Search results

The 1990s have been the decade of state decentralisation both in India and in Sweden. Decentralisation of political power has been accompanied by the rhetoric of community participation in natural resource management and rural development initiatives. In light of this, questions about whom or what constitutes the ‘community’ and ‘the local’ take on important connotations. Women and men living in many rural areas (often peripheral in relation to State and other decision-making structures) have sought to ‘redefine’ community citizenship and their relationships with the forests and nature around them. They have tried to play a more active and responsible role in the relationships that they already share by virtue of living together with the forests. Although considerable research has now turned to look at these processes, the gendered nature of these efforts is often subsumed in all-encompassing terms such as community, state or forests. Research with women in two forest communities, one in Sweden and the other in India illustrated that natural resource management is clearly gendered and has tangible effects on the gendering of citizenship in rural areas.

Forests and the goods and services they provide are essential for human well-being (Seppälä, Buck, & Katila, 2009). Forests provide three types of ecosystem services that directly support human well-being: provisioning services such as food, fuelwood, medicine, etc.; regulating services such as water purification, climate regulation, erosion control, etc.; and cultural services, including recreation, spiritual, and religious values (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, 2003). About 1.6 billion people live in predominantly forest ecosystems or in their vicinity. Forest communities include indigenous peoples (IPs) who have been living since time immemorial in forest areas and other local groups including the more recent settlers or immigrants. In the tropics, over 800 million people are living in forests and woodlands, which makes these areas a very important resource for the rural poor (Chomitz, Buys, De Luca, Thomas, & Wertz-Kanounnikoff, 2007). Based on ADB's (2009a) estimates, half of the world's poorest of the poor are IPs, and more than half live in Asia. Sixty million of these IPs are forest dependent.

Voluntary 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.

The 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.

The 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.

Studies 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.

This paper aims to examine the contribution of forests resource systems to the different aspects of community well-being, the implications of climate variability on the different sources of well-being and further identifies direct and indirect social and policy opportunities relevant for communities to enhance their capabilities in the face of climate variability and change in the Tri-National de la Sangha landscape of Cameroon.

It illustrates on data collected from focus group discussions and from 151 households randomly selected in three villages to operationalize the conceptual links between community well-being and vulnerability.

The study shows that vulnerability to climate change interferes with community strategies to achieve well-being, in addition to non-climatic processes which are both internal and external to communities. The study further indicates that healthy forest ecosystems provide opportunities for the local folks to build assets, improve food security, improve health and reduce risks. However, this requires capacity building and the channeling of resources to the local level, in addition to win–win sectoral policy amendments.

Biophysical methods required to complement community perceptions on the suitability of forest resource systems to climate variability.

This paper argues that appropriate strategies which aim at improving well-being needs to capture the role of forest ecosystems, climate change risks and uncertainty and macroeconomic and social processes.

This study contributes to the literature on the relationship between climate risk and the well-being of forest communities. This is relevant for practitioners and policy makers to reflect on the risk of climate change and the rationale for conserving forest resources for community well-being in the post-2015 Millennium Development Goals conclusions.

The paper aims to enhance the understanding of the impacts of climate change on rural communities in Africa, including people’s livelihoods, their adaptive capacity, coping practice and ability to engage in sustainable forest use and management of climate change adaptation.

The paper opted for a desktop review approach, using the forest-based rural communities of South Africa as a case study.

This review shows that climate variability and change are affecting rural people and their livelihoods negatively. Forest-based livelihoods are particularly vulnerable. Nevertheless, the people have developed coping mechanisms to cushion the effects of climate variability and change. However, the effectiveness and efficiency of these strategies are greatly constrained by factors that are related mostly to their socioeconomic characteristics (for example, skill level, educational status and health) and the functionalities of infrastructures and services in their communities.

Given that the study focused on forest-based rural communities and livelihoods, the results may be limited in generalizability. This may have particular implications for other categories of rural communities and livelihoods in Africa and developing countries in other continents.

The study showed that opportunities for planning and implementing effective climate change adaptation at rural community level in South Africa are reliant on effective strategies to overcome the constraints identified by the study. The authors thus recommend that climate change adaptation initiatives in rural communities of Africa should focus on improving people’s socioeconomic conditions and the overall sustainable development of the community.

This paper fulfils an identified need to study how climate change affects rural forest-based communities and livelihoods.

This study aims to identify opportunities and constraints of community forestry in the context of forest decentralization in Cameroon and what can be capitalized on for sound REDD+ design and implementation.

A qualitative approach to data collection was used through content analysis of 1994 forestry law, reports and publications related to decentralized forest management, community forestry and REDD+ in Cameroon. Principles that govern community forest and REDD+ were highlighted and opportunities and constraints of community forestry for REDD+ projects were discussed.

Community forestry was developed principally to protect forests in order to support the subsistence and income-generating extractive activities of forest-dependent communities. Community forestry governance arrangements were not designed with the objective of achieving verifiable emissions reductions or carbon stock values. Hence, existing community forestry institutions may not address all the specific demands of REDD+ programs. However, existing community institutions and practices can be strengthened or modified to align better with climate change mitigation goals and to achieve REDD+ objectives in community forestry sites. On the other hand, REDD+ was developed principally to mitigate climate change by reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation principally within developing countries where the livelihoods of forest-dependent people are a central component of all forest management policies. However, despite fundamental differences between community forestry and REDD+, there is substantial synergy between their objectives, and the dual forest conservation and livelihood development focus of both programs means that policies that strengthen and support existing community forestry institutions and sites will advance REDD+ objectives. As such, REDD+ will likely to be more successful if it builds on lessons learned from community forestry.

