Community forestry
Encyclopedia
Community forestry is an evolving branch of forestry
whereby the local community plays a significant role in forest management
and land use
decision making. It involves the participation and collaboration of various stakeholders including community, government and non-government organisations (NGO’s). The level of involvement of each of these groups is dependent on the specific community forest project, the management system in use and the region. It gained prominence in the mid-1970’s and examples of community forestry can now be seen in many countries including Nepal, Indonesia, Korea, Brazil, India and North America.
that deals with the communal management
of forests for generating income from timber
and non-timber forest products
. It has been considered one of the most promising options of combining forest conservation with rural development and poverty reduction
objectives. Community forestry is defined by the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations as “any situation that intimately involves local people in forestry activity”. Community forestry exists when the local community in an area plays a significant role in land use decision-making and when the community is satisfied with its involvement and benefits from the management of the surrounding forest and its resources.
Community forestry is first implemented through the establishment of a legal and institutional framework including the revision of legal norms and regulations for forest management, the development of National Forest Plans and the strengthening of decentralization processes to sub-national levels of government. The second principal line of action is the implementation of pilot projects to demonstrate the feasibility of the community forestry framework . However, a study by the Overseas Development Institute
shows that the technical, managerial and financial requirements stipulated by the framework are often incompatible with local realities and interests. A successful legal and institutional framework will incorporate the strengthening of existing institutions and enable the dissemination of locally appropriate practices as well as the local capacity for regulation and control.
While specific stakeholders will vary between different community forestry projects the primary stakeholder groups are as follows:
Table 1. Common stakeholders involved with community forestry.
Stakeholders of community forestry have a vested interest to establish sustainable practices, whether this be to develop and maintain a regular income, ensure that forests are sufficiently protected to ensure their longevity or to reduce illegal activities and manage the area in such a way to promote tourism and conservation. Despite significant development, continued improvement in the collaboration between local governments and forest communities seems to be a key point for better community forest management. A wide range of futures scenarios have been put up to help the environmental decision process.
Table 2. Challenges faced by stakeholders managing forests
In some cases, it is unrealistic to expect progress in a community level management of forest activities, as often conflict arise with respect to land use and benefit sharing within the community. Such issues can be overcome by recognising that a community level of management may not be the most effective management technique. Instead, adopting the following approach will provide a solution - Management by smaller work groups within the community, sharing common interest in the resources. A clear management plan with specific benefit sharing arrangement within the work group. Develop management systems which are within the expertise of the working group.
Faith communities are increasingly participating in efforts to promote ecological sustainability. Whereas the last 50-100 years has seen them lease out their territory to industry, they are beginning to reclaim and restore this land. Their recognition amongst local and national authorities have allowed community forestry schemes to develop and there have been several highly successful efforts across Cambodia
, which have been extended to Vietnam
and Laos
. In September 2010, Buddhists monks were awarded the UNDP’s Equator Prize
for their ongoing conservation work. This comprises the establishment of tree nurseries, seedling distribution, ordination activities, composting schemes and a vegetable garden. They are using this work to promote sustainable living and conservation throughout three districts; the pilot project, launched in 1997 in Kratie
consists of a six pagoda network that covers 1461 hectares (3,610.2 acre). The site has become a valuable source of information and environmental education as well as a base for the local community. Villagers regularly hold panel discussions about how they can go on to best take advantage of what the natural forest has to offer without destroying it.
Forestry
Forestry is the interdisciplinary profession embracing the science, art, and craft of creating, managing, using, and conserving forests and associated resources in a sustainable manner to meet desired goals, needs, and values for human benefit. Forestry is practiced in plantations and natural stands...
whereby the local community plays a significant role in forest management
Forest management
200px|thumb|right|[[Sustainable development|Sustainable]] forest management carried out by [[Complejo Forestal y Maderero Panguipulli|Complejo Panguipulli]] has contributed to the preservation of the forested landscape around [[Neltume]], a sawmill town in Chile...
and land use
Land use
Land use is the human use of land. Land use involves the management and modification of natural environment or wilderness into built environment such as fields, pastures, and settlements. It has also been defined as "the arrangements, activities and inputs people undertake in a certain land cover...
decision making. It involves the participation and collaboration of various stakeholders including community, government and non-government organisations (NGO’s). The level of involvement of each of these groups is dependent on the specific community forest project, the management system in use and the region. It gained prominence in the mid-1970’s and examples of community forestry can now be seen in many countries including Nepal, Indonesia, Korea, Brazil, India and North America.
