Most forest enterprises are located in rural areas where the majority of the country's poor live. The Forest Sector is well  placed to advance B-BBEE by undertaking socio-economic development initiatives that benefit local communities. This entails the provision of services and amenities to the rural poor, such as housing provision for workers and their families, support to health and HIV/AIDS programmes, provision of community education facilities, environmental conservation programmes, community training in fire prevention and conservation, and support with rural road maintenance. The industry is also aware of the important role of forests in providing livelihood opportunities for poor rural households and commits to ensuring  regulated access to non-commercial forest products such as firewood, building poles, medicinal plants and edible fruits by local communities.

Industry is committed to continued support in these areas and to spending at least 1% of Net Profit after Tax on socio-economic development. The scorecard also  provides  for  three bonus points  for additional socio-economic development spend to support sector specific initiatives on enterprise development. This is further outlined in the following paragraph.