Sustainable Community Forestry: Insights from Rural Thailand

Community participation in forest management has evolved as the new paradigm of natural resource governance in recent decades. Focusing on community participation in local forest resource management, this article examines the evolution and working of community forestry in Thailand from a socio-historical perspective. It narrates the social history of forest governance practices in Thailand and explores the community’s response towards deforestation, resource degradation and rising livelihood insecurity. Drawing insights from three case studies of community participation in forest governance from the provinces of Lampang, Lamphun and Kanchanaburi, this article highlights the potentials of community forestry in evolving as an alternative institution for sustainable livelihood security and forest governance. The article maps out the social history of forest governance practices in Thailand by identifying three successive stages: (a) influence of early European colonial rule in the neighbouring territories, (b) the American influence of 1960s, and (c) social uprisings and a visible ‘community’ in forest management practice.

Forest governance and development effects on tropical charcoal production and deforestation

Severe loss and degradation of tropical forests affects ecosystem services and livelihoods. Charcoal, an important energy and income source for millions of people, causes 7% of tropical deforestation and forest degradation. Forest governance aims at managing forest-related issues. On the one hand, development allows for financial investments in forest governance, e.g., in monitoring and enforcement, which the aim to control deforestation. On the other hand, deforestation often continues with increased human wellbeing. Here, we aim to (i) globally examine effects of forest governance on charcoal production and deforestation, and (ii) understand its association with development. We developed a typology of tropical forest governance systems based on a literature review of 54 USAID Country Profiles and combined it with global data on charcoal production, deforestation, governance quality and development. Our results suggest that countries’ development status affects charcoal production rather than governance quality; we observe a negative relationship between development status and charcoal production per capita (HDI: F(1,50) = 4.85, p = 0.032; GNI: F(1,50) = 4.64, p = 0.036). The limited influence of governance quality and rights on charcoal production per capita and deforestation suggests mismatches between formal and informal governance and exposes challenges in top-down percolation of governance goals. Our results highlight potential importance of tenure rights and potential opportunities for regional governing bodies to bridge local formal and informal actors to improve forest governance. Positive effects of regional tenure are driven by mixed effects of high development and governance quality related to decentralization in Asia and South America, highlighting transitions from charcoal as livelihood energy source to global commodity. Variability in results for FAO and UN charcoal production data advocates for better monitoring programs. Yet, for the first time, we explore global interactive patterns in charcoal production, development and governance – a starting point to differentiate good governance.

The REDD+ Readiness Stage in Myanmar: Stakeholder Perspectives in Bago Region and Shan State

<p>REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) is a UN initiative, originally introduced in 2005. The initiative seeks to decrease losses to remaining global forests and other carbon stocks by providing financial incentives to various stakeholder groups in developing countries. The initiative has been controversial, with a wide range of different perspectives on the programme and its implications for forest governance and climate change mitigation. Nonetheless, international and local actors are optimistic about REDD+ as a means to reduce carbon emissions. The Government of Myanmar introduced the initiative to the country in 2011. Myanmar is currently in the readiness phase of REDD+ and, because there are issues surrounding its implication for forest governance, this thesis explores how this phase is playing out in the country. The overarching research objective of this thesis is to explore how Myanmar is approaching the readiness phase of REDD+, and how different stakeholders engage with the readiness activities. This study adopts a post-structuralist political ecology approach for two reasons. Firstly, it enabled a broad and nuanced exploration of political, social, economic and cultural factors that shape readiness activities, and forest management in Myanmar. As Myanmar is democratising and liberalising its economy, the country’s unique political and economic situation provides context on how these factors shape the initial stage of the REDD+ implementation process. Secondly, post-structuralist political ecology examines meaning making and thus sheds light on how individuals perceive the REDD+ initiative in Myanmar. The findings from 11 semi-structured interviews and participant-observations show that people are optimistic and enthusiastic about REDD+ implementation but perceive and understand the initiative differently. There are many challenges to introducing REDD+ in Myanmar. This study highlights some issues including stakeholders’ awareness, poor coordination among stakeholders – especially between government agencies – and general issues of transparency. One of the central findings that has pervaded all themes discussed is a lack of transparency in relation to governance arrangements, land tenure, and relationships between stakeholders. If REDD+ is to progress successfully beyond the readiness phase in Myanmar, significant changes need to be made by the central government to ensure clear lines of communication and transparency of information.</p>

