The Role and Effectiveness of Local Institutions in the Management of Forest Biodiversity in New Dabaga-Ulongambi Forest Reserve,Iringa Region-Tanzania

Abstract

This paper examines the role and effectiveness of local institutions in the management of forest biodiversity in New Dabaga-Ulongambi Forest Reserve, Tanzania. Data were obtained through questionnaires, interviews, focus group discussions, participatory rural appraisal and field observations. The study revealed that the most remarkable local institutions connected to forest biodiversity management include: Village Natural Resources Management Committee (92%), tree nursery group (79.4%), beekeeping groups (61.1%), fish farming (43.3%), livestock rearing group (33.9%). Main activities carried out by local institutions which directly contribute to the sustainability of forest reserve include: forest patrols, fire extinguish, preparation of fire breaks, planting of trees along the forest boundaries, creation of awareness, arresting of forest defaulters, participation in income generation activities. For the purpose of realization that local communities are capable of managing forest biodiversity through their traditional institutions, the policy should provide tangible opportunity for local communities to meet their needs as they manage the forests.     

Socioeconomic Impact of Forest Eco-compensation Mechanism in Hainan Province of China

The establishment of the forest eco-compensation mechanism could realize the value of the forest ecosystem services partly or thoroughly, stress the equality of the stakeholders, encourage public participation in forest ecosystem tendering, and strengthen the capacity of sustainable management. Taking the Hainan province as an example, this study focuses on the analysis of major socioeconomic and ecological impacts of forest eco-compensation in the Qiongzhong County and Lingshui County, and recommends approaches and practices for the establishment of the eco-compensation mechanism in the Hainan Province. Data were collected from a household questionnaire survey. Altogether 120 households have been interviewed, and Statistical Product and Service Solutions (SPSS) was applied for data analysis. Most of the respondents held a positive attitude toward the forest eco-compensation policy which has contributed to the improvement of environmental quality. However, forest protection has limited the opportunities for the income growth of local communities, who have never got sufficient compensation from either the central or local governments. Insufficient financial support to forest institutions and local communities involved in forest management has led to major conflicts in forest management, such as, the conflict between forest protection and local economic development, and decrease in arable land area and increase in surplus labor force. On the basis of case study results, the core issues of forest eco-compensation mechanism in Hainan province are discussed. Finally, suggestions and recommendations that cover forest eco-compensation standards, management institutions, and community capacity building and diversification of financing channels, have been made for the establishment of forest eco-compensation mechanism in Hainan.     

海南省森林生态补偿机制的社会经济影响分析

建立森林生态补偿机制能够部分或全都地实现森林生态效益的价值，体现出利益相关者之间的平等性，动员全社会参与森林生态系统的保育，更好地加强森林可持续经营的能力。本研究以海南省为案例，从居民问卷分析和机构调查分析入手，分析生态公益林区的生态环境和社会经济影响，讨论建立海南省生态补偿的管理机制。研究表明，大多数农户对生态补偿机制持赞同态度。从总体上看，生态补偿机制的建立对改善生态环境起到了很大的作用，但是农户得到森林生态补偿较低，难以有效地提高农户的生活水平。通过案例研究发现，林业管理机构和居民面临的共同困难是资金不足，由此带来生态公益林保护与周边地区经济发展之间的矛盾，表现为保护与地区经济收入的冲突，耕地面积减少与剩余劳动力的矛盾。在案例研究结果的基础上，探讨海南省森林生态补偿机制的核心问题，提出了海南省森林生态补偿机制的初步设想，包括科学制定地方性生态补偿标准、构建高效的地方管理机构，提高社区能力建设以及扩展生态补偿多元化融资渠道等。     

Co-Partnership in Forest Management: The Gwira-Banso Joint Forest Management Project in Ghana

The involvement of local communities, as well as the private sector and the government in forest management is now an important principle of tropical forestry policy and practice and a major component of most international forestry aid programmes. This paper present an analysis on the Joint Forest Management Project initiated by two timber companies (Ghana Primewood Products Ltd and Dalhoff Larsen & Horneman) in collaboration with local people in Gwira-Banso of Ghana. Conditions required for enhancing responsibility for and commitment to local forest management, and for an effective local participatory process were also analysed. The study began with the premise that incentives and good communication will enhance participation in joint forest management.The assumption was valid and the results from the survey showed that five broad issues prioritised by respondents to be essential for co-partnership in forest management are communication, financial support, tree planting, multiple land use and benefit sharing. The Project enjoys a great deal of support from the local community, but a number of factors make the continued support of local people a challenging task, including questions of immediate livelihood sources and tenure arrangements. Although this participatory forest management has been implemented over a relatively short period, there is evidence that government and private sectors can successfully involve local people in sustainable management of the forests.     

