Community forestry for revitalising rural ecosystems: A case study

A case study focusing on the socio-economic and ecological aspects of a forest-based village, Debrasai, in the Singhbhum District of Bihar, India was undertaken in 1980 to evolve village-specific community forestry package programmes that could bring stability to the village both economically as well as ecologically. The village extending over 365.07 ha is inhabited by 361 people comprising 195 males and 166 females in 81 households. The villagers are by and large dependent on agriculture and forestry for their livelihood. The largest proportion of the land in the village is under agriculture whereas forests, in a highly degraded state, occupy only 5.7% of the total area. The villagers exploit the protected forests in their vicinity removing nearly 350.9 mt of fuelwood, 22.8 mt of small timber and 393.4 mt of fodder annually.The village has a manpower potential of 40 035 man days a year. Agriculture is the main source of employment at the moment absorbing 14 266 man days. The non-agricultural sector provides employment to an extent of 4433 man days. Fresh employment opportunities are needed to absorb nearly 53% of man days of the village at present unused. Three land-resource, skill-based package programmes, a tasar silk culture, an energy plantation, and dairying have been suggested to generate employment opportunities and to meet the basic needs of the villagers. About 115 ha of the hitherto neglected land resource has been located in the village to sustain such community forestry (CF) programmes. Tasar culture suggested on 35 ha will alone generate employment to an extent of 18 690 man days from the fourth year of tasar silk plantation. A plantation, to provide energy and fodder, on 25 and 30 ha respectively is expected to yield fuelwood, timber and fodder to more than satisfy village needs. A dairy has been recommended as it will generate income, provide nutrition and promote gobar gas production — an alternative energy source to fuelwood. The cost—benefit analysis of these projects indicates their economic feasibility with the cost likely to be recovered in 4.5 years. Debrasai being an agricultural village, a land-inequity compensatory scheme has been suggested for CF project net benefit sharing, ensuring reasonable benefit flows to the landless and marginal farmers.     

Competing Visions: Domestic Forests, Politics and Forest Policy in the Central Western Ghats of South India

Rural people in developing countries including India continue to access a number of types of ‘forests’ to meet specific needs such as fuelwood, fodder, food, non-timber forest produce and timber for both subsistence and income generation. While a plethora of terms exist to describe the types of forests that rural people use—such as farm forests, social forests, community forests and small-scale forests—the expression domestic forest has recently been proposed. Domestic forest is a term aimed at capturing the diversity of forests transformed and managed by rural communities and a way to introduce a new scientific domain that recognises that production and conservation can be reconciled and that local communities can be effective managers. This paper argues in the context of the central Western Ghats of south India that while the domestic forest concept is a useful umbrella term to capture the diversity of forests used by rural people, these domestic forests are often not autonomous local forests but sites of contestation between local actors and the state forest bureaucracy. Hence, a paradigm shift within the forest bureaucracy will only occur if the scientific forestry community questions its own normative views on forest management and sees forest policy as a means to recognise local claims and support existing practices of forest dependent communities.     

Forestry,Agriculture, and People's Participation in the Central Himalaya

Abstract

The relationship between forests and agriculture is age old for subsistence living in the Central Himalayan region. The demand for commercial wood is also met from the same forests. The pressure on forests is high, and the consequences are land degradation and downstream impacts. Forest resources should be made accessible at village level for use by villagers, and forestry should be practiced at village level and integrated with agriculture. However, there are several constraints that forestry may be a solution, due to greater productive and protective values of trees in the Central Himalayan region.     

Ecological and anthropogenic niches of sal (Shorea robusta Gaertn. f.) forest and prospects for multiple-product forest management - a review

Sal (Shorea robusta Gaertn. f.) forests cover over 11 millionha in India, Nepal and Bangladesh, and these forests are conventionallymanaged for timber. Recently, interest in producing multipleproducts from sal forests has increased; accordingly, a silviculturalregime for managing sal forest for multiple products is a centralconcern. Forest managers need a comprehensive scientific understandingof natural stand development processes and anthropogenic factorsaffecting sal forest when designing silvicultural regimes formultiple-product management. We review ecology and productivityplus anthropogenic niches of sal forests. Information on edaphicfactors, phenology and stand development processes (regeneration,growth characteristics, soil nutrient requirement, growth allocation,nutrient cycling, stand structure and successional stages) isimportant for designing scientific forest management of salforest; likewise, knowledge of anthropogenic factors associatedwith use of sal forest is also required for effective implementationof the recently paradigmed management efforts. Sal forest silviculturehas been evolving since the beginning of the twentieth centurymainly concentrating on timber production, though the sal forestshave always been used also for grazing and collection of fodder,fuelwood, litter and many other products. Instead of integratingthese products in sal forest management, governments have attemptedto control these additional uses through enforcing forest legislation.These attempts resulted in the persistent conflicts betweenthe interests of local people and the government, and the deterioratingcondition of sal forests. Community-based forestry in this regionemerged in response to the severe degradation of forest resources,and local people initiated protection practices and demonstratedthe success of sal forest from coppice. The coppice systemsallow managing forests with intermittent products (non-timberforest products, including fodder and litter) while producingtimber in the long term. Accordingly, a policy has been developedto manage coppice sal forest for multiple products. Managingthe sal forest for multiple products is, however, a relativelyrecent development and scientific investigations on variousaspects of multiple-product forest management need to be initiated.Ecological processes indicate good prospects of managing salforest for multiple products. The review indicates that theecological processes and anthropogenic factors form sound basisfor developing multiple-product management.     

