Factors influencing community participation in the implementation and monitoring of FLEGT-VPA in Ghana

PurposeVoluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) offers a framework for open and participatory forest management for forest actors, particularly communities fringing forest reserves. This paper aimed to determine the factors influencing the participation of local communities in the implementation and monitoring of Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade-Voluntary Partnership Agreement (FLEGT-VPA) activities.Design/methodology/approachThe study was conducted in three communities in Goaso Forest District in the Ahafo Region of Ghana. Based on a cross-sectional design, 105 (n = 105) community members were interviewed using a semi-structured questionnaire. Logistic regression analysis was performed to identify socio-demographic and cultural factors that influence people's participation in FLEGT-VPA activities. Friedman and Wilcoxon signed-rank tests were conducted to analyse the influence of the environmental role of the forest and participation in FLEGT-VPA activities.FindingsThe study found a significant association between the leadership status of respondents' local customs/taboo days and participation in both implementation and monitoring activities. At the same time, a significant association was found between respondents' participation in previous training programs and FLEGT-VPA monitoring activities. The environmental role of the forest was also found to have a significant association with respondents' participation in FLEGT-VPA activities.Originality/valueStudies on the factors that influence the participation of forest fringe communities in Ghana in implementing and monitoring FLEGT-VPA activities are non-existent or scarce. This study identified significant socio-demographic and environmental factors contributing to participatory forest conservation modules such as FLEGT-VPA which will guide future forest conservation initiatives that are inclusive of stakeholders’ interests/concerns.

An approach to evaluate mountain forest protection and management as a means for flood mitigation

We are of the opinion that old environmental policies that are based on scientific knowledge at the time they are established need to be revisited in terms of the current knowledge and the effectiveness of these policies in protecting or promoting a particular ecosystem service. Here we use the first Swiss Federal Forest Law (1876) as a case example, which was established to protect mountain forests as a natural means of protection against natural hazards, particularly floods. We briefly summarize the current relevant scientific knowledge on i) reasons for reforestation in mountains and how the law may have contributed, ii) forest effects on hydrological regimes and their protection service against floods, and iii) other watershed changes affecting both reforestation and the forest-runoff interaction. We then present insights from a case study on the Upper Rhone catchments, which lead us to develop a methodological approach based on interdisciplinary collaboration among natural and social sciences to gain the needed data to answer the question of whether a forest protection law can serve as a means of flood protection. Specifically, we found that a means of data interpolation is key to answering this question given data are at different scales and resolutions, and suggest modeling methods to fill gaps. Such methods and collaborations are key for basing environmental laws and policies in current scientific knowledge and effectively manage ecosystems and their services.

Natural resource and post-resource relations: the hierarchy of branches and the ratio of subjects

The article examines the place of Natural Resource Law and post-resource branches of law in the legal system, proposes a hierarchy of these branches and outlines the relationship between the subjects of natural resource and post-resource relations. The subject of legal regulation of Natural Resource Law is defined as qualitatively homogeneous natural resource relations, consisting of the use and reproduction of natural resources – a legally defined part of the environment that have signs of natural origin and are in ecological relationship with the environment and with each other, can be used as a source of meeting human needs. All natural resources, as well as the relationship to their use and reproduction, are closely linked. This connection will always be inseparable and reciprocal. It is established that in the system of Natural Resource Law public relations regarding the use and reproduction of certain natural resources are in fact its subsectors and provide a differentiated approach to the environmentally sound use of each of the relevant natural resources. Natural Resource Law is not a conglomeration of land, water, forest and subsoil law, but their qualitative unity based on a single nature, factors of development and the internal structure of social relations. It is concluded that neither the long history of legislation, nor a significant amount of regulations that are sources of post-resource industries, are grounds for denying the inseparable and mutual connection of post-resource branches of law with each other and with Natural Resource Law and the objective need for separation independent branch of Natural Resource Law. Keywords: Natural Resource Law, land law, water law, forest law, subsoil law, faunal law, floristic law, natural resource relations, post-resource relations, legal system, branch of law

Collaborative Governance Networks: A Case Study of Argentina’s Forest Law

Deforestation causes biodiversity loss and the eviction of small-scale ranchers and indigenous people. Accordingly, it is a global issue in environmental politics. This article analyzes a participatory governance system associated with the implementation of Argentina’s forest law in a hotspot of deforestation: the province of Salta in the Gran Chaco ecoregion. Specifically, this article investigates policy actors’ core beliefs, how they match with policy network clusters, and how this affects the implementation of the forest law. The study is based on a unique data set derived from extensive fieldwork and a network survey among all actors who participate in the policy forums. After defining three main core beliefs that describe policy actors’ motivations, we systematically analyze all key actors’ beliefs as well as their interactions in the various policy networks. This analysis shows that it is necessary to empirically identify coalitions based on both behavior and core beliefs to understand the limited implementation of the law. Our methodological approach holds promise for the analysis of other governance systems where multiple stakeholders engage in consensus-oriented decision-making.