Institutions, Forest Management, and Sustainable Human Development – Experiences from India

New institutional economists have argued that there are many categories of institutions, including market and non-market institutions, which may prove economically efficient, specifically for public goods and common pool goods. The Government of India introduced a non-market community-based institution, known as Joint Forest Management (JFM), for forest management and protection in 1990. JFM is a sharing mechanism for forest planning and management based on sharing of rights and duties, control and decision-making authority over forestlands, between forest departments and local user groups. By 2001, 42 000 Village Forest Committees established under JFM were managing over 11.5 million ha forestland. These institutions have proved very useful, and have contributed to forest management as well as four aspects of sustainable human development (SHD) – ecological output, income generation, village infrastructure development, and community empowerment. In the long-term, community-based institutions will prove to be a foundation of SHD and participatory democracy.     

The State of Protected Forest Communities in the European Forest–Steppe Zone of Russia and Prospects for Their Reconstruction: A Case Study of Specially Protected Areas of Penza Oblast

The structure of most forest communities in the European forest–steppe, including protected areas, has been disturbed. The adverse consequences of these disturbances include the incomplete age structure of the populations of cenosis-forming species and the irreversibility of successions. The conservation of biodiversity in the structurally disturbed communities is impossible without human intervention, which must be aimed at restoring their age heterogeneity with regard to their specific ecological features.     

Community engagement in the sustainable management of rivers: Barekese catchment,Kumasi, Ghana

The Barekese Reservoir is a facility for reserving water for treatment and subsequent consumption by the populace of the Kumasi conurbation and its environs. The reservoir provides over 80% of the total public water supply to the Kumasi locale and is plagued by persistent degradation through human activities throughout the catchment. This situation raises concern on the regional deterioration of water quality and quantity. We present the attitudes of local communities towards their involvement in river water management and the sustainable exploitation of natural resources. We administered both open ended and closed structured questionnaires in seven communities in the reservoir catchment. The results revealed that individual residents in these communities have not been involved in the management of the reservoir, adversely affecting goals of sustainable management. Our study concludes with direct policy recommendations and applications in four specific areas to arrive at sustainable management of the facility by involving affected communities through their inclusion in: ongoing and proposed project development as shareholders; the review of existing environmental legislation; adopting of indigenous knowledge in management institutions; and the re-introduction of norms and traditions within the communities.     

Involving local farmers in rehabilitation of degraded tropical forests: some lessons from Ghana

The role of community-based plantation development in forest rehabilitation and poverty alleviation is a pressing issue for the government of Ghana. In this paper, we present an analysis of the prospects of a community-based plantation using taungya systems and indigenous trees as means to forest rehabilitation and livelihood improvement in Ghana. The project management strategies, communication process and incentive mechanism and their impact on local participation are discussed with the aim to recommending a mechanism through which local farmers can best be involved in rehabilitation of degraded sites in the future in Ghana. Data were collected through a survey using personal interviews of 431 farming households and ten key informants from ten communities living in scattered hamlets in and around forests reserves. The results show a high rate of local participation in project tree planting activities. Four years after the project’s initiation, about 250 ha of plantations had been established using twelve priority indigenous and one exotic species and farmers had indicated improvement in their farming practices and availability of food and forest products. Restoring forest quality as a timber resource and associated values, getting money, food stuff and timber and non-timber for domestic use, and having access to fertile land for farming were the top three issues prioritised by respondents as motivational factors for engaging in the project activities. Overall, this project demonstrates that reversing tropical forest degradation is possible. For this we need local involvement in tree domestication combined with activities that addresses livelihood needs and environmental concerns. This case also demonstrates the prospects of utilising indigenous tree species, not only exotic species that dominated tree planting in the past, for plantations and landscape rehabilitation in Ghana. Readers should send their comments on this paper to BhaskarNath@aol.com within 3 months of publication of this issue.     

