Current pathways towards good forest governance for ecosystem services in the former Soviet republic Tajikistan

As one of the former Soviet republics, Tajikistan is facing a slow transition from a communist command-and-control system to a more market oriented, decentralized and participatory forestry. In the last 25 years, the country's forestry sector has undergone several reorganizations. In the process of a current reform, the overall aim of this study is to gain a broader understanding of the current state of forest sector in Tajikistan. Our specific objectives are a) to describe the current institutional network's complexity, (b) to analyze stakeholders' perceptions on the key challenges towards good forest governance, (c) and give recommendations to tackle the key challenges, so that important forest ecosystem services (ES) may be enhanced, thus, also contribute to the development of the sector. We elaborate a generic framework, which simplifies complex interaction of governance and forests ecosystem services. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected through questionnaire-based interviews with stakeholders of the forestry sector. The results indicate that the forestry sector is still far from representing good forest governance, however the newly established structure seems to be a first step. Yet, challenges in establishing sound legal frameworks, decision-making transparency, and implementation enforcement must still be overcome. While it is too early and challenging to assess the impacts of forest governance on ES and vice versa, the survey respondents highlight the importance of provisioning services for the development of the forest sector. Given the post-Soviet background, almost all member countries developed along similar lines. Therefore, the study results are not only of significance for Tajikistan, but also countries with similar history and socio-economic context.     

印度联合森林管理制度:经验与挑战

以人民参与和权利共享为基础,联合森林管理制度已经成为印度改善森林治理的旗舰计划。文中梳理印度联合森林管理制度的历史脉络,从林业政策、制度安排、权利改革、地方组织和冲突管理5个方面剖析其实施经验,总结现行联合森林管理制度在实践中面临的不足与挑战,并进一步探讨如何借鉴其成功经验完善中国的森林治理路径。     

Deliberation or symbolic violence? The governance of community forestry in Nepal

The search for effective strategies to protect forests and improve livelihoods of the people dependent on them has led to several participatory approaches to governance over the past few decades globally. However, an important factor that hinders effective governance in most situations is the prevalence of complex interplay of power and knowledge among diverse groups of actors with unequal access to deliberative interactions related to governance. This means that improving governance must meet the challenges of modifying deep rooted, complex patterns of power that affect deliberative processes. Drawing on the concepts of deliberation (following Habermas) and symbolic violence (following Bourdieu), this paper explores the possibility and challenges of deliberative governance, taking the case of community forestry in Nepal. The central question this study seeks to address is how and to what extent various actors engage (or do not engage) in deliberative processes while enacting governance practices. It shows how a national forest governance programme is enacted as a complex economy of practices by a wide array of participants and analyses how certain groups continue to dominate the decision-making practices despite the growing rhetoric of participatory governance. Symbolic violence for our purpose occurs when claims to superior knowledge are used to legitimate closure in deliberation on forest governance practices and accepted by those excluded from effective deliberation. In the field of forest governance, we identify patterns of symbolic violence that limit the possibility of deliberation: creating boundaries in social field, cultivating internalised beliefs among governance actors, and sustaining unequal access to symbolic capital. The paper following Bourdieu, stipulates crisis as a necessary condition for the development of demands for increased deliberation by subordinated participants, and then explore sociological conditions for the development of crises into the situation of symbolic violence.     

面向林业重点工程建设的森林工程人才培养体系的研究

本文基于林业重点工程新的发展形势,简要概述了我国的林业重点工程;分析了目前森林工程专业的理论知识结构与人才培养方式不适应现代林业发展要求,生态文明建设意识不能与林业发展意识相结合的问题.针对性地提出森林工程专业未来的人才发展方向和人才培养体系.     

