Devolution of forest-related rights : Comparative analyses of six developing countries

The study focused on the different ways that forest-related rights can be devolved to the local level according to the current legal frameworks in Laos, Nepal, Vietnam, Kenya, Mozambique and Tanzania. The eleven case studies represented the main ways in which forest-related rights can be devolved to communities or households in these countries. The objectives of this study were to 1) analyse the contents and extent of forest-related rights that can be devolved to the local level, 2) develop an empirical typology that represents the main types of devolution, and 3) compare the cases against a theoretical ideal type to assess in what way and to what extent the cases are similar to or differ from the theoretical construct. Fuzzy set theory, Qualitative Comparative Analysis and ideal type analysis were used in analysing the case studies and in developing an empirical typology. The theoretical framework, which guided data collection and analyses, was based on institutional economics and theories on property rights, common pool resources and collective action. On the basis of the theoretical and empirical knowledge, the most important attributes of rights were defined as use rights, management rights, exclusion rights, transfer rights and the duration and security of the rights. The ideal type was defined as one where local actors have been devolved comprehensive use rights, extensive management rights, rights to exclude others from the resource and rights to transfer these rights. In addition, the rights are to be secure and held perpetually. The ideal type was used to structure the analysis and as a tool against which the cases were analysed. The contents, extent and duration of the devolved rights varied greatly. In general, the results show that devolution has mainly meant the transfer of use rights to the local level, and has not really changed the overall state control over forest resources. In most cases the right holders participate, or have a limited role in the decision making regarding the harvesting and management of the resource. There was a clear tendency to devolve the rights to enforce rules and to monitor resource use and condition more extensively than the powers to decide on the management and development of the resource. The empirical typology of the cases differentiated between five different types of devolution. The types can be characterised by the devolution of 1) restricted use and control rights, 2) extensive use rights but restricted control rights, 3) extensive rights, 4) insecure, short term use and restricted control rights, and 5) insecure extensive rights. Overall, the case studies conformity to the ideal type was very low: only two cases were similar to the ideal type, all other cases differed considerably from the ideal type. The restricted management rights were the most common reason for the low conformity to the ideal type (eight cases). In three cases, the short term of the rights, restricted transfer rights, restricted use rights or restricted exclusion rights were the reason or one of the reasons for the low conformity to the ideal type. In two cases the rights were not secure.Metsään liittyvien oikeuksien siirto valtiolta kyläyhteisöille tai kotitalouksille on yksi tärkeä keino edistää paikallisten ihmisten toimeentuloa sekä metsien suojelua ja hoitoa kehitysmaissa, joissa metsät ovat virallisesti valtion omistuksessa. Tutkimuksessa tarkasteltiin miten metsiin liittyviä oikeuksia voidaan siirtää paikalliselle tasolle voimassaolevan lainsäädännön perusteella kuudessa kehitysmaassa (Laos, Nepal, Vietnam, Kenia, Mosambik ja Tansania). Tavoitteena oli analysoida mitä oikeuksia ja missä laajuudessa voidaan siirtää kyläyhteisöille ja/tai kotitalouksille ja kehittää luokittelu kuvaamaan erilaisia oikeuksiensiirtomuotoja. Lisäksi siirrettäviä oikeuksia ja niiden laajuutta verrattiin kirjallisuuden pohjalta määritettyyn ideaalitapaukseen. Vertailevan tapaustutkimuksen menetelmällä analysointiin ja verrattiin yhtätoista tapausta. Tapaukset edustivat niitä lainsäädännössä määriteltyjä muotoja, joilla metsään liittyviä oikeuksia voidaan tutkituissa maissa siirtää paikalliselle tasolle. Tutkimuksen teoreettinen ja analyyttinen viitekehys perustuivat institutionaalisen taloustieteeseen sekä omistusoikeuksiin, yhteisomistukseen ja yhteistoimintaan liittyviin teorioihin. Metsiin liittyvät oikeudet koostuvat ominaisuuksista, jotka liittyvät oikeuksiin käyttää puuta ja muita metsäntuotteita, oikeuksiin päättää miten metsiä käytetään ja hoidetaan sekä kuka tai ketkä niitä voivat hyödyntää, oikeuksien ajalliseen kestoon ja niiden varmuuteen sekä oikeuksiin siirtää saatuja oikeuksia myymällä, vuokraamalla tai perintönä. Ideaalitapauksessa siirretyt oikeudet ovat jatkuvia, turvattuja ja siirrettäviä ja kattavat sekä puun että muiden metsäntuotteiden käytön ja oikeuttavat päättämään metsien käytöstä ja hoidosta. Tutkituissa maissa siirrettävien oikeuksien sisältö, laajuus ja kesto vaihtelivat suuresti. Oikeuksien siirto on kuitenkin pääasiassa merkinnyt lähinnä käyttöoikeuksien siirtoa ja metsien käyttöön ja hoitoon liittyvää päätösvaltaa on siirretty paikalliselle tasolle vain rajoitetusti. Useimmissa tapauksissa kyläyhteisöt ja/tai kotitaloudet osallistuivat tai heillä oli vähäinen rooli metsien käyttöön ja hoitoon liittyvässä päätöksenteossa. Metsienkäytön ja -kunnon valvontaan liittyvät oikeudet olivat selvästi vahvempia kuin oikeudet päättää metsien käytöstä, hoidosta ja kehittämisestä. Paikalliselle tasolle siirretyt, metsiin liittyvät oikeudet jakautuivat viiteen eri tyyppiin: 1) rajatut käyttöoikeudet ja päätösvalta, 2) laajat käyttöoikeudet mutta rajallinen päätösvalta, 3) laajat käyttöoikeudet ja päätösvalta, 4) epävarmat, lyhytaikaiset käyttöoikeudet ja rajallinen päätösvalta ja 5) epävarmat, laajat käyttöoikeudet ja päätösvalta. Kaiken kaikkiaan tutkitut tapaukset poikkesivat selvästi teoreettisesta ideaalitapauksesta: vain kahdessa tapauksessa siirrettyjen oikeuksien sisältö ja laajuus vastasivat ideaalitapausta, kaikissa muissa tapauksissa siirretyt oikeudet erosivat siitä selvästi. Kahdeksassa tapauksessa siirretyt oikeudet erosivat ideaalitapauksesta vähäisen metsän hoitoon ja käyttöön liittyvän päätösvallan vuoksi. Kolmessa tapauksessa syynä oli jokin tai useampi seuraavista: oikeuksien lyhytaikaisuus, heikot käyttöoikeudet, heikot oikeudet estää muita käyttämästä metsää, tai heikot oikeudet myydä, vuokrata tai jättää perinnöksi saatuja oikeuksia. Kahdessa tapauksessa oikeudet eivät olleet turvattuja

