What are the biophysical, institutional, and socioeconomic contextual factors associated with improvements in livelihood and environmental outcomes in forests managed by communities?

Community-managed forests can secure greater sustainability of forests and more equitable livelihood outcomes for stakeholders than centralized forest management. However, there remains an inadequate understanding of whether environmental and socioeconomic outcomes are synergistic or trade-offs, and how they vary in relation to biophysical, institutional, and socioeconomic characteristics. This systematic review will collate the collective experiences of multiple decades of research on community-managed forests around a common set of comparable indicators, identifying the characteristics associated with improved outcomes globally as well as regionally.