Community-Based Forest Enterprises in Nepal: An Analysis of Their Role in Increasing Income Benefits to the Poor

This paper examines the effective practices and constraints of community-based forest management enterprises (CBFEs) in Nepal in providing income benefits to the poor. The tenure reform clarity and strengthening of tenure rights at community level through various CBFM programs in Nepal in the last few decades has enhanced opportunities for the rural people to benefit from forest-based enterprises. However, a key concerns as these programs have advanced over the years has been whether the poor benefit from them given their high dependence on the forests. To examine this question, 28 CBFE from Nepal’s mid-hills and mountain districts were selected purposively from among forest user groups (FUGs) engaged in income-generating activities, varying in their size of membership, use of forest products and stage of growth. These CBFEs have been broadly categorised into FUGs, networks, cooperatives and companies. The contribution from enterprises to the household economy was found to be greatest from companies, followed by cooperatives and then networks. The effective practices of the CBFEs in increasing income benefits were found to include representation of the poor and marginalized groups in executive committees in the FUGs-based enterprises, targeted employment of the poorest in the collection of non-timber forest products and in processing units in networks, and enabling the poor to own share capital in cooperatives and companies. The common constraint across all these categories was found to be lack of adequate capital to sustain the enterprises without external support.The specific constraints were small membership and land size among FUGs, lack of legal recognition of networks, lack of management skills and member discipline for cooperatives, and lack of raw materials and marketing capacity for companies. The paper also discusses: the importance of further policy support to formalize forest user groups into networks, cooperatives and private companies; value addition to forest products; and capacity building for CBFEs, government line agencies and business services providers.     

An Empirical Study on Compatibility of Sarawak Forest Ordinance and <Emphasis Type="Italic">Bidayuh</Emphasis> Native Customary Laws in Forest Management

This study was conducted to examine the compatibility between the Sarawak Forest Ordinance and Bidayuh Native Customary Laws in Sarawak and to gather the community members’ opinions on the compatibility of these laws. This study was carried out using two research methods, viz. a literature review and a survey among the Bidayuh community in Bau, Sarawak. The documents reviewed were the Forest Ordinance Chapter 126 (1958) and the Adat Bidayuh Order, 1994. There are several notable differences between the two laws in terms of, forest ownership, losing of rights to forest or inheritance, and the management of forest. A list of statements with six interval scales was presented and a majority of Bidayuh community members neither disagreed nor agreed with the statement, (1) Forest Ordinance respects the Bumiputera people’s rights (37.5 %; SD = 1.259) and (2) Forest Ordinance protects the Bumiputera people’s rights (37.5 %; SD = 1.281). The community members are also not sure about the consistency between these two laws (28.1 %; SD = 1.182). These results indicated the need for the State to respect the natives’ rights toward the forest land and its resources, recognize the Bidayuh Native Customary Laws and for the native people to learn about the constitutional provisions. Further studies are needed because the knowledge of Native Customary Law itself cannot guarantee the natives’ future in terms of economic, social and environmental aspects and there is also a need to review the current laws to achieve the objective to protect and preserve the natives’ rights.     

Valuing Natural Forest Resources: An Application of Contingent Valuation Method on Adaba-Dodola Forest Priority Area,Bale Mountains,Ethiopia

This research employs a contingent valuation method (CVM) to estimate the respondents' willingness to pay (WTP) to gain use and control rights to a natural forest resource at the Adaba-Dodola Forest Priority Area (ADFPA) in the Bale Mountains of Ethiopia. The analysis was based on data collected from 295 households residing in and around the forest resource. Both binary probit and ordered probit models were used to examine socioeconomic factors that determine the respondents' WTP to gain these rights. The estimated mean and median WTP were found to be ETB 24.41 (US$2.54) and ETB 22.14 (US$2.30) annually, respectively. Households with more members, have better exposure to education and training, perceive the need for forest conservation, are member of forest dwellers' association, and who are wealthier in terms of ownership of more cultivated land and livestock are willing to pay more; whereas those households characterized by earning better annual household income, those who got higher starting bid value, and those who live farther away from the prime forest resource are willing to pay less. This can be used to signal that there is a considerable non-market value attached to use and control rights to the natural forest. In particular, membership in official forest user groups has shown a strong and positive relationship with WTP in all the models employed. This implies the approach of participatory management using forest user groups is better both for the sustainability of the forest resource and the livelihoods of the people who depend upon it.     

