ABOUT US
OUR MISSION
Bringing people together to develop forest economies that support resilient forests and thriving local economies.
OUR PURPOSE
CSFEP helps low- and middle-income countries in the Global South develop regional forest product industries that support forests, local prosperity, and climate adaptation and mitigation.
OUR IMPACT
CSFEP’s work is designed to achieve two long-term impacts:
Resilient Forests
Local communities and forest managers have the resources to adapt their forests to climate change through improved management, restoration, and reforestation.
Healthy, Green Economies
Thriving sustainable forest economies, and the many local business ventures within them, will provide livelihoods and support communities, creating benefits for people, landscapes, and the climate.
WHAT MAKES CSFEP UNIQUE? WE:
Put forests first
Take a holistic approach
Work in the Global South
Connect local and global experts
Focus on implementation, rather than theory
CSFEP is currently building out its full network model, which has 3 elements:
1
A clear GOVERNANCE structure that provides guidance, vision, and leadership
—and ensures standards are upheld
2
SUPPORT from staff and advisory board members tasked with stewarding the coalitions and learning community
3
ACTION spaces where coalitions and learning community members can work together on ambitious initiatives
OUR STORY: A LEARNING JOURNEY
Although we are a young organisation, we have already been through many phases.
At each stage, we consider what we have learned—and how we can utilise this learning to grow, change, and amplify our impact.
So in 2020, with backing from the Good Energies Foundation, a coalition that included the World Resources Institute, The Nature Conservancy, the World Economic Forum, and EIT Climate-KIC set out on a three-year journey to test their hypothesis.
Our story begins in 2019, when several global nonprofits began asking:
Can forest product industries, such as biobased construction, be used to fund improved forest management?
CSFEP’s founders thought the answer was “yes"—but only if there was a deeper connection between forest products industries and their source forests.
OUR VALUES
We believe our best work exists at the intersection between:
1
Collective Ownership & Stewardship: We believe meaningful change happens through collaboration. We help coalitions design shared agendas and facilitate joint decision-making, ensuring everyone has a voice. At the same time, we take responsibility as long-term stewards of the mission, continually driving coalitions toward real, tangible outcomes.
2
Ambition & Collaboration: We hold an ambitious vision for regenerative forest economies. Achieving this vision will require hard work, persistence, and the careful alignment of many moving parts—there are no shortcuts. At the same time, we aim to play a guiding role in driving this work forward, without taking over. We aim to do this with warmth, transparency, and deep respect for our relationships with local leaders.
3
Risk-Taking & Continuous Learning: We believe progress requires both courage and critical thinking. We embrace innovation and take calculated risks, understanding that meaningful change often comes through experimentation. At the same time, we rigorously assess our impact, learning and adapting to ensure meaningful results.
4
Global Scientific Rigor & Local Community Wisdom: We employ rigorous scientific analysis to assess each project thoroughly–rather than relying on trends or conventional wisdom. However, we also believe that those closest to the problems have the most critical role in solving them, and that understanding local community wisdom is critical to building a multidimensional view of a region and its forests. By combining scientific rigor with local insights, we create a more complete and meaningful view of any project.
5
Commitment to Ecological, Planetary, and Human Justice: We believe it is possible to design economies that meet the needs of forests and communities; people and planet.
OUR ADVISORY COUNCIL
OUR STRUCTURE
CSFEP is a fiscally-sponsored program of Dalberg Catalyst, a U.S.-based 501(c)3. Dalberg Catalyst provides accounting; human resources; grants management services; legal and fiscal oversight; and critical thought partnership and connections to CSFEP. This support ensures CSFEP staff can focus on mission fulfilment while simultaneously ensuring legal and fiscal compliance.
Meanwhile, direct programmatic oversight is provided by CSFEP’s Advisory Council, a small team experts in the regenerative forest economy space who meet monthly to provide direction to the CSFEP Program Director.
OUR FUNDING PARTNERS
Our work would not be possible without the generous support of our funding partners:
