Abstract—One of the land rehabilitation patterns by vegetation is to build community forests. Involving the community in the management of community forest should be supported with a correct understanding of the function and the role of forests for life. The aim of the research is to analyze the model of community behavior in the management of community forest in Bulukumba Regency, South Sulawesi, Indonesia. The analytical method used is Structural Equation Model (SEM). The research variables consist of 1 endogen variable that is behavior in the management of community forest and 4 exogenous variable that are farmers’ internal factors; community culture; the income of community forest; and community knowledge regarding the benefits of community forest. The results showed that the community knowledge about the benefits of community forest affects the community behavior in managing community forests directly and significantly, which means that a good knowledge of farmers about the benefits of community forests will result to a better behavior of farmers in managing the community forest.
 

Index Terms—behavioral model, community forest, community forest communities, knowledge about the community forest