OUR WORK
OUR GUIDING ASSUMPTIONS
1
Regenerative forest economies must be built at a regional, national, or local scale.
As economic systems are tied to local ecological systems, regenerative forest economies can’t be designed at a global scale.
Rather, each region must design its own forest products economy, based on that region’s context.
2
The greatest potential for CSFEP’s impact is in low- and middle-income countries, particularly those in the Global South.
These regions are more likely to have forests impacted by climate change and extractive management, and least likely to have the support they need to help their forests adapt.
3
Our best learning about how to implement regenerative forest product economies comes through action, not theoretical debate.
We must pilot, learn, and iterate to achieve our outcomes, rather than attempting to only analyse.
Image credit: Photo taken by BuildX Studio onsite at The Rewildings Project
4
If we want local communities, local forests, and local businesses to benefit, we must build the coalition
—and economy—that works for them.
An economy that works for communities and small businesses will also work for larger actors (without them being the focus of our interventions).
Image credit: Hikurangi Enterprises and The Connective
5
We must support regional coalitions in building and maintaining relationships with other global partners.
By doing so, coalitions can attract additional support, influence the global conversation by sharing insights from their work, and learn from (and inform) both the academic science and activities of other regions.
OUR REGIONAL COALITIONS
CSFEP is currently launching its first coalition in East Africa and plans to launch three more regional coalitions over the next three years.
CSFEP began work toward an East Africa coalition in 2024, when it engaged over 25 businesses and organizations active in Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania. After one-on-one conversations, CSFEP hosted workshops with this “coalition of the willing” to discuss priority challenges in the region.
The group is now developing a collective vision and priority activities to guide future work and coalition recruitment. Coalition members will be asked to formalize their commitment in early 2025, based on this vision. At that point, action groups will launch pilots around the initial identified priorities.
Image credit: Easy Housing
OUR GLOBAL WORK
Global Learning Community
CSFEP convenes bi-monthly community sessions to share learnings across regional coalitions.
The learning community sessions are an open, collaborative space for actors in climate smart forest economies learn, connect, and grow. Presentations and discussions focus on practical, solution-oriented topics.
Biobased Construction Africa Learning Community
CSFEP convenes monthly community learning sessions with actors in Africa working in the biobased construction space—anywhere along the value chain from forest-to-frame. Members are from across Africa, including South Africa, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Ghana, and Nigeria.
CSFEP is a neutral facilitator, providing capacity and structure for this energized and enthusiastic group. Members propose topics for discussion, and use the forum to share reports / insights, discuss upcoming conferences or government changes (such as tariffs), or share pressing challenges or opportunities.
FROM SCIENCE TO ACTION
With WebsEdge and IUFRO World Congress, we developed a short film about CSFEP's work to help local value chains around the world better utilize relevant science to improve their impact to climate, biodiversity, and communities.
Enormous thanks goes to BuildX Studio, which allowed us to film on-site at its Kenya project, The Rewildings. This timber development is a great example of what is possible with climate smart forest economies in East Africa.
OUR PAST WORK
EAST AFRICA RESEARCH
ARUP and Fractal Forest's:
East Africa Sustainable Timber Supply / Demand Study
This research presents the findings from a supply and demand study for sustainable timber in construction, and Mass Engineered Timber (MET) in particular, together with suggestions for further work . It includes 20-year projections of how this may change under three scenarios: business as usual, realistic “Timber Transition”, and optimistic “Timber Renaissance”. Given the scale of the challenge we face to balance the needs of the environment and of society our
optimistic scenario or Timber Renaissance is purposefully ambitious, requiring systemic change in the enabling environment, supply chain and construction industry itself.
Download the report summary to the left, or the full report here.