Agroforestry systems in the rural landscape – a case study in Garhwal Himalaya, India

A mid altitude (700–1200 m amsl.) village in Garhwal Himalaya was analysed in terms of energy and economic efficiency of different land use-land cover types constituting the landscape. Simultaneous agroforestry, sequential agroforestry, home garden and community forests accounted for 27.47%, 27.47%, 1.1% and 43.96% of the total geographical area of the village. Simultaneous agroforestry is the traditional land use involving substantial input of manure derived from forest litter and animal excreta and was practised on terraced slopes in private ownership. Tree cover in this system was represented by nine species with total average density of 390 trees ha⁻¹, Grewia optiva and Boehmeria rugulosa being the most dominant. Sequential agroforestry system involving slash-burn practice and cultivation on unterraced slopes without tillage and manuring was an illicit land use on community lands where forestry land use is desirable as per the government policy. Per ha annual energy input in simultaneous agroforestry system was 305267 MJ compared to 279 MJ in sequential agroforestry and 27047 MJ in home garden. In monetary terms, highest per ha annual output was obtained from simultaneous agroforestry (Rs 25370, Rs 35 = US$1) followed by home garden (Rs 18200) and sequential agroforestry (Rs 9426). Local food, fodder and fuelwood production was in excess of the local consumption. While most of the surplus food was stored, surplus fodder and fuelwood were sold for cash. Production in simultaneous agroforestry system in private lands was sustained with substantial biomass and nutrient inputs from the community and government forests. Land use-land cover changes in the region are driven by the interaction of ecological, policy and human factors. It is concluded that present policy of treating forests and agriculture as closed and independent ecological or production systems needs to be replaced by an integrated land use policy. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Is collaborative forest management in Nepal able to provide benefits to distantly located users?

Collaborative forest management (CFM) is a joint forest management approach between government and community. It covers distant communities too, who live out of 5-km periphery of the forest and involves them in forest management. This paper assesses whether the distant communities are deriving benefits from CFM in the form of timber, fuelwood and fodder. A total of 350 households was surveyed using a structured questionnaire. The result indicated that distant users were getting more timber compared to the users who lived close to collaborative forest and it was opposite in case of fuelwood and fodder. About 75% and 85% of fuelwood and fodder needs was fulfilled from the private source- trees grown on private farmland. Although CFM approach is able to supply timber to distantly located households, rich and male-headed households are disproportionately receiving high benefits. Provisioning small timber to the poor for house construction in place of sawn timber which is very expensive, may enhance welfare of the poor.     

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.     

The allocation of forestry land in Vietnam: did it cause the expansion of forests in the northwest?

Forests expanded rapidly in northwestern Vietnam in the 1990s. Forest expansion coincided with a new forest policy that mandated the devolution of forest management authority. A cornerstone of the new policy was the allocation of use rights for forestry land and trees to rural households. This paper examines to what extent the new forest policy contributed to the observed forest expansion. The findings of three village studies suggest that the new forest policy had minor effects on actual property rights, as villagers resisted its implementation. Instead, forests expanded, mainly due to the liberalization of agricultural output markets and availability of new technology. Changes in markets and technology motivated farmers to intensify crop production, reducing agricultural pressure on land. The research findings suggest the potential of market-based instruments and technology policy to facilitate forest regeneration. They also demonstrate the benefits of in-depth village studies for forest policy analysis, as it provides an integrated framework for assessing the relative effects of political, economic and technological changes on forests.     