Overview
Community forestry is a branch of forestryForestry
Forestry is the interdisciplinary profession embracing the science, art, and craft of creating, managing, using, and conserving forests and associated resources in a sustainable manner to meet desired goals, needs, and values for human benefit. Forestry is practiced in plantations and natural stands...
that deals with the communal management
Forest management
200px|thumb|right|[[Sustainable development|Sustainable]] forest management carried out by [[Complejo Forestal y Maderero Panguipulli|Complejo Panguipulli]] has contributed to the preservation of the forested landscape around [[Neltume]], a sawmill town in Chile...
of forests for generating income from timber
Forest product
A forest product is any material derived from a forest for commercial use, such as lumber, paper, or forage for livestock. Wood, by far the dominant commercial forest product, is used for many industrial purposes, such as the finished structural materials used for the construction of buildings, or...
and non-timber forest products
Non-timber forest products
Non-timber forest products are considered as any commodity obtained from the forest that does not necessitate harvesting trees. It includes game animals, fur-bearers, nuts and seeds, berries,...
. It has been considered one of the most promising options of combining forest conservation with rural development and poverty reduction
Poverty reduction
Poverty is the state of human beings who are poor. That is, they have little or no material means of surviving—little or no food, shelter, clothes, healthcare, education, and other physical means of living and improving one's life....
objectives. Community forestry is defined by the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations as “any situation that intimately involves local people in forestry activity”. Community forestry exists when the local community in an area plays a significant role in land use decision-making and when the community is satisfied with its involvement and benefits from the management of the surrounding forest and its resources.
Community forestry is first implemented through the establishment of a legal and institutional framework including the revision of legal norms and regulations for forest management, the development of National Forest Plans and the strengthening of decentralization processes to sub-national levels of government. The second principal line of action is the implementation of pilot projects to demonstrate the feasibility of the community forestry framework . However, a study by the Overseas Development Institute
Overseas Development Institute
The Overseas Development Institute is one of the leading independent think tanks on international development and humanitarian issues. Based in London, its mission is "to inspire and inform policy and practice which lead to the reduction of poverty, the alleviation of suffering and the achievement...
shows that the technical, managerial and financial requirements stipulated by the framework are often incompatible with local realities and interests. A successful legal and institutional framework will incorporate the strengthening of existing institutions and enable the dissemination of locally appropriate practices as well as the local capacity for regulation and control.
History
Community forestry first came to prominence in the mid-1970’s and has continued to evolve over the last few decades in a growing number of countries. The availability of forest resources are often greatly reduced for use by the local people due to increasing pressures to cultivate the land, reliance on the forest resources and are also affected by economic and political changes. The evolution of community forestry in Nepal dates back to the late 1970’s and was first instilled as an attempt to improve the management of forest resources and address environmental issues that were of great concern with the countries failing centralized forest policy. Over the past two decades, community forestry has been applied successfully in many developing countries, with its main goal being the alleviation of poverty amongst local forest communities and forest conservation. More recently, community forestry has been implemented in developed countries and it has been successful in its aims of sustainable forest management and securing socio-economic benefits for local communities.Stakeholders
There is a large variety of stakeholders involved when considering community forestry. Participation from the various levels of community, government and non-government organisations (NGO’s) is essential in the project’s success.While specific stakeholders will vary between different community forestry projects the primary stakeholder groups are as follows:
| Local Community |
| Communities living adjacent to or within the forest |
| Traditional authorities |
| Community based organisations (forest users groups etc) |
| Community representatives / local councils |
| Government |
| State Government |
| National Government |
| Departments of Agriculture, Forestry, Environment etc. (specific the country and/or region) |
| NGO’s |
| Environmental/conservation groups |
| Commercial forestry industries |
| Industries reliant on forests (i.e. harvestable products other than wood, e.g. game meat) |
| Tourism industry |
| Animal welfare groups |
| Natural Ecosystem |
Table 1. Common stakeholders involved with community forestry.
