scholarly journals Forest Resource Management and Utilisation through a Gendered Lens in Namibia

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 79 ◽  
Author(s):  
Immaculate Mogotsi ◽  
Selma Lendelvo ◽  
Margaret Angula ◽  
Jesaya Nakanyala

The shift in forestry policy towards resource management and access rights from state control to local community control has been a welcome step towards sustainable forest management in Namibia. The policy acknowledges the direct dependence on natural environmental resources by the proportional majority of the population that live in the rural areas of Namibia. This study was aimed at performing gender analysis by identifying relationships of various groups to natural resources. The study further assessed the influence these relationships have on control, access and use of forest resources, as well as on natural resource management and the implications thereof on various forest management efforts in the country. Data were collected from seven community forest institutions in Namibia and analysed using the Harvard Gender Analytical Framework. The findings show a gendered differentiated knowledge, control and access to forest resources and unequal participation in leadership and governance. Furthermore, the results suggest that unequal power relations among minority and vulnerable groups affect access to and control of forest resources. This study proposes participation of both men and women in the management, protection, access and utilisation of forest resources, as this will contribute to sustainable forest management and economic development of all members of society.

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (16) ◽  
pp. 8752
Author(s):  
Sajjad Ali ◽  
Dake Wang ◽  
Talib Hussain ◽  
Xiaocong Lu ◽  
Mohammad Nurunnabi

Community participation for forest sustainability and use of forest resources for community development is considered a vital way in all societies. This study was conducted to assess the public views toward sustainable forest management in the area of Gilgit–Baltistan, Pakistan, through collecting data from 255 respondents. Views about forest management techniques at different levels were discussed. Three main areas of focus to manage forest resources were: strategic-level management, local-level management, and communication-level management. To provide confidence and to measure factors affecting sustainable forest management, this study applied the structural equation modeling approach and built a model that explained and identified the critical factors affecting sustainable forest management. A quantitative approach via Smart Partial Least Squares version 3.2.8 was used for analysis. The findings of the study show that the R2 value of the model was 0.653, which means that the three exogenous latent constructs collectively explained 65.3% of the variance in sustainable forest management. In this study, the goodness of fit of the model was 0.431, which is considered valid for further analysis. Among the three proposed levels for forest management, the strategic-level-management factor was found the most important of the three variables. This study concluded that for better and sustainable forest management, policies should flow from the strategic level to the local and also focus on communication-level management because all these factors appear to be significant in measuring sustainable forest management. Community engagement and awareness are also found to be an important way for forest resource management.


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Matieu Henry ◽  
Zaheer Iqbal ◽  
Kristofer Johnson ◽  
Mariam Akhter ◽  
Liam Costello ◽  
...  

Abstract Background National forest inventory and forest monitoring systems are more important than ever considering continued global degradation of trees and forests. These systems are especially important in a country like Bangladesh, which is characterised by a large population density, climate change vulnerability and dependence on natural resources. With the aim of supporting the Government’s actions towards sustainable forest management through reliable information, the Bangladesh Forest Inventory (BFI) was designed and implemented through three components: biophysical inventory, socio-economic survey and remote sensing-based land cover mapping. This article documents the approach undertaken by the Forest Department under the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change to establish the BFI as a multipurpose, efficient, accurate and replicable national forest assessment. The design, operationalization and some key results of the process are presented. Methods The BFI takes advantage of the latest and most well-accepted technological and methodological approaches. Importantly, it was designed through a collaborative process which drew from the experience and knowledge of multiple national and international entities. Overall, 1781 field plots were visited, 6400 households were surveyed, and a national land cover map for the year 2015 was produced. Innovative technological enhancements include a semi-automated segmentation approach for developing the wall-to-wall land cover map, an object-based national land characterisation system, consistent estimates between sample-based and mapped land cover areas, use of mobile apps for tree species identification and data collection, and use of differential global positioning system for referencing plot centres. Results Seven criteria, and multiple associated indicators, were developed for monitoring progress towards sustainable forest management goals, informing management decisions, and national and international reporting needs. A wide range of biophysical and socioeconomic data were collected, and in some cases integrated, for estimating the indicators. Conclusions The BFI is a new information source tool for helping guide Bangladesh towards a sustainable future. Reliable information on the status of tree and forest resources, as well as land use, empowers evidence-based decision making across multiple stakeholders and at different levels for protecting natural resources. The integrated socio-economic data collected provides information about the interactions between people and their tree and forest resources, and the valuation of ecosystem services. The BFI is designed to be a permanent assessment of these resources, and future data collection will enable monitoring of trends against the current baseline. However, additional institutional support as well as continuation of collaboration among national partners is crucial for sustaining the BFI process in future.


