61 research outputs found
Co-management in community forestry: How the partial devolution of management rights creates challenges for forest communities
No full textForest tenure reform has opened economic and livelihood opportunities for community forestry management through the devolution of management rights under broader decentralisation reforms. However, the transfer of rights and associated power to forest communities is usually partial. The view of property as composed of ′bundles of rights′ allows for the disaggregation of rights transferred from government to local people. In practice, it is common that rights held by natural resource stakeholders encompass only part of the rights bundle. This partial transfer of rights shapes community forestry institutions and the manner in which they function. When communities and state agencies share responsibilities and benefits of forest management, they collaborate within co-management systems. Co-management systems are attractive to governments because they open avenues for local participation in resource governance and more equitable benefit-sharing while maintaining some level of state control. However, co-management systems can place a greater burden on community level actors without providing the corresponding benefits. As a result, co-management can fail to meet expectations. In response, the promotion of community forestry may require greater emphasis on adjusting forest regulatory frameworks, institutions, and agencies, to allow more freedom by community-level actors in developing forest management systems. Copyright © 2012 Cronkleton et al
Co-management in community forestry: How the partial devolution of management rights creates challenges for forest communities
No full textForest tenure reform has opened economic and livelihood opportunities for community forestry management through the devolution of management rights under broader decentralisation reforms. However, the transfer of rights and associated power to forest communities is usually partial. The view of property as composed of ′bundles of rights′ allows for the disaggregation of rights transferred from government to local people. In practice, it is common that rights held by natural resource stakeholders encompass only part of the rights bundle. This partial transfer of rights shapes community forestry institutions and the manner in which they function. When communities and state agencies share responsibilities and benefits of forest management, they collaborate within co-management systems. Co-management systems are attractive to governments because they open avenues for local participation in resource governance and more equitable benefit-sharing while maintaining some level of state control. However, co-management systems can place a greater burden on community level actors without providing the corresponding benefits. As a result, co-management can fail to meet expectations. In response, the promotion of community forestry may require greater emphasis on adjusting forest regulatory frameworks, institutions, and agencies, to allow more freedom by community-level actors in developing forest management systems
Society & Natural Resources: An International Journal Formalization and Collective Appropriation of Space on Forest Frontiers: Comparing Communal and Individual Property Systems in the Peruvian and Ecuadoran Amazon
No full textMigration and forests in the Peruvian Amazon: A review
No full textThis paper reviews the literature on the links between migration and forests in the Peruvian Amazon. It highlights not only the complexity of the migrant–forest interface in Peru but also the relative lack of research on these dynamics. Historically, official narratives point to migrants as both the culprits of, and solutions to, the Amazon’s problems. At times, the government has promoted colonization of the Amazon as a means to integrate the region into the country as well as to encourage agricultural expansion and alleviate pressure on limited land in the Andes. In other periods, migrants are blamed for deforestation and environmental degradation in the region. These discourses oversimplify the complexity of the reality facing migrants to the Amazon and the factors that ‘push’ them away from their birthplaces and/or ‘pull’ them to the Amazon. They also treat migrants as a homogenous group, underestimating: the role of migration within the Amazon, the cyclical nature of migration, processes of urbanization and multi-site households, and the diversity of livelihoods migrants pursue upon arrival. A more detailed understanding of migrants, migration and the related conditions and processes driving human mobility in the Amazon should provide a more effective foundation for defining public policy in the region, for example, for the identification of strategies to mitigate the impacts of road construction or to support sustainable models of production in areas occupied by smallholder farm families. This review is intended as a step toward a fuller understanding of these processes by compiling existing information as a point of departure
+ implementation in the Peruvian Amazon
No full textThe Reduction of Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD+) mechanism faces implementation challenges related to tenure security and governance institutions. In response, multiple regional climate mitigation initiatives have emerged. In Peru, indigenous networks have created their own Indigenous Amazonian REDD (RIA), an initiative aiming to strengthen property rights for native peoples. At roughly the same time, the Peruvian government launched the National Forest Conservation Program (PNCB), a conditional payment scheme aiming to encourage sustainable forest management. However, these initiatives must still overcome fragmented institutional governance of forests at the regional scale and continued challenges related to indigenous tenure security. This article examines how indigenous federations and the Peruvian government are attempting to implement these initiatives in the Amazonian region of Madre de Dios to examine how challenges play out in practice. These cases illustrate the institutional gaps between national policies, regional capacities, and local needs and expectations. However, it also demonstrates how an innovative institutional partnership at the subnational scale may be overcoming some of these challenges
