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ClientEarth Communications

9th October 2026

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The Gabon forest communities using the law to protect their land

Some of the world’s richest rainforests can be found in Gabon. Home to hundreds of endemic species, these forests store millions of tonnes of carbon and provide many local communities with their livelihoods.

Indigenous peoples and local communities are the best stewards of the forests – not just in Gabon, but around the world. They look after a significant share of our planet’s remaining intact forests, and the data shows that supporting this conservation work helps to strengthen local economies too.

Communities have managed these ecosystems for generations, yet many still face legal uncertainty over their rights to access, use, and manage forests. Gabon's 2001 Forest Reforms created a mechanism recognising communities' right to manage the forests they depend on, yet by March 2018 only 1% of the country's forests were effectively managed by communities. 

Our work in the country has focused on collaborating with organisations in Gabon to:

  • Strengthen the laws that improve local and indigenous peoples’ rights to use and protect their local conservation areas. 
  • Make forest laws more accessible to forest communities.
  • Ensure revenues from forest activities are distributed fairly.
  • Increase women’s role in decision-making around how forests are used.
Case study: Making Gabon's community forestry laws accessible

Without legal support, it has been difficult for communities to put Gabon’s Forest Laws into practice. In Sakeville – a village in Northern Gabon - the community's logging operator brought an unfounded legal dispute against the community in 2022. A dispute like this could have stripped Sakeville of its forest revenue, and the autonomy those laws were meant to guarantee.

But with support from ClientEarth's partner Brainforest, Sakeville successfully challenged the operator's claim. Sakeville is one of nine community forest associations, now covering 28,541 hectares, that ClientEarth and partners Brainforest and CEO-SE have supported to close the gap between law and practice. We achieved this through legal training, dispute-resolution support and practical tools, including a jointly-produced Practical Guide on Community Forests now used by both communities and forestry officials. 

Across these communities, women's leadership has also increased: three associations appointed women as presidents by 2023, and in Bissobilam, women now hold 70% of governance positions. Demand has grown well beyond the original project sites, with the number of associations supported expanding from four to fifteen by 2025.