2010 ◽  
Vol 86 (6) ◽  
pp. 697-708 ◽  
Author(s):  
H W Harshaw

Conceptions and challenges of public participation in British Columbia are reviewed to identify those characteristicsof planning processes that serve to benefit or constrain the interests and needs of public stakeholders. Perspectives onpublic participation, including representative and participatory democracies, and approaches to incorporating publicperspectives in decision-making (i.e., shared decision-making, consensus-building, and interest-based negotiation) arepresented to demonstrate the different approaches (and their benefits and challenges) available for providing opportunitiesfor public participation. Lessons from other natural resource management contexts are distilled and used to evaluatethe BC context. Three principal forest planning and management frameworks (the Commission on Resources and theEnvironment, Land and Resource Management Plans, and sustainable forest management certification) are examinedin light of whether meaningful opportunities for public participation were provided.Key words: public participation, British Columbia, Commission on Resources and the Environment, Land and ResourceManagement Plans, sustainable forest management certification


Forests ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 580 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roswin B. Valenzuela ◽  
Youn Yeo-Chang ◽  
Mi Sun Park ◽  
Jung-Nam Chun

Participatory forest management has been considered as a practical and effective strategy for sustainable forest management, especially in situations where land tenure is not securely settled. For effective forest restoration, local communities, as the cornerstone of participatory management, should be provided with incentives to facilitate their participation and active role. We postulate that participation in mangrove restoration projects can not only provide financial rewards but also yield intangible benefits for communities, i.e., social capital. The study was conducted in the province of Quezon, Philippines, using face-to-face interviews as the main method for data collection. Regression analyses were undertaken to assess the impact of local community participation in mangrove restoration projects on social capital and its potential benefits to people in terms of access to information and services, which are key components of livelihood. Results revealed that people’s participation in mangrove restoration projects contributes to increasing social capital, consequently improving their access to information and services. Local people’s participation is beneficial to communities, as it can improve their livelihoods.


2013 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-47 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samuel Assembe-Mvondo

This paper reviews the various rights of local communities and indigenous peoples over forest resources in Central Africa. Indeed, in 2010, the Council of Ministers of the Commission des Forêts d'Afrique Centrale (COMIFAC) adopted the Subregional Guidelines on the Participation of Local Communities and Indigenous Peoples and NGOs in Sustainable Forest Management in Central Africa. A survey of this subregional legal instrument highlights a genuine commitment by states to consolidate the benefits and the emerging rights that can improve the living conditions of vulnerable communities and strengthen the subregional regime of sustainable forest management. However, the effectiveness of the subregional guidelines hinges on the administrative acts and practical measures of member states to incorporate this instrument into their domestic legal systems and to enforce it.


2015 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 48-54
Author(s):  
Aminu Liman ◽  
Ibrahim Ngah

Deforestation continuous to be a wide spread problem in rural areas of developing countries. Conventional “top down” approach has proved fundamentally limited in their ability to promote the culture of forest conservation in the world over. Inco-prorating the community based forest and community based natural resources management in rural development strategies seems to be the best approach to conserve forest area. This paper provides a case of community forest management by rural communities in rural areas of Nigeria. Based on the experience of the Local Empowerment and Environmental Management Project (LEEMP) in Adamawa State of Nigeria, this paper discussed the achievement and challenges in implementing community based forest management in the rural areas. Information used in this paper is based a preliminary study in evolving interviews with officials of the implementation agencies of LEEMP and a few participants of the projects in Adamawa state. Under LEEMP the priorities include the empowerment of local people to manage the community based forest and community based natural resources conservation in their areas. The project aim for the effective management of renewable forest resources, (vegetation), minimizing depletion of non-renewable forest resources (wild life), minimise forest pollution and its attendants negative impacts.(bush burning), as well as to decentralize the responsibity for managing forest resources. This study found that LEEMP helps to bring grass root citizen contribution to the objectives of sustainable natural resources management and community wellbeing collectively. There exist a strong link between the rural poverty and the deforestation and forest management through community empowerment did show some improvement both to the resource conservation and improvement to the livelihood of the communities. However there were many challenges encounter in the process implementationinclude non-inclusive of stake holders because of social class or due to political affiliation, while projects are not evenly distributed among communities of serious need, others are un involve and ill-informed in terms of decision and actions, and lack of conservation culture, among communities. This paper implies that effective incorporation of forest management in rural development strategies should focus more attention to collective action, which ties the community on values, cultures, and economics benefits into the ecological project, with balancing the aim of sustaining the environment and poverty alleviation.


1996 ◽  
Vol 72 (3) ◽  
pp. 247-252 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tony Rotherham

Increasing demand for forest products and other forest benefits, coupled with widespread public concern about the management of diminishing forest resources are leading governments to move in the direction of a convention on forests, and the private sector to consider the benefits of sustainable forest management certification. Canada is developing a national standard based on ISO 14001 EMS. Several countries support the development of an internationally applicable standard through ISO.


EDIS ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 2008 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruce Hull ◽  
Sarah F. Ashton ◽  
Rien M. Visser ◽  
Martha C. Monroe

FOR-175, a 6-page illustrated fact sheet by Bruce Hull, Sarah F. Ashton, Rien M. Visser, and Martha C. Monroe, discusses aesthetic and recreational considerations for forest management in the interface between urban and rural areas. Published by the UF School of Forest Resources and Conservation, February 2008. FOR 175/FR233: Forest Management in the Interface: Amenity Resources (ufl.edu)


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