They guarantee consistent prices for all timber species, minimizing the need for market research or product sorting.

They allow small-scale forest owners to pool resources and increase bargaining power with buyers and service providers.

They ensure that all forest operations are centralized under a single authority, reducing costs and increasing efficiency.

They expand the scope of operations by relying on large-scale mechanized clearfelling, removing constraints due to limited local labour capacity.

Addressing issues such as equity, social exclusion, asymmetric power relations, elite capture of benefits and gender in order to ensure the fair distribution of benefits

Minimizing community engagement to ensure fair management decisions and limiting local involvement to formal consultations

Implementing a single set of harvesting rules that follow international standards and principles of profitable forest management

Hiring only external consultants to direct all forest management decisions and audit finances

To locate areas that may require habitat-specific management, especially to protect rare or vulnerable ecosystems from degradation.

To comply with legal requirements and to receive faster clearance for large-scale timber harvesting.

To plan the deployment of advanced remote-sensing technology for creating three-dimensional maps of the forest.

To assess the recreational value of the forest, and to ensure that visually appealing areas are conserved for tourism.

Because it affects how forest management can be carried out, including access, safety and operational planning.

Because infrastructure alone determines soil fertility and improves seedling survival.

Because it ensures compliance with national transport regulations for timber trade.

Because it allows tracking of community movement and population density.

It identifies both opportunities and constraints for forest management

It determines forest infrastructure needs

It determines forest tenure and legal requirements

It helps document customary land claims by local communities.

They are typically unwritten and rely on informal agreements between harvesters and local officials.

They include provisions for land/tree ownership, taxes or royalties, transport of forest products and environmental protections.

They apply only to natural forests in conservation areas, with limited relevance to forest plantations.

They exempt the harvesting of non-wood forest products (NWFPs) from any form of regulation.

By referring to maps published by national forestry authorities only

By referring to data validated by government cadastral services only 

Through a participatory and community-agreed approach 

Through satellite imagery only

They must always engage in reforestation projects at their own expense, with limited support from the national government.

They sell relatively small volumes of products, which can lead to low prices or unfavourable terms imposed by traders.

Limited access to advanced technology for forest inventory and monitoring.

They are not permitted to produce NWFPs for commercial use.

Proposing a profit-sharing model without consultation.

Carrying out a process of free, prior and informed consent (FPIC).

Including them only after the management plan has been finalized.

Assigning them a minor advisory role in the sale of forest products.

The estimated total economic value of all forest products in a given year

A measure of tree seedling availability for a forest management unit (FMU)

The total number of new seedlings planted in a given year

The volume of all living trees (above a certain diameter) that may be commercially harvested