Forest policy and sustainable forest management in Bangladesh: an analysis from national and international perspectives

This paper includes a review of international sustainable forestry development followed by an analysis of forest policies in Bangladesh. There have been four different government forest policies in Bangladesh since 1894. The first two forest policies (1894 and 1955) were exploitative in nature. Most of the regulatory documents were developed during the first two policy periods. The third forest policy instituted in 1979 by the sovereign Bangladesh government had contradictory elements and mutually inconsistent policy statements. It addressed for the first time forestry extension through mass motivation campaign. Current forest policy formulated in 1994 has been considered to be the most elaborate policy in the history of the country. Under this policy, participatory social forestry has been institutionalized in Bangladesh. The analysis shows that, although it is possible to attain the stated policy targets, progress is slow and is blocked on several fronts. A number of identified technical, managerial and logistical problems are hindering policy and program implementation. In addition, corruption contributes to the observed problems. The real strength of Bangladesh forestry is locally based, participatory forestry, co-management of protected areas and highly motivated people who increasingly recognize the need for a healthy forest ecosystem that will provide future economic stability. Because it is the rich homestead forests of Bangladesh that generate the majority of commercial forestry products, it is important that education continues at the grass-roots level. In addition, educated forestry and environment professionals have been identified as the future driving forces towards better, and sustainable, forest management. Results of this study make it clear that Bangladesh and other developing countries are not presently in a position to accept and adopt internationally derived forest policies due to inadequate institutional support, political instability and poor governance. Therefore, along with development of criteria and indicators of sustainable forest management and forest certification, international policy scientists must consider institutional development, professional skill development, identification and adoption of indigenous technology and long-term financial support in developing countries. Without these, all international processes, policies and directives will be of little value and produce few substantive results.     

Acceptable practices in Ontario's forests: Differences between the public and forestry professionals

We compare and contrast survey responses to statements about 1) environmental values, 2) agreement with forest management goals and approaches, 3) perceptions of risk, 4) trust in science and government, and 5) acceptability of forestry practices between the public and three groups of forestry professionals (government biologists, government foresters, and industry foresters) in Ontario. The survey emphasized issues surrounding forest vegetation management due to the contentious nature of herbicide use. Responses were gathered from a 140-question telephone survey administered from September and November 1994 to 1,500 members of the general public and 201 forestry professionals across the province. Forestry professionals tended to be less supportive of some environmental values and forest management goals, perceive everyday and forestry activities to be less risky, be more trusting of science and government, and be more accepting of forestry activities than the general public. Among the three groups of forestry professionals, industry foresters tended to be most different from the public, followed by government foresters, and government biologists. These differences reveal potential sources of conflict and miscommunication between the public and forest managers. Recognizing these differences can help improve communications with the public about forest management plans.     

森林经营人才短缺问题已成为制约现代林业建设的瓶颈

我国森林经营存在专业人才短缺的问题。加快森林经营人才发展应该:1)加强人才队伍建设,各级林业部门要作为战略重点来抓;2)完善林业专业技术人才继续教育体系,加快实施专业技术人才知识更新工程;3)强化人才扶持机制,创新人才激励机制,优化基层森林经营人才配置机制;4)加强林业教育院校工作,建立健全林业人才发展规划体系;5)实行森林经营注册工程师资质和准入制度;6)实行国家有关人才向农村和艰苦边远地区流动政策;7)大力调整森林经营人才教育培养格局,实行国家林科学生助学政策;8)进一步加强6所林业高等院校部部、省部共建工作,更好地服务林业建设。     

Voicing interests and concerns: challenges for forest research

Forest research has to change in response to the increased interest of society in the management of forest land. The president and the vice president of IUFRO, the Assistant Director-General for Forestry in the FAO and the Past Director-General of CIFOR discuss key issues. IUFRO should become a clearing house for forest research and expertise. Research has to recognize that the culture of forestry has become a culture of conflict. More interdisciplinary and policy research should be added to the strong bio-physical sciences in forestry. We need science to exploit the comparative advantages of local and larger-scale forest management and we need science to bridge the gaps between the traditional and modern pools of knowledge and experience.     

Effects of presenting forest simulation results on the forest values and attitudes of forestry professionals and other forest users in Central Labrador

This research tested whether demonstration of the long term effect of different forest management scenarios in a large forested area changes people's forest values and attitudes. Forestry professionals and other forest users in Central Labrador were shown simulation results of three alternative forest management scenarios illustrating possible long term effects on various indicators. Forest values and attitudes towards forestry were measured before and after the presentation. Our conception of values and attitudes is based on the cognitive hierarchy model of human behaviour which states that values are more enduring and more difficult to change than attitudes. It was thus hypothesized that attitudes would change but not values and that change in forestry professionals would be less than in other forest users since foresters are trained to think about long-term effects and large-scale processes of forest management scenarios. We also hypothesized that a greater number of people would have an opinion on forest management after the presentation. All three hypotheses were partially supported by the results. The results indicated that some attitude change occurred, but that values also changed somewhat. Most of the significant changes occurred when persons with no clear opinion on several forest-related questions formed an opinion. Long-term, landscape simulation results provide valuable information and enhance understanding of both forestry professionals and other forest users. However, being provided the same information, the two groups learned different things. While forest users gained more confidence in the current forest management plan and were motivated to further participate, professionals learned more specific things. This reflects differences between technical and local knowledge.     

