scholarly journals Learning from community forestry experience: Challenges and lessons from British Columbia

2009 ◽  
Vol 85 (2) ◽  
pp. 293-304 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ryan Bullock ◽  
Kevin Hanna ◽  
D. Scott Slocombe

A multiple case study approach is used to investigate community forest implementation challenges in British Columbia, Canada. Stakeholder interviews, document review and visits to the case sites (Denman Island, Malcolm Island, Cortes Island and Creston) were used to collect data on events occurring between 1990 and 2005. In addition to case-specific challenges, our analysis confirmed common challenges related to a lack of support, consensus, and organizational resources as well as poor forest health and timber profiles, resistance from conventional forest management, and competition for land and tenures. Development pressure emerged as a challenge for communities without land use decision making authority. The final section offers some lessons and recommendations. Key words: community forest, community forestry, forest management, community-based natural resource management, local control, challenges, case studies

1994 ◽  
Vol 70 (6) ◽  
pp. 711-720 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter N. Duinker ◽  
Patrick W. Matakala ◽  
Florence Chege ◽  
Luc Bouthillier

A great deal of attention is being given in Canada at present to the idea of community forest. This is occurring at a time of unprecedented attention to forest management on one hand, and to community empowerment on the other. We conceive of a community forest as a tree-dominated ecosystem managed for multiple community values and benefits by the community.We review the literature and present examples of community forests in Europe and the United States. For Canada, we present an overview of community forest initiatives, policy developments, and research projects. For communities contemplating the concept of community forest, we present a series of considerations that need to be made early on: (a) landbase; (b) range of resources involved; (c) property rights and tenure options; (d) models of administration; (e) decision-making; (f) public participation; and (g) financing.The apparent growing interest in community forests in Canada has opened an exciting and challenging frontier for forest interests. We are convinced that Canada's future will be characterized by increases in people's demands for community forests, and by more experiments and trials to test a variety of manifestations of the concept. Learning from both successes and failures is vital. Key words: community, forest, community forest, community forestry, social forestry, Canada, forest management


1970 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 46-56 ◽  
Author(s):  
K.P. Acharya ◽  
K.R. Goutam ◽  
B.K. Acharya ◽  
G. Gautam

The Community Forestry has been the most effective means of managing common forest resources in Nepal. Besides rehabilitating degraded hills, improving environment and contributing to the rural livelihoods, community forestry is claimed to be a major means of biodiversity conservation. It is also argued that the prevalent approach of community forest management threats to the conservation of biodiversity. This paper is based on the findings from two community forest user groups from Central Nepal and argues that the users’ innovative practices of active forest management favor biodiversity conservation. The study has documented users’ innovations to conserve biodiversity in community managed forests. Key words: Nepal, community forestry, biodiversity conservation and livelihoods Banko Janakari Vol.16(1) 2006 pp46-56


1989 ◽  
Vol 65 (5) ◽  
pp. 344-347 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. A. Roy

For centuries the coastal forests of insular Newfoundland traditionally have been exploited as a common property resource for individual domestic purposes. Indiscriminate domestic cutting has led to deteriorated forests and to increased conflicts with commercial forestry interests. In recent years many approaches have been tried to manage domestic cutters. This article examines the process used by the staff of Forest Management Unit 17, on the Great Northern Peninsula, that led to a pilot community forestry project as a means of fostering responsibility and accountability in the wood cutting public. It is concluded that the process of changing the undesirable aspects of common property traditions requires adequate time and commitments of funding, staff, and community involvement. The community forest concept could be expanded to other Newfoundland Forest Management Units with high domestic demand and low supplies of accessible timber. Key Words: common property, domestic cutting, community forestry


1998 ◽  
Vol 74 (3) ◽  
pp. 385-392 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter N. Duinker ◽  
Reino E. Pulkki

In June 1997, we visited the Magnifica Comunità di Fiemme (MCF), a community forest in the Alps of northern Italy. We have prepared this article to help broaden the perspectives of Forestry Chronicle readers on community forests and what they mean in various parts of the world. We first describe the area and its forests, and then give a brief history of the MCF. Then we review the forest-management strategies used in this Norway spruce forest, and summarize the logging and wood-processing activities of the enterprise. We continue with a comparison of this community forest with three community forests in Canada, concluding that generalization on what makes a community forest successful is dangerous — each situation is unique. Finally, given that the MCF recently won permission to use the eco-label of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), we discuss our perceptions of how the MCF operation does and does not meet the FSC's Principles and Criteria of Forest Stewardship. Despite several shortcomings, we believe that the MCF is in most respects a sound example of sustainable forest management.


2018 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-55 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dil Khatri ◽  
Gyanu Maskey ◽  
Bikash Adhikari

At a time when community forestry has become a prominent mode of forest governance in many developing countries, REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest degradation) has emerged as a new conservation policy to contribute to climate change mitigation by incentivising such countries to conserve forest. While the proponents of REDD+ claim that it can help to strengthen decentralised forest governance through an increased flow of resources of fund and knowledge, the critics evince that there are negative consequences of REDD+ implementation to the decentralisation process, local control, and access to forests. Drawing on the ongoing engagement of the authors in the national REDD+ policy process and an ethnographic study of the REDD+ initiatives in Nepal, this paper demonstrates that REDD+ might paralyze Nepal’s long-standing community forestry policy rather than strengthening it. Findings show the instrumental use of participation in REDD+ policy development and limited representation of local voices in the policy processes. The piloting project implemented on community forestry suggest that REDD+, if implemented at full scale, can put new demand(s) to the long-standing community forestry policy and practices resulting in threatening of local uses of forests by smallholders. The implementation of REDD+ is likely to reshape community forest management practices driven from the priority of generating revenue which in turn undermines the need to manage forests to meet diverse needs of the smallholders. This analysis indicates the need for paying greater attention to represent local voices in developing national policies and programs, and align REDD+ objectives to the core principles of community forest management, local access, and control of forests.


