Title: Community forest management and its implication on forest resources sustainability: the case of Torodi Community Forest, Niger Republic

In Niger, forests occupy a dominant position as energy sources used by over 87% of Nigerien households for domestic combustion. This reveals an alarming fact when taking into consideration the rate of population growth, the current state of the forest and the demand for wood energy. To address these issues, the Niger government undertook a reform in forest policy to introduce new forest management practices. The reform promotes a local community forest management approach to create the conditions for greater accountability of local communities in the management of the local forest resources, with the establishment of rural wood markets, a new system of exploitation and commercialization of forest wood to supply urban centres. The local forest management concept has brought about a range of initiatives for rural community development ranging from economic empowerment of local people to assigning responsibility for local forest resources management. There are, nevertheless, important issues that are not yet well addressed such as the sustainability of the forest exploitation and forest management. This study, based on findings from Torodi zone after 20 years of practices, revealed significant dysfunctions in the community forest management approach. These issues are mostly institutional; the government hasn’t instituted measures for sustainable exploitation of the forests, good governance of local resources and operational system for the funding of forest control and restoration actions. To promote sustainability in local community forest exploitation, the management plans have to be renewed and set for all rural wood markets; Local Management Structures (LMS) should be assisted with forest controllers; good governance and gender balance have to prevail. The system for the allocation of the municipality forest management fund and the forest protection fund has to be reviewed to better meet the needs of local communities.