AT the end of last year, the environment and forestry ministry declared eight forests, covering 13,122.3 hectares and home to 5,700 families, as customary forests. The decision came five years after the Constitutional Court issued its Decree No. 35/2012, which removed the word 'state' from the management of community forests in the Forestry Act, Law No. 41/1999. The decision returns the rights to community forests from the state to traditional commun