Stakeholders of community forestry have a vested interest to establish sustainable practices, whether this be to develop and maintain a regular income, ensure that forests are sufficiently protected to ensure their longevity or to reduce illegal activities and manage the area in such a way to promote tourism and conservation. Despite significant development, continued improvement in the collaboration between local governments and forest communities seems to be a key point for better community forest management. A wide range of futures scenarios have been put up to help the environmental decision process.
Challenges
A study conducted in the Brazilian Amazon determined that there are a number of challenges that must be faced when developing a sustainable management strategy for community forestry. These challenges are outlined in Table 2 and Figure 1 shows the impact each management challenge has on other obstacles. The model is segregated into two phases: the ‘development phase’ during which several enabling factors (land ownership, organisational capacity, technical knowledge and capital) are needed to obtain a legal management permit and secondly the ‘operational phase’ where factors (clandestine loggers, access to markets, infrastructure and managerial skills) influence the successfulness of the management program. Each of the challenges outlined in Table 1 must be addressed in order for a self-sustaining community forestry management program to be established.| Land ownership | It is not uncommon for small settlements living traditionally to lack clear title to the forests and lands, as such their rights to harvest the land may come into dispute. Formal recognition of land ownership or rights to use is needed for legal forest management. |
| Organizational capacity | Organizational capacity refers to the community’s competence to organize a forest management program. |
| Capital | A community will require start-up capital to invest in the required infrastructure, equipment, and to hire a forester to organise and oversee management plans. |
| Technical knowledge | While it is common for community members have a thorough understanding of forest ecology in a natural and historical sense, they often lack the technical knowledge and legal certification required to manage forest resources legally. |
| Legal management | Community forestry needs to be based on a legal management plan, prepared and approved by the relevant government authority (usually state environment agencies). Approval of the management plan can often be a long, bureaucratic process. |
| Clandestine loggers | Clandestine (illegal) loggers can enter a region and illegally log valuable species without the community’s consent, and without a legal management plan. Illegal harvesting often significantly degrades the forest as few limitations are observed by the illegal loggers. Communities are either robbed of their valuable timber, or are paid below market prices. |
| Market access | Small villages that are often the focus of community forestry initiatives generally have limited access to markets due to their physical isolation, precarious transport and communication, limited contact with buyers and lack of marketing knowledge. Often they will also face difficulties competing with large-scale operations and illegal timber that flood the market with cheaper products. |
| Infrastructure | Forest management, for all types of enterprise, requires a certain amount of physical infrastructure, such as roads, logging equipment, buildings for storage and management headquarters and/or a reliable power supply. |
| Managerial skills | Skills related to effective management of the program, business knowhow and entrepreneurial ability, day-to-day decision-making, marketing skills, ability to resolve internal conflicts, and ensuring community benefit sharing are often lacked in rural villages. |
| Economic returns | The result of inadequacies in management is small and often insufficient economic returns to keep the program afloat, and furthermore to keep the community interested in the activity. |
Table 2. Challenges faced by stakeholders managing forests
Best Practices
For a conservation program within a Community forest to succeed, community involvement is imperative. Governments with interest in forest conservation introduce state wide policies and legislations which have historically failed to deliver the desired outcomes such as in China, Nepal and Peru. Moreover no single stakeholder by itself can ensure the success of such a program.Nepal
Common land in Nepal is owned by the state which often does not have the capacity to monitor and manage the area. This often leads to the over use of the resources by the community due to lack of incentives. To overcome this, programs involving community participation were introduced and ‘Forest User Groups’ (FUG) formed to manage the forests resources without giving them ownership of the land. This has resulted in better outcomes in the region.Indonesia
Villagers from three communities in Bantaeng district in Indonesia, with the assistance of a funded project obtained a Forest management license and secured a 35 year lease on their local forest. With the incentive to preserve their source of income, the villagers have had a positive impact on forest conservation. This is now viewed as a reference model for the Ministry of Forestry’s future projects.Korea
