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.

Beekeeping promotes the traditional home-garden conservation in Ethiopia

In Ethiopia, agrobiodiversity is managed through indigenous knowledge of rural communities, where the selection of plant species varies depending on the sociocultural practices and local economic needs. Traditional beekeeping has been practiced by millions of households in rural Ethiopia over a long historical period. However, the contribution of beekeeping in maintaining agrobiodiversity has not been systematically assessed in the country. This study was conducted in Central and Western Ethiopia to assess and compare traditional conservation practices, as well as the diversity and abundance of vegetation found within home-garden maintained by beekeepers and non-beekeepers. The results of the study showed that beekeepers raditionally retain more remnants of trees and shrubs in their home-garden to favor sustainable beekeeping, compared to non-beekeepers who instead are more likely to expand crop production. The mean number of floral species in beekeeper and non-beekeeper home-gardens was 22.8 ±3.2 and 14.2 ± 2.1, respectively. The higher species richness of bee visited plants in beekeepers’ home-gardens may be associated with traditional ecological knowledge accumulated by beekeepers over the years to maximize harvests of bee products. We therefore recommend the integration of ekeeping to other conservation interventions, such as community forestry, watersheds and protected areas as sustainable conservation practices. We suggest that necessary financial, technological, and extensional support should be enhanced to align improved v to any conservation efforts.

Capacity building at community forestry level for synergistic implementation of NDCs’ adaptation and mitigation commitments

Conservation, restoration and management of forest resources are critical for addressing climate change. Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) are a vehicle for targeted climate actions, including those related to forest management, by countries towards contributing global efforts agreed under the Paris Agreement. Operationalizing climate action stipulated in NDCs requires adequate preparedness and capacity, especially at the local level. This paper suggests a comprehensive framework of capacity building targeting at the community forestry level based on the findings of capacity needs assessments carried out in Nepal. The framework outlines a method to develop capacity among forest communities so they can carry out integrated assessments of the outcomes related to sustainable forest management, mitigation, adaptation and the quality of governance. Further, it outlines the capacity needed for integrated planning and implementation to consolidate the assessment process and make progress in an adaptive manner. By filling the capacity gaps at the community forestry level in a comprehensive manner, countries can narrow the existing divide between local-level climate actions and upper-level (national and international level) policy priorities, which is the major barrier for translating climate commitments into action.

Implications of omnibus law for forestland conflict resolution systems (a case study in Sumbawa)

There are many cases of forestland tenure in Indonesia and one of them occurre in a village on the island of Sumbawa. Currently, the Omnibus Law no.11/2020 and its derivative regulation PP no. 23/2021 came up to create a more robust business enabling environment in the forestry sector with one of the targets is to improve the economic conditions of the communities around the forests. In relation to the forestry conflict in Sumbawa, these regulations bring hope for the parties involved in the conflict in the efforts to resolve prolonged tenure conflicts. The purpose of this case study is to examine how the new forestry regulations can provide options for communities and the Forest Management Unit (FMU) in resolving forestry conflicts, assess how conflicting communities perceive the forms of cooperation of their expectation in the future, and provide options for potential partnerships to be initiated. The research methods used are historical study, survey, participant observation, semi-structured interviews with forest managers and communities, and focus group discussion that was all carried out in 2017. The findings show that according to PP. no. 23/2021 and the history of this area, this piece of land is a potential object of the social forestry program. In addition, through this action research, two farmer groups are successfully formed. This makes the legalization of social forestry one-step forward to be a reality. Moreover, all respondents agree to carry out partnership with the FMU. This study recommends that the ideal form of forestry partnership is community forestry considering the location of the conflict land is in a production forest area. The facilitations could be implemented to support; the community are the legalization of community forestry, support for the development of honey from stingless bees that has been being developed by some farmers, cashew based business development, and assistance in implementing agroforestry with a sustainable alley cropping model of wood-cashew-corn plants. Initiatives from local people and facilitation from FMU are required to succeed the implementation of Omnibus Law in the forestry sector.

Strategi pengelolaan hutan mangrove Kampung Kayu Ara Permai Kecamatan Sungai Apit Kabupaten Siak

Mangrove forest management is an effort to protect mangrove forests into conservation forest areas. This study aims to (1) analyze internal and external factors that influence mangrove forest management and (2) mangrove forest management strategies in Kayu Ara Permai Village, Sungai Apit District, Siak Regency. The research was conducted using qualitative research with descriptive research methods. The data collected consisted of primary and secondary data and were analyzed using the SWOT analysis approach (Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, and Threat). The results of the study showed a strategy in mangrove forest management in Kampung Kayu Ara Permai, namely encouraging community participation in mangrove forest management, capacity building Human resources both for the community and the Laskar Mandiri Conservation group. Development of mangrove ecotourism in Kampung Kayu Ara Permai Encouraging mangrove forest management to become Social Forestry with the Community Forestry scheme