FSC森林经营认证中国标准的最新变动

FSC是全球最有影响力的森林认证体系之一。2016年7月《FSC中国国家森林管理标准》获得FSC总部的初步批准,经过2年的不断完善,已于2018年10月1日正式发布实施。文中从整体变化和具体变化2个角度分析新标准与原标准之间的主要区别,讨论新标准的正式发布和实施将给中国开展FSC森林经营认证的企业带来的新机遇和新挑战,指出新标准中体现出的一些理念与中国森林经营理念存在一定出入。     

State Failure,Corruption, and Warfare: Challenges for Forest Policy

ABSTRACT

Forest policies are failing in large areas of the world. In too many nations, forest area is declining, timber revenues are not capturing actual economic values, management plans—where they exist at all—are ignored, and ecologically significant areas are being degraded. In many places, public lands and even national parks cannot be protected against encroachment. Bitter local controversies over forest tenure and use rights persist. In many places, the underlying preconditions for sustainability do not exist in the face of state weakness and failure, corruption, and war. States generally recognized as failed or fragile encompass 15% of the world's forest. A cross tab of forest area (2005) against the Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index shows that nearly half of the world's forest is in nations with what TI calls “rampant” corruption. This includes several major nations with extensive forests and important biodiversity hotspots. An encouraging upsurge of willingness to face this issue has occurred in the development community. But uprooting corruption and fixing state failure is easier said than done. Considering this fact, the outlook for more than half of the world's forest area—important to indigenous and forest-dependent people, and containing critical reserves of biodiversity—is grim.     

On-board computing in forest machinery as a tool to improve skidding operations in South African softwood sawtimber operations

The government of Bangladesh has placed the utmost priority on participatory forestry (PF) since the 1980s, and this approach was commenced in the degraded Sal forest areas through a donor-funded project in 1989. These forest reforms aim to eliminate the main causes of forest depletion as well as alleviate poverty through the participation of local people, who depend on the forests for their livelihoods. This study explores the impact of PF initiatives on the livelihoods of the local ethnic and non-ethnic populations, drawing empirical data from the participatory forestry programs (PFPs). The findings indicate that the most common feature of PFPs were the contribution of financial capital to the participants, whereas other livelihood capitals faced constraints and difficulties. In addition, inequity issues and social capital differences were created between the ethnic and non-ethnic participants, and a lack of commitment by the local Forest Department resulted in PFPs having limited success in creating sustainable livelihoods for the participants. The overall situation revealed that PFPs alone were not sufficient to conserve and develop the Sal forests or assure people's basic needs. Therefore, a long-term-integrated approach by the Forest Department is necessary to address the diversified needs of low-income forest-dependent people in a more sustainable way.     

森林自然资本公允价值计量问题述评

森林是一种典型的自然资本.森林自然资本价值计量是森林资源保护与可持续经营的一项重要基础性工作,充分认识森林自然资本公允价值计量具有重要的理论和现实意义.通过总结国内外森林自然资本价值计量的相关研究情况及我国存在的问题,以期为进一步开展森林自然资本公允价值核算的会计理论及实践提供条件和依据.     

Comanaged Forests in West Bengal

Abstract

The forests of West Bengal have recently come under a comanagement initiative called Joint Forest Management. This paper will examine changing forestry regimes in southern West Bengal since the 1930s to suggest that the redefinition of forest management in the region since the mid 1980s cannot adequately be explained in terms of property rights. The nature of village community, overlapping jurisdictions of different agencies and groups in forest management, and the nature of expertise qualifying the scope of jurisdictions-that of foresters and villagers-are intersecting issues that have to be analyzed to understand the institutional politics of comanaging natural resources worldwide.     

辽宁省集体林林权制度改革林农行为问题的调查分析

对辽宁省集体林林权改革中林农行为进行了调查与分析,结果表明:有82.00%的林农在林权改革中获得了林地,86.76%的林农对林权改革满意,84.84%的农户有投资的意愿,进行林下多种经营的林农户数有了显著提高,增长了2倍。影响林农进行林业生产投资的主要因素是:缺乏资金,担心政策变化,采伐限额限制木材生产。筹措资金、保持政策的连续性、科学经营森林(合理分配采伐指标)是巩固集体林权改革成果的基本保障。     

林木施肥与桉树短轮伐期用材林施肥研究进展

林木施肥,是人们有意识地根据林木对营养元素的需求以及土壤的供给能力,将某种有机或无机的营养物质施入土壤或者喷洒在植物体上,对其进行营养补充,以满足林木健康生长的需求,维持土壤养分平衡,达到优质、高产、低成本的营林目的。介绍林木施肥、桉树专用肥、桉树平衡施肥的概况及施肥研究趋势。     

为林业生产服务的美国林业科技体制

本文着重介绍了美国林业科技队伍状况、科研经费来源、选题和科技成果推广体系。并结合中国国情提出了具体建议。     

多尺度森林分布图聚合技术探讨

介绍了多尺度空间单元聚合基于的基础理论——制图综合技术的概念及主要实现策略, 从多尺度聚合知识库的建立及推理过程、多尺度聚合模型的选择与模型库的建立、多尺度聚合方法与结果评价3个方面综述了当前制图综合技术领域的研究进展及主要成果, 并对多尺度森林分布图聚合技术框架进行了探讨。     