This paper demonstrates how REDD+ is more likely to succeed if it builds on the lessons learned from community forestry over the past 20-plus years in Cameroon. It also discusses how REDD+ can benefit from community forestry and how some of the many challenges related to community forestry can be directly addressed by the REDD+ mechanism. Further, this paper also argues how the congruence between community forestry and REDD+ can effectively facilitate the direct use of community forestry as a tool to achieve REDD+ goals.

Community forest enterprises (CFEs) represent a unique business model in the forest sector which has significant potential to foster community development through sustainable utilization of forest resources. However, CFEs are mired in numerous management challenges which restrict their ability to harness this potential. This paper identifies those challenges and, by drawing on the field of social enterprises, offers specific solutions to address them. The paper also enriches the social enterprise literature by highlighting the role of decentralized decision-making and community empowerment in achieving sustainable development.

Using qualitative meta-synthesis, the paper first identifies key challenges from the CFE literature. It then draws on the social enterprise literature to distill actionable insights for overcoming those challenges.

The study reveals how the social enterprise literature can guide CFEs managers in making decisions related to human resource management, marketing, fundraising, developing conducive organizational cultures and deploying performance measures.

The paper provides novel and actionable insights into managing and scaling CFEs. It also identifies opportunities for future inter-disciplinary research at the intersection of decentralized management of natural resources and social enterprises that could facilitate progress toward achieving sustainable development.

The purpose of this paper is to do an in-depth comprehension about local wisdom values related to the forest management in Nagari Koto Malintang, Tanjung Raya District, Agam Regency, West Sumatra Province, and to find a communication model in the forest management based on environmental awareness. Research on indigenous forest management has been widely done, but information related to information flow and communication pattern of indigenous people in conveying local wisdom values to the management of forests is little to find.

The design employed in this research was case study and field research. Field research is the research to intensively examine the background of current state of the environmental interaction according to these social units: individual, group, institution or society. The research was undertaken in Nagari Koto Malintang, Tanjung Raya District, Agam Regency. The location selection was conducted purposively under the preserved condition of the forests in Koto Malintang, despite the damages occurring to most of forests in Indonesia. The preserved condition of Nagari Koto Malintang forest is characterized by many trees with diameter of 2–3 meters left undisturbed by the communities, so that they are protected from the danger of landslides. The determination of informants in this research was made by purposive sampling.

The community and government of Nagari Koto Malintang has arranged the space and land of Nagari, by making a division as follows: the upper area is made into catchment area, middle area is made into a plantation area and settlement area and the lower area is made into cultivated land. The ecologic benefits of the forest for the community of Nagari Koto Malintang are: liberating the community from the threats of flood and galodo, providing sufficient water availability, providing good air quality and maintain and preserve flora and fauna. The perceived economic benefits are: the availability of adequate irrigation for agriculture, plantations, tabek and ponds of which crops provide economic benefits to the community. Socially, forests make the community members’ relationship grow closer, improve community participation in forest management, create jobs and maintain local knowledge and institutions.

This is one of few studies resulted from different customs and norms of each indigenous community, thus it is necessary to study the uniqueness of Nagari Koto Malintang community in managing the forest. This research was conducted to obtain complete description of how indigenous people of Nagari Koto Malintang community build communications and disseminate information related to wisdom, thus giving rise to common awareness in the sustainable forest management and ultimately bringing up a model of forest management communication.

The purpose of this research is to analyze the effect of community and company participation on corporate governance and forest fire prevention in the forest zone, which has a high level of vulnerability to forest fires, in Indonesia.

The survey method in this research used a quantitative approach with the survey method, with the sample being forest areas having a high level of vulnerability to forest fires in Indonesia. This study used a questionnaire instrument and was conducted from January to March 2017. The research population was 105 villages located in forest areas in six major provinces known to endure the largest forest fires in Indonesia. From a total population of 258 villages, 52 were selected for this study. The proportional random sampling area technique was used. The data analysis methods selected in this research were descriptive analysis and inferential statistical analysis using the partial least squares method.

Community and company participation has a significant effect on the implementation of good governance. The implementation of good governance has a significant effect and community and company participation has no direct effect on the forest fire policy, but through good governance mediation, an indirect effect of community participation on the forest fire policy is seen.

No previous research has comprehensively studied the role of community and company participation and implementation of good forest fire governance on the forest fire policy.

The Baduy tribe has its own uniqueness and values regarding the forest; it manages the forest using customary law to keep it sustainable. This research aims to describe the position of customary law used by the Baduy tribe to conserve forest areas.

This research is a qualitative research conducted in September 2019 and 2020 at Baduy. The data were collected through a literature study and in-depth interviews with informants related to the Baduy tribe. The collected data included documentation and interview transcripts that were translated into English. Data analysis was conducted in a descriptive manner, equipped with related evidence.

The Baduy community holds firm to its customs and culture called pikukuh. The Baduy community applies the concept of sustainable forest management in that local communities are directly involved in forest management activities to improve welfare and implement sustainable forests.

The implication of this research is that it is beneficial for forest conservation based on customary law, using the conservation approach of the Baduy tribe as a local community in protecting the sustainability of forest resources and their sustainability for the next generation. This study contributes as a guide for the government to formulate policies that will include local communities into conservation programs and government policies. It may apply to a study of coordination with related institutions such as the Ministry of Environment and Forestry in implementing forest conservation.

This study uses primary data from the Baduy tribe, which has unique local traditional values regarding the territory and the important role of the forest. The originality of the findings from the excavation of each activity was based on the procedures and beliefs regulated in customary law regarding forest management. Preservation of traditional knowledge in customary law has contributed to the urgency of sustainable forest conservation and biodiversity conservation, which is part of the traditional knowledge of the Baduy tribe.