Extreme events and climate change: the post-disaster dynamics of forest fires and forest storms in Sweden

How are extreme events understood in the forest sector? What are the implications of forest professionals' understandings and evaluations of extreme events? These questions are central to this study, which analyses the handling of the largest forest storm and the largest forest fire in modern Swedish history. The theoretical approach is that of risk governance in practice, which stresses that understanding the framings, practices and strategies used by members of professional organizations is pivotal for how disasters are managed. Two interview studies have been conducted with forest professionals involved in the two cases. The analysis shows that there were fundamentally different understandings of the two events and their implications for forestry practice. The storm was seen as an unavoidable natural disaster, but the consequences of future storms were considered possible to mitigate through changed forest practices. The forest fire, on the other hand, was conceptualized as a partly natural and partly man-made disaster, and forestry was seen as having very limited possibilities to reduce the likelihood as well as the consequences of similar events. The different understandings had significant implications for the post-disaster dynamics and for which management practices that were developed. Thus, understanding how extreme events are perceived is crucial to understanding which management practices that emerge in their wake, a topic of growing relevance because climate change is predicted to increase the frequency of forest fires and storms.     

森林资源信息的提取和制图方法研究

随着社会经济的发展,传统的森林资源信息调查方法因存在许多局限性而难以满足现代林业发展的需要。RS、GIS技术的发展与应用,一方面可以弥补传统调查方法的不足;另一方面作为一项新技术手段,在森林资源监测、野生动物调查、植被调查、病虫害预报、林火信息管理、林业专题图编制和森林经营管理等方面将发挥重要的作用。森林资源信息的提取和制图依赖于大量空间数据的有效处理,本文探讨了ARC/INFO7.0.1和ARCVIEW3.0地理信息系统在森林资源信息提取、分析及制图等方面的技术方法。     

Incentives and Community Participation in the Governance of Community Forests in Nepal

Increased participation of local users in decision-making about forests and gaining benefits from these forests are major goals of the community forestry program in Nepal. However, there is a lack of real participation in community forest governance amongst users, particularly by poor and marginalised members. By employing a mixed-method approach, this research explores the issue of participation in the governance of community forests, and in particular the role of incentives in increasing participation. A partial least square approach is undertaken to link the participation indicators to the various incentives. Access to benefits, enforcement of legal property rights and social cohesion through building of local institutions are identified as the key influential incentives that determine the effective participation of users in community forest governance. Other incentive—including income supplements, community infrastructure development or payment for environment services—are insufficient to counter the opportunity cost of participation, and hence have a weak but still significant influence on users’ decisions to participate. Power inequality due to socio-cultural norms, together with poor economic capabilities and weak bargaining power, could undermine the meaningful participation of poor and disadvantaged groups in the governance of community forests, unless the community forestry institutions are strengthened in order to be able to deal with the issues of inequitable access and restricted opportunities at the local level.     

Climate risks and forest practices: forest owners' acceptance of advice concerning climate change

Based on qualitative interviews with Swedish forest owners this study focuses on climate change, risk management and forest governance from the perspective of the forest owners. The Swedish forest governance system has undergone extensive deregulation, with the result that social norms and knowledge dissemination are seen by the state as important means of influencing forest owners' understandings and practices. Drawing on Foucault's concept of governmentality this study contributes knowledge on how forest owners understand and manage climate-related risk and their acceptance of advice. From the interview study, three main conclusions can be drawn: (1) forest owners' considerations largely concern ordinary forestry activities; (2) knowledge about forest management and climate adaptation combines experiences and ideas from various sources; and (3) risk awareness and knowledge of “best practices” are not enough to ensure change in forestry practices. The results of this study show that the forest owners have to be selective and negotiate about what knowledge to consider relevant and meaningful for their own forest practice. Accordingly, local forest management can be understood as situated in a web of multifarious interests, claims, concerns and knowledges, where climate change adaptation is but one of several aspects that forest owners have to consider.     

