Forest-based sustainable development: Forest resource potentials, emerging socio-economic issues and policy development challenges in CITs

Rural populations are highly dependent on forest related activities in many Eastern European countries. During the last 10 years of transition, the processes such as restitution, privatization, reformulation of policy and legislation were common features of forest sector development in these countries. This paper discusses the forest-based development potentials in poverty alleviation in countries with economies in transition, as well as socio-economic development issues in rural areas, with the purpose of learning lessons that are valuable also to the Sub-Saharan Africa in their process of transformation towards a more market-based economies. The recent trends and scenarios on forest resources and their utilization produce an overall outlook, which suggests further possibilities related to forests, provided that sustainable forest management regimes will be implemented. Major difficulties in forest policy development lie in the implementation stage of policy processes. The authors conclude that forest-related poverty alleviation, rural development strategies and practical measures should have a co-ordinated and well-targeted focus on the key factors underlying and causing policy implementation failures. As priority elements they especially recommend strengthening human capacities, institutions, networks and knowledge sharing by enhancing research, education, and continuous training and extension at all levels. In the CIT region, national, EU and international policies could focus on these informational tools in partnership with global and regional institutions and organizations through efficiently coordinated action programmes.