which will increase household income from Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFPs) and also maintain the wild coffee genetic pool.