Megatrendit muuttavat Suomen metsäalaa

Tieteen tori: Metsäalan toimintaympäristön muutoksen ennakoint

Incentives and constraints of community and smallholder forestry

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Metsät muuttuvassa maailmassa: kansainväliset trendit ja keskeiset haasteet

Luonnonvarakeskuksen (Luke) ja Suomen ympäristökeskuksen (SYKE) taustaselvitys Kansainvälisen luonnonvarapolitiikan yhteistyöverkostolle ; Esitelmä liittyy julkaisuun: Luonnonvara- ja biotalouden tutkimus 1/2018, http://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-326-523-3201

Forests in a changing world: Global trends and key challenges

LUKE Natural Resources Institute Finland and Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE) report to Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry ; Esitelmä liittyy julkaisuun: Luonnonvara- ja biotalouden tutkimus 1/2018, http://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-326-523-3201

REDD+ and Green Growth : Synergies or discord in Vietnam and Indonesia

Shifting global development discourses – Implications for forests and livelihoods: Special Issue (Supplement 1, December 2017)Green Growth (GG) has emerged as a global narrative, replacing to some extent and integrating earlier sustainable development narratives, while Reducing Emissions through avoiding Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD+) has developed as major item in climate change negotiations. GG and REDD+ are both considered important strategies and are often seen as synergistic in achieving major changes in economic, regulatory and governance frameworks. Of concern, however, is that GG is sometimes seen as greenwashing of economic activities (which could include forest conversion to other land uses) by an oversimplified presentation of win-win solutions without challenging the actual root causes of unsustainable growth. How GG and REDD+ can contribute to transformational change in policy and practice depends on the relationship between these narratives, especially whether their adoption in national level policies manifests synergies or discord. In this paper, we will answer this question through analysing: (1) how the two narratives have unfolded in Vietnam and Indonesia and to what extent REDD+ and GG rhetoric include concrete policy objectives; (2) what issues policy actors perceive as challenges for their implementation. A comparative, mixed methods approach was employed to analyze how REDD+ and GG are framed in national policy documents. This analysis was supported by data from interviews with policy actors in both countries in two points of time, 2011/12 and 2015/16. The findings highlight the challenges for implementation of both REDD+ and GG as individual policy programmes, and the dilution of the REDD+ agenda and decision makers’ confusion about a GG strategy when these narratives are joined and translated by decision makers. Actors still perceive development and environmental objectives as a zero-sum struggle, favouring a development narrative that might lead to neither REDD+ nor green policy action. We conclude that REDD+ and GG can go hand in hand, if there is action to tackle deforestation and degradation.Peer reviewe

