Community Forestry: Paradoxes and Perspectives in Development Practice

This thesis deals with two related topics: core development objectives in community forestry in the Philippines, and the 'instruments' of development practice which have been used to address these objectives. The two topics have currency beyond forestry development and are at the centre of a debate about sustainable development. Community forestry aims to democratise resource access, alleviate poverty, and ensure the sustainability of forest resources. Development practice, however, has often led to contradictory outcomes. This paradox is examined from three perspectives: that of political economy, characteristics of practice, and the theory of rationalisation. ¶ Four government-initiated community forestry projects in the Philippines are analysed. ..

Stakeholders Perspective on Forest Management: A Case Study of the Philippines

Pembalakan hutan di Filipina telah berlangsung selama 40 tahun belakangan ini. Ada dua faktor pembalakan hutan ini. Pertama adalah faktor politik yang memerlakukan hutan sebagai komoditi dan keuntungan politik. Kedua adalah konversi hutan produksi menjadi lahan pertanian, seperti perkebunan sawit, tebu, dan sayur mayur. Di berbagai negara berkembang, seperti di Filipina, lahan hutan menjadi semakin sempit, akibat peningkatan populasi, pemukiman transmigran, khususnya peralihan lahan (kaingin) di perbukitan. Dampak pembalakan hutan ini dikritik oleh organisasi non-pemerintah dan akademisi, sebab aktifitas ini dapat menyebabkan bencana banjir, erosi tanah dan tanah longsor. Kerangka teoritis untuk menganalisa isu pembalakan hutan dan program pemulihannya (kebijakan pembalakan hutan, rehabilitasi hutan dan konsesi penebangan) menggunakan ekologi politik yang menggarisbawahi peran para pemangku kebijakan (stakeholders).Hasil penelitian menunjukan aktifitas pembalakan hutan ini berdampak buruk. Para pengambil keputusan dan pemangku kebijakan yang berasal dari donor internasional mendukung upaya untuk merehabilitasi hutan, mengembalikan lahan hutan, dan reboisasi dengan memberikan konsesi penebangan pada pihak swasta (IFMA/ITPLA), sektor kerjasama, dan individual (SIFMA). Tujuan kebijakan ini adalah untuk meningkatkan produksi hutan dan menjaga area konservasi. Umumnya, organisasi non-pemerintah, petani lokal, dan akademisi merespon baik dan melibatkan diri dalam program ini, sebab aktifitas ini berdampak positiif bagi pemulihan kawasan hutan di masa depan.Kata kunci: pembalakan hutan, rehabilitasi hutan, reboisasi, konsesi penebangan (IFMA dan SIFMA), Forest Management Bureau (FMB), pemangku kebijaka

Analysis of National Forest Programs for REDD+ Implementation in six South and Southeast Asia countries

Aim of study: To facilitate REDD+ implementation and identify relevant attributes for robust REDD+ policies, this study evaluated and synthesized information from national forest programs in South and Southeast Asian countries.Area of study: Data was collected from six countries: Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Philippines, India and Thailand.Methods: The data sources for the evaluation was an in-depth desk review of relevant documents and focus group discussion among experts from each study country.  Main Results: We found out that diverse factors may influence program feasibility and the ability to achieve ‘triple benefits’: the nature of the forest targeted by the policy, the characteristics of the population affected by the policy, attributes of the policy instrument and the different actors involved.Research highlights: We argue that national policies and programs targeted for REDD+ implementation should focus on the identified features to achieve REDD+ goals.Keywords: policy evaluation; policy instruments; triple benefits; Southeast Asia

Ten new insights in climate science 2022

Non-technical summary We summarize what we assess as the past year's most important findings within climate change research: limits to adaptation, vulnerability hotspots, new threats coming from the climate–health nexus, climate (im)mobility and security, sustainable practices for land use and finance, losses and damages, inclusive societal climate decisions and ways to overcome structural barriers to accelerate mitigation and limit global warming to below 2°C. Technical summary We synthesize 10 topics within climate research where there have been significant advances or emerging scientific consensus since January 2021. The selection of these insights was based on input from an international open call with broad disciplinary scope. Findings concern: (1) new aspects of soft and hard limits to adaptation; (2) the emergence of regional vulnerability hotspots from climate impacts and human vulnerability; (3) new threats on the climate–health horizon – some involving plants and animals; (4) climate (im)mobility and the need for anticipatory action; (5) security and climate; (6) sustainable land management as a prerequisite to land-based solutions; (7) sustainable finance practices in the private sector and the need for political guidance; (8) the urgent planetary imperative for addressing losses and damages; (9) inclusive societal choices for climate-resilient development and (10) how to overcome barriers to accelerate mitigation and limit global warming to below 2°C. Social media summary Science has evidence on barriers to mitigation and how to overcome them to avoid limits to adaptation across multiple fields

People, power and timber: The politics of community-based forest management

The potential of devolved conservation to empower people, reduce poverty and protect forest resources has yet to be realized in much of the developing world. This is particularly evident in the Philippines where the central state paradoxically recentralizes political power through devolution at the policy, program and project level in forest management. We investigate how centralized state power emanates through devolved networks to affect the success of local timber utilization involving community-based forest management (CBFM) on Mindanao Island, the southern Philippines. By examining broader shifts from centralized to devolved forest management, results suggest that centralized political power continues to control and adversely affect local uses of timber through CBFM. We discuss how in the process of state authorities recentralizing devolved rights and responsibility over timber management, community-based logging operations were threatened but sustained by members relying on community- based structures and their own capabilities. The conclusion asserts that broader state processes of devolving power over timber management remains constrained by political motives and interests and so largely fails to fulfill the objectives of community-based forest management

Co-management in community forestry: How the partial devolution of management rights creates challenges for forest communities

Forest tenure reform has opened economic and livelihood opportunities for community forestry management through the devolution of management rights under broader decentralisation reforms. However, the transfer of rights and associated power to forest communities is usually partial. The view of property as composed of ′bundles of rights′ allows for the disaggregation of rights transferred from government to local people. In practice, it is common that rights held by natural resource stakeholders encompass only part of the rights bundle. This partial transfer of rights shapes community forestry institutions and the manner in which they function. When communities and state agencies share responsibilities and benefits of forest management, they collaborate within co-management systems. Co-management systems are attractive to governments because they open avenues for local participation in resource governance and more equitable benefit-sharing while maintaining some level of state control. However, co-management systems can place a greater burden on community level actors without providing the corresponding benefits. As a result, co-management can fail to meet expectations. In response, the promotion of community forestry may require greater emphasis on adjusting forest regulatory frameworks, institutions, and agencies, to allow more freedom by community-level actors in developing forest management systems