|
|
Summary The study uses a novel method to investigate the role of forest proximity, market remoteness, and caste in determining household income, especially forest income, in an underdeveloped region of India
. A high (>50%) proportion of total income is earned in cash. Forest products contribute substantially to total income, with fuelwood as the most important forest product. Proximity to forest is associated with higher forest incomes as expected, but remote villages do not have higher forest incomes or lower cash incomes than less remote villages. Higher off-farm income is associated with better road access and higher income households generally
Read More
|
|
|
The book demonstrate the pitfalls and potentials of community-based and collaborative management programmes
. In particular, the analysis highlights the slow progress achieved when programmes are implemented without a basic consensus on the broad framework for decision-making, making them highly contested in practice. The Nepal experience shows the importance of deliberation on policy and programme agendas with affected people, including local communities. While community based approaches are often assumed to be more equitable, the case studies in this volume show the limits of devolution (moving power from state to community) and the importance of strengthening the capacity of community organizations to become effective and equitable managers of forests. At the same time, the cases show the degree of autonomy that is needed to provide the conditions for effective local-level collective action and resilient local institutions. Perhaps what is most important is that these stories show how, over time, community-based forestry programmes move beyond a narrow conception of a ‘government programme’, to an independent social arena where civil society groups, state agencies and international actors contest each other for diverse resources, power and positions. Nepal’s experience shows the potential of civil society action at multiple scales to make forest governance transparent, accountable and democratic. The degree to which community-based programmes address issues at upper layers of governance, such as district or other sub-national arenas is rarely considered by programme planners, yet the empirical examples illustrate the importance of integration of these levels. This kind of integration and accountability is crucial in order to combat the ways in which subtle agendas of centralization are promoted in the name of participation, devolution and decentralization. Finally the book demonstrates the importance of learning, negotiation and experimentation to achieve successful, sustainable and democratic forest governance in Nepal
Read More
|
|
|
Based on a study involving 28 different types of community-based forest enterprises (CBFEs), this policy brief summarises the important constraints affecting CBFEs in Nepal
. It identifies key areas for intervention and suggests specific developmental and regulatory interventions for the government and other key organisations involved in promoting CBFEs.
The paper hails the development of CBFE’s as an ideal development intervention in poor forest communities as they have the potential to generate income and employment for the poor while supporting sustainable management of forest resources. The potential for the establishment of forest-based enterprises in Nepal increased with the enactment of Nepal’s Forest Act of 1993 and its Forest Rules of 1995 which institutionalized community-based forest management (CBFM) as the national platform for forest management. However, like any starting industry, the CBFEs face various constraints in business start-up and formalisation, increasing production, and achieving enterprise profitability and sustainability.
Key recommendations include:
- to improve business operations and profitability of the CBFEs, interventions need to address their various weaknesses and business management needs;
- policy support - at the policy level, interventions should be directed at reviewing and rationalising existing laws affecting CBFE’s;
- donor support - in addition to influencing key forest policies and the CBFM programme provisions for the poor, donors could encourage the institutionalisation of a constant dialogue among the stakeholders to promote pro-poor-focused CBFEs;
- CBFEs federation and greater involvement in policy-making - CBFEs should influence policy-makers and government line agencies to act in their favour. They could do this by strengthening their existing umbrella organisations and the Nepal Federation of Forest Resources User Groups.
Read More
|
|
|
Resin producing agroforestry in the Krui area of Sumatra in Indonesia is presented as an environmentally friendly, income generating land-use system which contributes to both development and conservation objectives
. This paper studies the change in household income portfolios in three communities in the Krui area with the aim of answering five research questions:
- What is the difference in household income composition between 1995 and 2004?
- Are farmers converting mature agroforests to other land uses?
- Are farmers continuing to establish new agroforests?
- How and why do trends differ among various parts of the Krui area?
- What are the implications of the observed trends for the Krui agroforests and the neighbouring national park?
The paper reports that:
- in the period 1995–2004 agroforestry remained the main source of income;
- farmers did not convert mature damar agroforest at any significant scale, and continued to introduce tree seedlings in their STP gardens;
- there are indications that the near future will bring increased levels of conversion of the agroforests, but the authors find no indications that increased levels of conversion would mean a fast transition to specialised plantation management;
- the choice of whether or not to convert mature agroforest is influenced by financial push and pull factors and by the strength of traditions that favour agroforest conservation. The most important factor that may drive conversion is the financial opportunity provided by the timber industry.