The REDD+ Readiness Stage in Myanmar: Stakeholder Perspectives in Bago Region and Shan State

<p>REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) is a UN initiative, originally introduced in 2005. The initiative seeks to decrease losses to remaining global forests and other carbon stocks by providing financial incentives to various stakeholder groups in developing countries. The initiative has been controversial, with a wide range of different perspectives on the programme and its implications for forest governance and climate change mitigation. Nonetheless, international and local actors are optimistic about REDD+ as a means to reduce carbon emissions. The Government of Myanmar introduced the initiative to the country in 2011. Myanmar is currently in the readiness phase of REDD+ and, because there are issues surrounding its implication for forest governance, this thesis explores how this phase is playing out in the country. The overarching research objective of this thesis is to explore how Myanmar is approaching the readiness phase of REDD+, and how different stakeholders engage with the readiness activities. This study adopts a post-structuralist political ecology approach for two reasons. Firstly, it enabled a broad and nuanced exploration of political, social, economic and cultural factors that shape readiness activities, and forest management in Myanmar. As Myanmar is democratising and liberalising its economy, the country’s unique political and economic situation provides context on how these factors shape the initial stage of the REDD+ implementation process. Secondly, post-structuralist political ecology examines meaning making and thus sheds light on how individuals perceive the REDD+ initiative in Myanmar. The findings from 11 semi-structured interviews and participant-observations show that people are optimistic and enthusiastic about REDD+ implementation but perceive and understand the initiative differently. There are many challenges to introducing REDD+ in Myanmar. This study highlights some issues including stakeholders’ awareness, poor coordination among stakeholders – especially between government agencies – and general issues of transparency. One of the central findings that has pervaded all themes discussed is a lack of transparency in relation to governance arrangements, land tenure, and relationships between stakeholders. If REDD+ is to progress successfully beyond the readiness phase in Myanmar, significant changes need to be made by the central government to ensure clear lines of communication and transparency of information.</p>

Carbon Forests at the Margins of the State: The Politics of Indigenous Sovereignty and Market Environmentalism in the North-eastern Hills of India

In the north-eastern hills of Meghalaya, the Khasi Hills project, self-advertised as ‘one of the first Redd+ initiatives in Asia to be developed and managed by indigenous governments on communal lands’, is often presented as one of the rare success stories of India’s recent experimentation with market instruments as part of its forest governance. This article uses this example to extend existing discussions on the neoliberalization of forest governance, and its intersections with the cultural politics of resource control. Unlike mainstream forestry projects criticized for being too concentrated in the hands of the Forest Department, this project explicitly taps into the particularities of a region located on the margin of the Indian nation-state, where, crucially, ownership and control of the land lie formally with the people rather than with the state. The article explores the politics of this curious marriage of (formal) indigenous sovereignty with market environmentalism, showing, first, the centrality of these assumed cultural and ecological specificities within the regime of justification of such market project; second, how the aspirations of project proponents for community engagement unravelled in practice; and, third, the limits of their endeavours due to larger structural social inequalities and the requirements of such market projects. I conclude with the idea that far from being anecdotal, this case brings interesting perspectives in the context of the struggle for the recognition of forest rights in the rest of India.

Strengthening Local Governance of Secondary Forest in Peru

Natural forest regrowth is critical for restoring ecosystem services in degraded landscapes and providing forest resources. Those who control tenure and access rights to these secondary forest areas determine who benefits from economically charged off-farm opportunities such as finance for forest restoration, selling carbon credits, and receiving payment for ecosystem services. We explore multiple dimensions of secondary forest governance in Peru, where the lack of official government statistics of the extent, geography, and ownership, coupled with low state capacity, prevents the development of governance structures that could stimulate their sustainable management. In this paper, we review the challenges to secondary forest governance, and the opportunities to strengthen it, focusing on beneficial outcomes for smallholder farmers. We characterize secondary forest types, extent, and persistence in Peru, followed by a presentation of the social dimensions of their governance. We identify four entry points for government to take action: national mapping of the socio-geography of second growth forest, regularize the property rights of untitled landholders, relax forest regulations, and provide incentives, not sanctions, for secondary forest management. Overall, we recommend folding secondary forest governance into a landscape approach. In Peru, strengthening local forest governance could help to drive benefits of climate change mitigation incentives directly to local forest stewards.