黑龙江省森工集团资本经营的主要问题及对策

在剖析森工集团资本经营存在问题的基础上，提出黑龙江省森工集团进行资本经营的对策。     

Participation to forest conservation in National Kabore Tambi Park in Southern Burkina Faso

The main objective with this study is to investigate how different household characteristics, households' perceptions about the security of land use rights, and the households' proximity to forests affect the individual household's willingness to engage in activities that are meant to promote sustainable forest management in Burkina Faso. To achieve this objective we use a multinomial choice model of engagement (or non-engagement) in forest management activities based on household data from 4 villages surrounding the National Kabore Tambi Park in Burkina Faso. The results show that the participation by household members in forest conservation activities is mainly determined by the three variables that are related to policy: membership in community based forest management associations, security of land use rights, and training. The current training programs focus only on forest conservation practices. To be more efficient it should focus on increasing people's knowledge about the benefits due to conservation and the threats resulting from the lack of forest management. Furthermore the results indicate that improving land use right security would increase farmer's willingness to participate in forest management activities such as community work and forest surveillance. Thus particular attention should be paid to the prevailing system of land rights and its incentives, or disincentives, for promoting sustainable management of the forest resource.     

Forest Health and Wildlife Habitat Management on the Boise National Forest,Idaho

The National Forest Management Act (NFMA) requires the Forest Service to provide for diversity of plant and animal communities and maintain viable wildlife populations. Changes in forest stand structure, species composition and disturbance patterns within ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa)-Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) habitat types on the Boise National Forest make it difficult to meet NFMA direction. Three management strategies, including "no action," were evaluated in terms of the risk of wildfire's effects on plant community diversity and distrbution, dispersal, and local population viability for the pileated woodpecker (Dryocopus pileatus) and flammulated owl (Otus flammeolus). The no action alternative appeared to have the greatest long-term risk to plant community diversity and wildlife species distribution and dispersal. Landscape analysis that considers the capabilities and risks associated with different-management strategies is recommended to meet NFMA direction while responding to diverse public expectations of the Forest.     

我国森林保险市场发展现状及制约因素与对策研究综述

森林保险在森林资源保护、林业生产和保障林农收入方面能够发挥重要作用。现有研究认为,我国森林保险市场起步较晚,依然存在法律法规缺失、费率厘定粗略、保险险种单一等诸多问题。通过进一步梳理文献,文中从法律法规、保险设计、参与意愿、保险费率、再保险制度等方面总结我国森林保险发展的制约因素,分别从供给方、需求方和政府的角度归纳了对应的政策建议。未来研究可以借鉴国外发达国家经验进行框架设计和制度规范,定量与定性相结合设计有差异的保险费率和保险产品,从将林业碳汇纳入碳排放交易体系角度思考林业碳汇保险实施的可行性和重要性。     

论森林资源法上的权利与权利冲突

森林资源具有重要的经济价值、生态价值和文化价值,已经成为人们的共识并日益受到重视。基于森林资源已经形成了一个较为完善的法律体系。法律的核心是权利,森林法律规范设置了一组权利,形成森林资源法上的权利群,是森林资源法律制度的重心。如何妥善配置这组权利,适当处理它们之间的关系,尤其是协调好权利之间的冲突,既是森林资源法内部和谐性的需要,也是森林资源法保障森林资源可持续发展和利用的客观需要。     

南方集体林区林权制度改革研究

系统分析南方集体林区存在的产权问题,提出改革的主要内容:1)林权明晰化包括明确林地所有权主体,完善林地所有权的委托代理关系;构建经营权的委托代理关系,明确所有者与经营者之间的权利与义务;科学界定林地使用权和林木所有权主体.2)林权的安全性包括改革林地征用补偿制度;建立公益林征用(管制占用)补偿制度;改革商品林采伐限额制度;改革不合理的林业税费政策.3)林权的市场化运作包括降低交易成本;加强森林资源资产评估工作;提升林权交易需求的动力机制;激活林权交易市场的供给机制.     

森林生态效益补助项目实施中的社会经济问题研究——湖南省试点情况个案调查

该调查主要通过半结构访谈,系统了解了湖南省森林生态效益补助试点项目实施情况;总结了试点主要经验;深入剖析了当前及潜在的矛盾与主要问题。调查结果表明:试点工作进展顺利,生态效益补助政策深受基层林业部门和广大群众欢迎。但是存在着森林生态效益补助的政策目标不甚明确、项目实施过程主要沿用传统工作方法、对农民的利益关心不足等问题。