1970 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 25-29
Author(s):  
Buddi Sagar Poudel ◽  
Maneesha Pandey

This article attempts to determine the effects of socio-economic factors in participation in community forest management. The empirical data for this study was collected from six forest user groups of Syangja, Kaski and Tanahun districts. The selection of study sites and households was done by preparing a stepwise sample design to identify firstly, the forest user groups and secondly, the household units. A logistic regression model is used to determine the effect of socio-economic characteristics upon participation, where participation is considered as a function of caste, gender, and wealth ranks. It suggests that the wealthier and higher caste individuals are involved in higher level of decision making as opposed to poorer and lower caste individuals who participated in lower levels. Higher caste and rich individuals have got most of the opportunities. This paper thus concludes that the access and control of poor women and disadvantaged individuals in decision making process is minimal. Key words: Participation; socioeconomic condition; community forestry; forest user group; decision making Banko Janakari Vol.16(2) 2006 pp.25-29


2012 ◽  
Vol 88 (05) ◽  
pp. 519-524 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ella Furness ◽  
Harry Nelson

The effects of climate change in many regions are expected to be significant, and likely to have a detrimental effect on the health of forests and the communities that often depend on those forests. At the same time climate change presents a challenge as it requires changes in both forest management, and the institutions and policies developed that govern forest management. In this paper, we report on a study assessing how Community Forests Organizations (CFOs) in British Columbia (BC), which were developed to manage forests according to the needs and desires of local communities and First Nations, are approaching climate change and whether or not they are responding to, or preparing for, its impacts. There are practical steps that CFOs can take to improve their ability to cope with future conditions such as planting a wider variety of species, practising different silvicultural techniques and increasing monitoring and observation of the forest. This paper gives an overview of what current capabilities exist in CFOs and suggests potential areas for targeted development.


2005 ◽  
Vol 81 (3) ◽  
pp. 387-391
Author(s):  
Uma Acharya ◽  
R. John Petheram ◽  
Rowan Reid

Two topics receiving much attention in design of forest policy and management in Nepal are conservation of biodiversity and participation of forest-local people. Government officials, forest users and development workers are all involved in shaping policy for the management of forest for biodiversity and other values. It is therefore crucial to understand the different viewpoints about biodiversity among these stakeholders. This paper is derived from a broad case study on the views of various stakeholders in community forestry in Nepal, but is focused on understanding the views of policy-level government officials in regards to biodiversity conservation. Using a grounded theory approach, qualitative data were collected on two field visits in 2002–2003 to the study area. The results of interviews with officials indicate diverse perspectives in interpreting biodiversity conservation. These include perceptions of forest users' understanding about diversity, and strong beliefs about definition of biodiversity and about dependence of users on forest for their livelihood. Implications of the results include an obvious need for better understanding by staff at various levels of government and other agencies involved in community forestry, of the different concepts and views held about biodiversity conservation. A broader understanding among officials of biodiversity and deeper knowledge of other's views on biodiversity conservation could help in designing and implementing policies and programs in the context of community forest management. Key words: views, perceptions, understanding, community, forestry, users, government officials, policy, qualitative method


2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 59-70
Author(s):  
S. Thapa ◽  
R. Prasai ◽  
R. Pahadi

In spite of policy programs in place, good forest governance does not still persist in community forestry sector of Nepal. This study aims to understand how genderbased leadership affects good forest governance in the two community forest user groups, viz. the Bandeshwori CFUG and the Suryamod Perunge CFUG of Bhaktapur district, Nepal from gender perspective. Both the primary and secondary methods were employed for data collection. The collected data were screened, and analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively. The study compares the individual elements (transparency, accountability and participation) of the governance with the overall governance scenarios between the two community forests. As per the findings of this study, the female leadership was found to be better in forest management by maintaining all aspects of governance as compared to the male. This was because of the higher participation of all the users, regular audit of income and expenditure, accountability of executive committee towards user group, high-level of transparency and predictability. The study concludes that decentralization of power to female, and their active participation in leadership position are needed for maintaining good governance and proper management of community forest.


2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 18
Author(s):  
Muhdar Muhdar ◽  
Gufron D Dirawan ◽  
Muhammad Wiharto

This study aims: To describe the management of Community Forestry (HKm) in Indonesia. Through a theoretical study of some of the results of research on community forest management in Indonesia. Then the results of this study show that the management of HKm is more oriented to short-term economic interests, not ecologically and economically sustainable, resulting in damage to forest functions, both ecological and economic functions, due to various problems faced by the field and inequality between government regulations. The solution to the results of this study is that in the management of Community Forestry, it is necessary to pay attention to three principles, namely: a) Benefit and are ecologically, economically, socially and culturally sustainable, b). deliberation; and justice for the whole community. 


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document