The authors conclude that there is scope for agroforest systems to provide an alternative rather than a transition to specialised plantation management. However, as many rural communities are confronted with increasing dependency on cash income for daily needs, the future of complex agroforest systems will depend mainly on their financial competitiveness with land-use alternatives. The paper highlights several lessons from the Krui case, including:
- commercialisation of timber may emerge as an opportunity for agroforest farmers, but may at the same time be the main threat to maintenance of standing agroforests;
- the productivity of agroforest systems may be influenced by both physiological factors and management practices;
- interventions to support complex agroforest systems should start with the identification of local problems and opportunities. Before considering the possibilities of popular blueprint concepts like ‘green niche markets’ and ‘Payments for Environmental Services’, such local problems would need to be addressed.
Read More
|
|
|
This paper examines the performance of an adaptive collaborative management approach (ACM) to increasing poor people's access to, rights and benefits from a community-based nonwood forest product (NWFP) network enterprise in the Eastern Hills of Nepal
. This network has rights over some 2,000 hectares of community forests and more than 1,346 member households. It had existed for two-and-a-half years prior to the 2004 start of the CIFOR-led Participatory Action Research Project on which this paper is based, but was plagued by perceptions of elite and male domination and there were conflicts between members in benefit sharing and problems of forest degradation. As such, the research project, the network, and local NGOs began a collaborative “renewal” of the network focused on the arrangement of collective action to support pro-poor forestry through applying an ACM approach. This approach included shifts in governance and management planning, especially regarding representation, conflict management, and risk and uncertainty analysis of the network enterprise. The major outcomes can be seen as a convergence of changes in community forest management and conflict mitigation, improved livelihood benefits from NWFP resources for the poorest families, and other forms of capital.
One of the most notable changes is that network members shifted from working in relative isolation to building alliances and greater interdependence, a change that helped mitigate conflicts between them regarding benefit sharing. Interestingly, the developing relationships between different stakeholders appear also to have contributed to shifting the attitudes of local elite and men towards equity in access of the poor to decision making and benefit sharing in the NWFP enterprise. Furthermore, significant space has been created for opportunities for poorer households by providing them with access to revolving funds specifically to enable them to become shareholders in the NWFP network. This shareholder status opens the door for multiple opportunities from which they had previously been excluded, including obtaining benefits from share dividend, employment as NWFP collectors, and receiving bonuses from the profits. The other stakeholders such as local traders, CFUGs, village entrepreneurs, and general members also have obtained benefits from the share dividend. Two national traders (Himalayan Bio-Trade (P) Ltd., Laba Nepali Paper Udhog) have agreed to make a contract with the network to buy NWFPs in sufficient quantities and at handsome prices. Besides, because of the arrangement for collective action, the women’s subgroup of this network has been able to increase profit margins from the sale of nettle fiber cloth. This subgroup constitutes largely the very poor and indigenous people
Read More
|
|
|
This article addresses the question, to what extent and under which conditions non timber forest product (NTFP) trade leads to both livelihood improvement and forest conservation
. The authors based the analysis on a standardised expert-judgment assessment of the livelihood and environmental outcomes of 55 cases of NTFP trade from Asia, Africa, and Latin America. The results show that NTFP trade benefits several components of peoples' livelihoods, but may increase inequality between households. Involvement of women in the production-to-consumption system (PCS) tends to have a positive impact on intrahousehold equity. In 80% of the cases, the commercial production of NTFPs does not enable people to make financial investments to increase quality and quantity of production, limiting the potential for development. In their set of cases, commercial extraction from the wild, without further management, tends to lead to resource depletion. NTFP production systems are generally considered to have lower environmental values than natural forest, but do contribute positively to the environmental values in the landscape. The authors found that higher livelihood outcomes are associated with lower environmental outcomes and conclude that NTFP trade is not likely to reconcile development and conservation of natural forest
Read More
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
email alert
or subscribe to the 
RSS feed.
