Key challenges of community forestry implementation in the Democratic Republic of Congo: A stakeholders' perspective analysis

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has established Local Community Forest Concessions (LCFCs) to foster sustainable forest management and strengthen local communities' and Indigenous peoples' rights over forest resources. This study examined stakeholders' perceptions of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats associated with LCFC implementation across four provinces of the DRC, combining SWOT analysis with the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). Data were collected through individual interviews, focus-group discussions, and field observations, and analyzed using stakeholder-disaggregated SWOT frequencies and consensus-based AHP prioritization. Community empowerment and tenure security emerged as the main strengths, while limited market access, weak coordination, and local capacity constraints were identified as the principal weaknesses. Livelihood improvement and local employment were the highest-priority opportunities, whereas conflicts, exclusion of marginalized groups, and elite capture constituted major threats. Stakeholder-disaggregated findings also revealed important differences in the salience attributed to several governance risks. The study contributes to an institutional and actor-centred understanding of community forestry by showing that the formal devolution of forest rights is insufficient without local institutional capacity, accountability, coordination, and opportunities to translate rights into equitable economic benefits. Policy priorities should therefore focus on strengthening inclusive and conflict-sensitive local governance, building community and inter-institutional capacities, and improving market access and locally appropriate value chains. Future research should examine whether different LCFC governance arrangements translate over time into measurable improvements in livelihoods, benefit distribution, and forest outcomes. In sum, this study provides vital lessons for community forestry policy in the DRC and other Central African contexts.