Participatory forest conservation in Southwest lowland rainforests of Sri Lanka

Natural forest in Sri Lanka has been decreased significantly in the last few decades. The remaining natural forests especially in floristic region seven have undergone less conservation efforts in the past. Considering the capacity of the government and dependence on forest resources by local villagers, the only way for conservation of these forests in the Southwest lowland is forest management through local participation. Management plans for community-based resource management have been completed. However promotion of such management requires integrated measures, which are beyond jurisdiction of Forest Department. A holistic approach with political commitment concerning buffer zone villages and economic incentives with income generation opportunities supported by external inputs are expected to be implemented as a matter of urgency.     

Certification of a Community-based Forest Enterprise for Improving Institutional Management and Household Income: A Case from Southeast Sulawesi,Indonesia

Forest certification for community-based forest management was designed to strengthen an area’s forestry functions while simultaneously alleviating poverty by developing the existing community forest. It is fundamental for forest certification to maintain the economic benefits for certified local sellers and balance conservation goals with increasing local incomes. This study explores how FSC certification of a community-based forest enterprise in Southeast Sulawesi in Indonesia could improve effectively field situations of community forest management and strengthen local peoples’ financial benefits and social perceptions towards conserving forests. FSC group certification was introduced in the area of teak community forest of several villages in 2005. Because of local strong interest in group certification, the size of certified forests, the number of group certification members and the amount of certified wood harvested gradually increased. The support of a local NGO and an international NGO contributed towards successful establishment of group certification and establishment of a small-scale forestry enterprise producing certified wood in a sustainable manner. These NGOs played important roles in establishing strong relationships between producers and consumers, strengthening local forest management institutions, and promising social and economic benefits to the local people.     

Cost-Benefit Analysis of a Community Forest in Nepal

Community forestry is an approach for mitigating deforestation and forest degradation by managing the forest resources for benefitting neighboring communities. Monetary benefits and costs are associated in a community forest during conservation and management of a forest. For sustainable forest management, the benefit should be more than cost which is a contesting issue of research. So, this study was conducted in a community forest of the central part of Nepal with the help of 80 household surveys and a focus group discussion. The firsthand information collected at the site is complimented by forest product harvest and cost-related secondary information. It was observed that the total annual harvest of timber was 60 cubic feet, pole was 8 cubic feet, firewood was 1,110 Bhari,¹ fodder was 4,388 Bhari, and leaf litter was 590 Bhari. To manage a forest, people were involved in fencing, thinning, and meetings. Management cost was six times higher than administration cost. The benefit from firewood and fodder was more due to the dependency of people in a forest for enhancing their livelihood. The higher value of benefit cost ratio indicates that the Community Forest User Group benefited from community forest management.     

Refugee impact on collective management of forest resources: a case study of Bhutanese refugees in Nepal's Eastern Terai region

This article analyzes the relationship between forest resources, refugees, and the host population. The findings of the research suggest that the host population are heavily dependent on the local forest for their daily needs such as fuelwood, timber, grazing area, fodder for domestic animals, foods, and medicine in addition to cultural and esthetic needs. The forest has also been relied upon for agricultural needs such as manufacture of agricultural tools, maintenance of irrigation water systems, erosion control, and fertilizer needs. The forest was under a sustained demand as any other Terai forest of Nepal. After the arrival of refugees in 1992, the demand for forest resources increased substantially. Initially, the construction of the refugee camps decreased the total forest area and also required some felling of trees. More significantly, the refugees themselves became active users of the forest resource, which generated extra pressure on the forest and created scarcity of forest resources. Before the arrival of the refugees, forest management and monitoring of illegal use of the forest resources were carried out by the government through its local forester office. The local residents were active users of the forest resources, but were passive in managing and maintaining the forest resource. However, competition from the refugees instilled a desire in the local population to safeguard and protect the dwindling resource against the external threat by creating the Humse Dumse Community Forest.     

葡萄牙林业发展现状

介绍葡萄牙森林资源、林业政策法规、林业机构和管理体制、森林经营、森林保护、林产品贸易、林业科研教育现状, 分析其林业发展存在的主要问题, 在此基础上提出对我国林业发展的3点建议:1)在完善分类经营管理体系的基础上, 划分出适当区域和适当比例的森林作为多功能森林, 并且按照相应的经营管理体系对公益林、商品林和多功能林进行管理; 2)为了降低林产品对外依存度, 维护木材安全, 大力发展用材林特别是珍贵用材林战略储备基地建设; 3)大力培育林农合作组织, 提高森林经营管理效率。     

Wood Use and Forest Management for Carbon Sequestration in Community Forestry in Sierra Juárez,Mexico