关于发展我国林业共享经济的探讨

发展林业共享经济已成为推进林业发展、解决林业经济问题的一个可能选择。文中明晰了林业共享经济的概念和内涵,从林地共享、林业建筑共享、机械设备共享、资金共享、林业经营服务共享、林产品共享、林业知识共享7个方面阐述了我国林业共享经济发展现状,提出了问题及对策。我国林业共享经济存在产业规模小、品种少、没有专业平台、发展思路不明确、规划不到位、政策措施不完善等问题,建议紧扣林农增收目标来确定共享经济项目、扶持建设专业化平台、完善并开放林业基础数据、创新体制机制、出台扶持政策、加强监管、规避经济风险。     

Inclusion of forestry offsets in emission trading schemes: insights from global expertsOA

Emissions trading schemes(ETSs) have been a central component of international climate change policies, as a carbon pricing tool to achieve emissions reduction targets. Forest carbon offset credits have been leveraged in many ETSs to efficiently meet emission reduction targets,yet there is little knowledge about the perceptions, experiences, and challenges associated with the forest carbon offsetting in existing and pilot ETS. Given that the future inclusion of forest carbon offset in ETS manage...     

Stakeholder perceptions,management and impacts of forestry conflicts in southern Sweden

ABSTRACT

Forests are under increasing pressure with increasing risk of conflicts between stakeholder groups with different interests in sustainable forest management (SFM). This study investigated the different dimensions of conflict as perceived by private forest owners and other stakeholders, and the likely impact of these pressures on SFM in a southern Swedish context. Data were collected through a mixed methods approach using qualitative in-depth individual semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions and a quantitative survey (n?=?6–161), with questions on present and past conflicts, actors, drivers, acting, management and solutions. Stakeholders felt that in the past the conflicts were more about technical dimensions of forestry practice, and today more about the political and cultural dimensions of forestry issues. The most frequently mentioned reason for forest conflict was forest protection, especially woodland key habitats. In all conflicts, forest owners emphasised the importance of knowledge, responsibility and emotions. Other stakeholders did too, but with emotions less emphasised. In managing conflict, meetings, adaptation and education were stressed by stakeholders. Dialogue arenas on different levels are needed for all stakeholders. Governing bodies also need to realise the implication different approaches and strategies have on forest owners management.     

多元治理视角下中国林业社会化服务体系发展与政府角色变迁

林业社会化服务体系是农村社会化服务体系的组成部分, 是我国集体林权制度改革配套措施之一, 是社会主义市场体系建设发展的必然要求。文中构建了以组织生命周期理论和多元治理理论为基础的林业社会化服务体系发展阶段与政府角色变迁分析框架; 提出1949年至改革开放前为林业社会化服务体系创立与建设期, 改革开放后进入变革与成长期(包含缓慢发展、逐步变革和快速成长3个亚阶段); 阐述了各阶段特征以及相应的政府角色定位。随着未来林业社会化服务体系日趋成熟, 需要建立政府、市场和社会共同参与、合作的多元治理模式。     

加蓬林业发展现状及中加两国林业合作展望

加蓬已经成为中国林业企业走出去的重要国家之一。中国企业不仅在加蓬林业领域开展投资合作,还积极参与当地基础设施建设,推动了当地经济社会的发展。中国企业在加蓬投资林业合作的机遇与挑战并存,现阶段迫切需要引导两国林业合作向着绿色、可持续的方向发展。文中介绍了加蓬森林资源、林业管理体系、森林采伐、木材加工与贸易等发展现状,提出了促进中加两国林业合作可持续发展的建议,以期为稳步推进中加林业全面合作提供决策参考。     

调整林业本科教育目标培养适应21世纪的林业本科人才——对21世纪林业本科人才素质整体要求的研究

21世纪的经济和社会发展对林业本科人才的素质提出了更高更新的要求。分析了21世纪社会的特征和21世纪世界及中国林业科学、技术、经济和社会发展趋势及其对林业人才的素质要求;其次,对中国目前林业本科的教育目标作了分析并进行了科学的定位;提出了21世纪中国林业本科人才素质的整体要求。