Farmers enter into a profit sharing contract with the ‘Village Forestry Association’ (VFA) to form a cooperative which assists farmers with reforestation in keeping with the legislation. VFA, though loosely linked to the Office of Forestry enjoys a degree of autonomy facilitating community participation. This system demonstrates the desirable mix of top-down and bottom-up planning ensuring government control as well as effective reforestation through active community participation.Management System
As it is unlikely for any two areas to have identical socio-economic and environmental conditions, there is no blueprint management plan that would provide a blanket solution to all the problems. Based on research over several years in Nepal, it was noted that to have and effective management system, we need to identify variables which would affect the success of the system and group them into the following five sets: attributes of the resource system, attributes of the user group, attributes of the governance system, attributes relating to interactions between the user group and resource, and attributes relating to interactions between the governance system and the resource.In some cases, it is unrealistic to expect progress in a community level management of forest activities, as often conflict arise with respect to land use and benefit sharing within the community. Such issues can be overcome by recognising that a community level of management may not be the most effective management technique. Instead, adopting the following approach will provide a solution - Management by smaller work groups within the community, sharing common interest in the resources. A clear management plan with specific benefit sharing arrangement within the work group. Develop management systems which are within the expertise of the working group.
Faith communities are increasingly participating in efforts to promote ecological sustainability. Whereas the last 50-100 years has seen them lease out their territory to industry, they are beginning to reclaim and restore this land. Their recognition amongst local and national authorities have allowed community forestry schemes to develop and there have been several highly successful efforts across Cambodia
Cambodia
Cambodia , officially known as the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia...
, which have been extended to Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
and Laos
Laos
Laos Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ Sathalanalat Paxathipatai Paxaxon Lao, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic, is a landlocked country in Southeast Asia, bordered by Burma and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south and Thailand to the west...
. In September 2010, Buddhists monks were awarded the UNDP’s Equator Prize
Equator Prize
The Equator Prize, organized by the Equator Initiative within the United Nations Development Programme, is awarded biennially to recognize outstanding community efforts to reduce poverty through the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity...
for their ongoing conservation work. This comprises the establishment of tree nurseries, seedling distribution, ordination activities, composting schemes and a vegetable garden. They are using this work to promote sustainable living and conservation throughout three districts; the pilot project, launched in 1997 in Kratie
Kratié Province
Kratié or Kracheh is a province in northeastern Cambodia. It borders Stung Treng to the north, Mondulkiri to the east, Kampong Thom to the west, Kampong Cham and Vietnam to the south....
consists of a six pagoda network that covers 1461 hectares (3,610.2 acre). The site has become a valuable source of information and environmental education as well as a base for the local community. Villagers regularly hold panel discussions about how they can go on to best take advantage of what the natural forest has to offer without destroying it.
Farm Forest for Household Use
Preserving the source of community’s livelihood Maintaining soil integrity by preventing erosion. Use of fuel wood and fodder- Planting trees to provide fuel wood as well as fodder for cattle can be encouraged in ways that do not conflict with cash crops and food production. eg. The Neem tree was introduced in West Africa and is now the most widely grown tree in the drier parts of the continent. It was easily cultivated and provides the farmers with good timber, fuel and shade. Developing nursery networks through support activities which assist with subsidies. This encourages entrepreneurship to produce tree planting stock for sale.Farm Forests for Markets
Tree growing can take on the characteristics of a crop where there is a market for wood products such as poles, fuel wood and, pulp for production of paper. Companies tie up with farmers for supply of these products giving a steady source of income to the farming community. For example in Philippines, over 3000 farmers cultivate trees for pulp production for an industry that provides a market as well as a minimum price for the product, and Cooperatives of Village Forestry Association in Korea have helped local communities cater to a growing market in forest products such as timber and mushrooms.External Links
- Community Forestry, Buddhism and Cambodian Heritage: Award winning film made by Cambodian monks on their reforestation programmes.
- Mlup Baitong Official Website: NGO heavily involved in reforestation projects and advocating environmental education in Cambodia.