Forest managers and policy-makers are being encouraged to incorporate carbon sequestration as a criterion for decision-making. This is a great challenge for small-scale forestry where the conspicuous lack of practical knowledge available for managers prevents the implementation of criteria to promote carbon sequestration. The carbon simulation model CO2FIX combined with local data could provide valuable information for C sequestration in these small-scale forestry systems. The research reported here focuses on community forestry located in the Juarez Mountain Range (Oaxaca State, Mexico), and analyzes the influences of forest management and wood-use (20 scenarios based on five forest management plans and four wood-use strategies) on the changes of C stock (biomass C, soil organic C, products C and fuelwood C) over time. The comparison of the whole stocks to reference results show that group-selection, based on an uneven-aged forest management system involving small patches, has only about half the C benefit relative to clear-cutting harvesting. A forest management strategy focused on oak logwood has a lower C benefit (70 %), and a forest management strategy focused on oak fuelwood has a higher C benefit (120 %) relative to the average of the studied wood-use strategies. Thus, in the study area forest managers and policy-makers who wish to mitigate climate change should increase the rotation period from 40 to 50 years in clear-cutting areas, continue with 40 years in group-selection areas, and promote the use of oak for bioenergy.     

Increase of forest carbon biomass due to community forestry management in Nepal

Community forest management helps in mitigating deforestation and forest degradation by addressing the negative aspects of rural livelihoods such as poverty and social exclusion. It is important in regulating global climate by encouraging sequestration of carbon in shoots, roots and soils. We studied the status of community forest management, forest resource harvest and carbon stocks in two community forests of the mid hill region of central and western Nepal. The study was based on primary and secondary data collected through carbon stock measurement from field visits and allometric equations, household surveys, focus group discussions, key informant interviews, and review of past studies. Socioeconomic variables such as gender, age group, livestock and landholding status were related to resource utilization, conservation, and management of community forest. Forest resources such as timber, firewood, fodder and leaf litter were harvested in sustainable ways. People were involved in forest thinning, co-management meetings, guarding and planting trees for forest conservation and management. Density and carbon stock of trees increased gradually in comparison to a previous study. We recommend further research on other community forests for more accurate and better results.     

抚顺市林业资源现状分析及对策

抚顺地处辽宁东部,是辽宁省重要水源涵养林和商品林建设基地,地理位置十分重要。抚顺林业虽经几十年的建设,但按照现代林业建设的要求,仍然存在着森林结构不合理、农村能源矛盾突出、生态效益无偿使用或补助较少等许多问题。为此,必须采取有效措施优化森林结构,科学经营,合理利用,加强森林生态工程建设,实现可持续发展。     

The effect of participatory forest management on the livelihood and poverty of settlers in a rehabilitation program of degraded forest in Bangladesh

The sal forest is the only plainland forest in Bangladesh, and is of national economic and environmental importance. High population and ever increasing poverty has stimulated exploitation of the forest alarmingly and brought it near extinction. In facing this situation, the Bangladesh Forest Department implemented a participatory management approach, involving the householders living in and around the forests, for forest maintenance and protection. This study examines the effectiveness of practicing participatory forestry on the settlers’ livelihood in the encorached area of the sal forest. The settlers were given degraded and encroached forest land through the program. Two major social forestry models — namely agroforestry and woodlots — are included in the study. Participation in the resettlement increased household income, employment opportunities and financial and non-land assets. It was found that the participatory management regime could attain the sustainability of the forest and accelerate the standard of settlers’ livelihood, hence the program is an efficient management option towards sustainability of the forest resources. These findings suggest that there is a role for extending the approach to rehabilitate other degraded and encroached forest lands in Bangladesh.     

Sustainability Attributes of a Small-Scale Betel Leaf Agroforestry System: A Case Study in North-eastern Hill Forests of Bangladesh

The Khasia ethnic community of Bangladesh has been a population of forest villagers in the north-eastern hill forests of Bangladesh since the early 1950s, practicing a betel leaf-based agroforestry system on land granted by the Forest Department. Taking a sample forest village of the Sylhet forest division as a case study, this article examines the sustainability attributes of betel leaf production in the agroforestry system. The presence of several positive attributes of sustainability including the composition of agroforestry, disease control, soil fertility management, profitability, socio-cultural acceptability and institutional support indicate that betel leaf production within the agroforestry system is stable under the prevailing traditional management system. Income from the sale of betel leaf is the principal livelihood means and villager’s reciprocal contributions help to conserve forest resources. However, problems with land ownership and regular agreement renewal need to be resolved for the sake of their livelihoods and forest conservation.

世界林业管理体制模式研究

林业管理体制是研究林业发展战略的中心议题,是深化改革的核心。本文对世界林业机构设置类型和管理体制模式进行了探讨。根据机构的性质和任务,把世界林业管理体制划分为两大模式:政企合一和政企分离。当今,实行政企分离,独立经济核算,走企业化的道路,是一个明显的发展趋势。