Partnership between public and private actors in forest-sector development : Options for dryland Africa based on experiences from Sudan, with case studies on Laos, Nepal, Vietnam, Kenya, Mozambique and Tanzania

Peer reviewe

Potential of heart fatty-acid binding protein, neurofilament light, interleukin-10 and S100 calcium-binding protein B in the acute diagnostics and severity assessment of traumatic brain injury

Background: There is substantial interest in blood biomarkers as fast and objective diagnostic tools for traumatic brain injury (TBI) in the acute setting.Methods: Adult patients (≥18) with TBI of any severity and indications for CT scanning and orthopaedic injury controls were prospectively recruited during 2011-2013 at Turku University Hospital, Finland. The severity of TBI was classified with GCS: GCS 13-15 was classified as mild (mTBI); GCS 9-12 as moderate (moTBI) and GCS 3-8 as severe (sTBI). Serum samples were collected within 24 hours of admission and biomarker levels analysed with high-performance kits. The ability of biomarkers to distinguish between severity of TBI and CT-positive and CT-negative patients was assessed.Results: Among 189 patients recruited, neurofilament light (NF-L) was obtained from 175 patients with TBI and 40 controls. S100 calcium-binding protein B (S100B), heart fatty-acid binding protein (H-FABP) and interleukin-10 (IL-10) were analysed for 184 patients with TBI and 39 controls. There were statistically significant differences between levels of all biomarkers between the severity classes, but none of the biomarkers distinguished patients with moTBI from patients with sTBI. Patients with mTBI discharged from the ED had lower levels of IL-10 (0.26, IQR=0.21, 0.39 pg/mL), H-FABP (4.15, IQR=2.72, 5.83 ng/mL) and NF-L (8.6, IQR=6.35, 15.98 pg/mL) compared with those admitted to the neurosurgical ward, IL-10 (0.55, IQR=0.31, 1.42 pg/mL), H-FABP (6.022, IQR=4.19, 20.72 ng/mL) and NF-L (13.95, IQR=8.33, 19.93 pg/mL). We observed higher levels of H-FABP and NF-L in older patients with mTBI. None of the biomarkers or their combinations was able to distinguish CT-positive (n=36) or CT-negative (n=58) patients with mTBI from controls.Conclusions: S100B, H-FABP, NF-L and IL-10 levels in patients with mTBI were significantly lower than in patients with moTBI and sTBI but alone or in combination, were unable to distinguish patients with mTBI from orthopaedic controls. This suggests these biomarkers cannot be used alone to diagnose mTBI in trauma patients in the acute setting.</p

Admission Levels of Interleukin 10 and Amyloid β 1–40 Improve the Outcome Prediction Performance of the Helsinki Computed Tomography Score in Traumatic Brain Injury

Background: Blood biomarkers may enhance outcome prediction performance of head computed tomography scores in traumatic brain injury (TBI). Objective: To investigate whether admission levels of eight different protein biomarkers can improve the outcome prediction performance of the Helsinki computed tomography score (HCTS) without clinical covariates in TBI. Materials and methods: Eighty-two patients with computed tomography positive TBIs were included in this study. Plasma levels of β-amyloid isoforms 1–40 (Aβ40) and 1–42 (Aβ42), glial fibrillary acidic protein, heart fatty acid-binding protein, interleukin 10 (IL-10), neurofilament light, S100 calcium-binding protein B, and total tau were measured within 24 h from admission. The patients were divided into favorable (Glasgow Outcome Scale—Extended 5–8, n = 49) and unfavorable (Glasgow Outcome Scale—Extended 1–4, n = 33) groups. The outcome was assessed 6–12 months after injury. An optimal predictive panel was investigated with the sensitivity set at 90–100%. Results: The HCTS alone yielded a sensitivity of 97.0% (95% CI: 90.9–100) and specificity of 22.4% (95% CI: 10.2–32.7) and partial area under the curve of the receiver operating characteristic of 2.5% (95% CI: 1.1–4.7), in discriminating patients with favorable and unfavorable outcomes. The threshold to detect a patient with unfavorable outcome was an HCTS > 1. The three best individually performing biomarkers in outcome prediction were Aβ40, Aβ42, and neurofilament light. The optimal panel included IL-10, Aβ40, and the HCTS reaching a partial area under the curve of the receiver operating characteristic of 3.4% (95% CI: 1.7–6.2) with a sensitivity of 90.9% (95% CI: 81.8–100) and specificity of 59.2% (95% CI: 40.8–69.4). Conclusion: Admission plasma levels of IL-10 and Aβ40 significantly improve the prognostication ability of the HCTS after TBI

New paradigm for saving the world's forests? Book Review.

Book review: Douglas, J. and Simula, M. 2010. The Future of the World’s Forests. Ideas vs Ideologies. World Forests, volume 7. Springer. 211p.</ja:p