Learning in the Field: Using Community Self Studies to Strengthen Forest-Based Social Movements
No full textFuture Scenarios as a Tool for Collaboration in Forest Communities
Get PDFForest devolution is meant to provide communities with greater decision-making power over the use and future of tropical forests. However, devolution policies have not always had the intended effect; in some cases they have caused or furthered the disenfranchisement of the poor, the creation of open access conditions, resource conflict and forest degradation. These problems are likely to arise when forest communities are at a disadvantage when interacting with other local players and are unprepared for their new opportunities and responsibilities due to their physical remoteness, cultural isolation, low literacy rates or lack of experience in formal planning and negotiation. This paper discusses how a participatory method to facilitate thinking about the future—called future scenarios—can help change the way forest communities and local governments interact. The paper reviews a growing body of literature on future scenarios and shares first-hand experiences with future scenarios in forest communities in the northern Bolivia Amazon and the central provinces of Vietnam. It finds that under the right conditions, the use of future scenarios allows forest communities to collaborate more effectively with local government, better assume responsibilities when given control over forests under devolution schemes and self-organize to benefit from the opportunities that communal control over forests offer. Future scenarios help communities think about dependency, vulnerabilities and ways to prepare for the future; the methods develop organizational capacity and encourage internal democratic processes and planning. Community leaders become more vocal and assertive in meetings with local government, and marginalized groups within communities, such as women or the poorest segments, make their voices heard. However, the methods are less effective when facilitation skills are not available or where government or other interests are threatened by local constituents, Future scenarios are not without their pitfalls and do not work in all situations, but given the appropriate context they can create “break-through moments” that improve collaboration between communities and local officials
Migration and forests in the Peruvian Amazon: a review
No full textThis paper reviews the literature on the links between migration and forests in the Peruvian Amazon. It highlights not only the complexity of the migrant–forest interface in Peru but also the relative lack of research on these dynamics. Historically, official narratives point to migrants as both the culprits of, and solutions to, the Amazon’s problems. At times, the government has promoted colonization of the Amazon as a means to integrate the region into the country as well as to encourage agricultural expansion and alleviate pressure on limited land in the Andes. In other periods, migrants are blamed for deforestation and environmental degradation in the region. These discourses oversimplify the complexity of the reality facing migrants to the Amazon and the factors that ‘push’ them away from their birthplaces and/or ‘pull’ them to the Amazon. They also treat migrants as a homogenous group, underestimating: the role of migration within the Amazon, the cyclical nature of migration, processes of urbanization and multi-site households, and the diversity of livelihoods migrants pursue upon arrival. A more detailed understanding of migrants, migration and the related conditions and processes driving human mobility in the Amazon should provide a more effective foundation for defining public policy in the region, for example, for the identification of strategies to mitigate the impacts of road construction or to support sustainable models of production in areas occupied by smallholder farm families. This review is intended as a step toward a fuller understanding of these processes by compiling existing information as a point of departure
Community Forest Management and the Emergence of Multi-Scale Governance Institutions: Lessons for REDD+ Development from Mexico, Brazil and Bolivia
No full textAt their most local, initiatives to reduce emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD) will depend on rural people to manage forest resources. Although the design of frameworks, mechanisms and arrangements, to implement REDD programs have received significant attention, it is not yet clear how REDD+ will function on the ground or how the participation of local populations will be assured. Community forest management (CFM) could be an option under REDD+ depending on how it is negotiated, largely because of the expectation that CFM could reduce emissions from deforestation and degradation. Examining institutional factors in the emergence of successful CFM systems and local forest enterprises could provide valuable lessons for REDD planners. We examine cases of CFM development in Mexico, Brazil and Bolivia, to assess the role of multi-scaled governance institutions in their development. Comparing and contrasting advanced CFM systems to regions where it is still emerging, we will show how the establishment of a local organizational base for communal resource management is crucial
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