From the History of the State Regulation of Public Relations in the Forest Sector in the Irkutsk Province at the Turn of the 19th-20th Centuries

Based on the analysis of the content and application of the law of the Russian Empire of the second half of the XIX — early XX centuries, regulating public relations in the forest sphere, the operating features of one of the most important institutions of nature management in the Irkutsk province, such as legal responsibility for violations of forest legislation, are considered. The foundation of this institution is an important manifestation of the formation of the environmental law system in the region. The conclusion about the general positive results of the spread of the all-Russian legislation to the territory of the Baikal region during this period is made. The regional features of the institution of legal responsibility for violations in the field of forest law are stated with the priority of its compensatory and regulatory functions. The increasing role of forestry departments as structures that carry out prosecution (in comparison with the judicial system), as well as the practice of administrative procedure for resolving cases of violations and imposing monetary penalties on violators, is emphasized.

Investigating the concept of mountain forest protection and management as a means for flood protection

<div> <p>Environmental policies have the purpose to protect ecosystems in their structure and function to maintain the ecosystem services they provide. They are based on scientific knowledge at the time they are established, and rarely are those assumptions revisited or is the effectiveness of these policies in protecting or promoting a particular ecosystem service tested. In this study, we revisit the first Swiss Federal Forest Law which protects mountain forests as a means of protection from natural hazards. It was established in 1876 following catastrophic flood events to preserve and restore the protective service of mountain forests by prohibiting clear-cutting and an excessive use of forests. Here, we provide a conceptual and methodological framework to explore the effects of the Forest Law on flood occurrence based on insights from preliminary results of a feasibility study. For the conceptual framework, we summarize the current scientific knowledge on i) forest effects on hydrological regimes and their protection service against floods, ii) reasons for reforestation in mountains and how the law may have contributed, and iii) other watershed changes affecting both reforestation and the forest-runoff interaction. We then develop the methodological framework based on insights from a case study on the Upper Rhone catchments, which serves as a prototype of an interdisciplinary methodological approach to answer the question of whether a forest protection law can serve as a means of flood protection. We explore the feasibility of answering this question given data are at different scales and resolutions. We suggest modeling to fill data gaps and discuss collaboration among natural and social sciences. Specifically, we propose that both natural and social scientists need to collaborate, with frequent exchange, to collect the data necessary to evaluate the relationship between legal forest protection and flood occurrence. We found an environmental historian is needed to evaluate if changes in forest cover can be attributed to mandates by the law, or rather cultural and societal developments. Further, a forest scientist or engineer in collaboration with a hydrologist will need to adapt and improve hydrological models that specifically include forest cover and structure. All scientists need to collaborate to find the information on historical and current forest cover (e.g., maps, postcards, orthophotos) and floods (e.g., archival documents, journal, newspapers, hydrological stations). Our case study indicates that data to answer the overarching question may be available and emphasizes the necessity of a true interdisciplinary approach allowing for consideration and combination of a variety of data sources and different temporal and spatial scales. The interdisciplinary framework we developed can serve as example for other ecosystem services, where similar questions on the effects of environmental practices and policies arise.</p> </div>

Unpacking the role of agency in the emergence of differentiated environmental institutions: the case of the territorial classification of native forests in the Argentinian Chaco

<p>The Gran Chaco represents an important habitat that is undergoing significant changes, as a result of the expansion of the agricultural frontier, with a range of negative social and environmental consequences. Such a change is the result of a “bad transition” from an extensive/subsistence agricultural system towards a capital-intensive one, to which corresponds a completely different level of anthropization. The largest part of the Gran Chaco is located in Argentina. Partially as a response to the rapid loss of natural habitat in the region, Argentina passed a federal forest law in 2007. The law requires the different provinces to introduce a set of implementing regulations and adopt a territorial classification of native forests (TCNF), denoting different conservation values (high, medium and low). Although referring to the same federal law, the TCNFs developed by the various provinces in the Argentinian Chaco ecoregion differ significantly. We first develop a theoretical framework, which combines historical materialism with the theory of socio-ecological systems, to explain the emergence of institutional configurations. Through this framework, we hypothesise that the heterogeneity in the TCNFs results from the combination of contextual factors (i.e., differences in the physical environment among the provinces), material/economic conditions (i.e., production processes, social relationships and reproduction processes) and different forms of agency. We test the hypothesis by developing thick case-studies on the various Argentinian provinces in the Gran Chaco region via qualitative comparative analysis. The results allow determining which configurations co-occur with certain outcomes in terms of TCNFs. The results shed light on the process of emergence of differentiated environmental institutions in the region from the interactions of different conditions, contexts and forms of agency. This knowledge, in turn, could be extremely useful in navigating the Anthropocene while promoting a “good transition” towards sustainability.</p>