There is a significant amount of work needed to improve the management of DRC’s forests and ensure that the benefits of the forest sector are shared fairly among the citizens of the DRC. Specifically inregard to the conversion process, international and national NGOs are needed to:

• Disseminate information about the conversion and sustainable forest management (SFM) process tolocal communities in DRC, to ensure that they are aware of the process and that their voices are heard;
• Organize and select representatives of local populations to be more actively involved in the process;
• Participate in the negotiation and resolution of conflicts within potentially viable forest concessions;
• Keep the spotlight on the conversion process and SFM development process to reduce the likelihoodof inappropriate decision-making; and
• Play an active role supporting local community participation in the development of SFM plans.