People's Biodiversity Registers: Lessons Learnt

People's Biodiversity Registers (PBR) document folk knowledge of status, uses, history, ongoing changes and forces driving changes in biodiversity resources, gainers and losers in these processes and people's perceptions of how these resources should be managed. A number of PBRs have been prepared in different parts of India beginning 1995 through initiatives of NGOs and educational institutions working with local communities and village councils. These attempts have been motivated by a desire to promote decentralised systems of management of natural resources and to create the basis for equitable sharing of benefits of commercial utilisation of folk knowledge of uses of biodiversity. The documents bring together important locality specific information on biodiversity resources and ecological processes affecting them. They lead to recognition of conservation oriented local practices such as protection of sacred groves. They help mobilise local communities to prudently manage local biodiversity resources in ways that would promote social justice. It is however important to recognise that not all folk knowledge may be valid, nor all folk practices wise, and to create systems of careful assessment of the material. There are many encouraging signs globally, as well as within India, such as the coming in force of the Convention on Biological Diversity, forces promoting decentralised democratic systems of governance and institutions of co-management of natural resources which suggest that programmes like PBR will have an important role to play in promoting conservation, sustainable use and equitable sharing of benefits of biodiversity resources in the coming decades.     

Forest plantations, water availability, and regional climate change: controversies surrounding Acacia mearnsii plantations in the upper Palnis Hills, southern India

Plantation forests not only impact carbon and water cycles, but also affect biodiversity, livelihoods, and shape regional economies. Each of these impacts differs across varying scales of analysis. This paper illustrates how forest, climate change and hydrology debates play out in the context of the forest plantations of Australian black wattle (Acacia mearnsii) in the upper Palni hills of southern India. We outline the contradictory perspectives of different local groups regarding the impact of plantations on catchment hydrology and water availability, and examine these in relation to changes in the regional economy and rainfall patterns. Our analysis indicates that changes in these two factors have played a more significant role than existing wattle plantations in affecting local and regional water availability. We suggest that ongoing debates regarding forest plantation–hydrology–climate change relationships need to broaden their scope to include changes in regional rainfall patterns and shifts in regional economic activity. This approach is likely to provide a more realistic assessment of plantation forests in a dynamic regional context, and offer more resilient strategies for regional landscape and catchment management under conditions of high variability in rainfall patterns.     

Study on Community Diversity of Coastal Shelter Forest in Jiaonan

Abstract

Based on the research of the plots in coastal areas in Jiaonan city, Shandong Province, the indices of richness, evenness and diversity of different community types are analyzed. The results show that: The richness indices indicates that arbor layers are close to shrub layers, and both are lower than herbage layers; the ranges among communities vary a little except those of the arbor ones. Mostly the biodiversity indices reveal that herbage, the arbor, the shrub; Biodiversity of communities has great influences on microclimate to a certain extent and is under the control of regional environment.     

Dependence on forest resources and tropical deforestation in Ghana

In Ghana, forests provide many products on which the local population subsists. However, these resources are depleting due to a variety of factors including agricultural expansion and over-exploitation of forest resources. This paper presents an analysis of the level of local dependence on forest resources and its implications for forest management in Ghana. The paper also outlines the causes of continuing deforestation in the studied region from the perspective of the local residents and discusses what role they could play in addressing the problem. The aim is to share more light on the current causes of deforestation and make suggestions for improved community-based forest management practices that could help to reduce deforestation. Primary data was collected through personal interviews and focus group discussions with 431 household heads randomly selected from three Forest Districts in Ghana. The survey showed that income from agriculture constituted 60% of the average total rural household income. Forest income provided 38% of total household income, and off-farm income 2%. The four most highly ranked causes of deforestation are poverty-driven agriculture, lack of alternative rural wage employment other than farming, household population levels, and conflict in traditional land practices. This shows a shift in the view of local people who in the past were quick to blame logging companies and government policies for deforestation. The majority of the respondents depended on wild animals like snail, bush meat, wild honey and wild and cultivated vegetables. Given the reasons for deforestation, much thought needs to go into agroforestry practices (e.g. snail farming, bee keeping, fish farming, and vegetable production) in efforts to reduce deforestation, which are currently less promoted. Readers should send their comments on this paper to: BhaskarNath@aol.com within 3 months of publication of this issue.     

Forest management and future changes to ecosystem services in the Romanian Carpathians

This study investigates consequences of future changes to the provision of ecosystem services (ES) in the Romanian Carpathians. Two 2040 forest management scenarios were compared, using two indicators to describe the gains and losses of ES. Changes in landslide regulation potential were defined as changes to landslide susceptibility. High nature value grasslands characterized biodiversity support. The business as usual scenario results in a 8% lower loss of landslide regulation potential compared to the alternative scenario. It also results in a 29% higher regional net gain of landslide regulation potential. Both scenarios result in the loss of biodiversity support due to their prevalent transition of forest expansion. This type of information is crucial for informing decision makers on the locations of potential gains and losses of future development.     

集体林权改革评价:林产品生产绩效视角

新一轮的集体林权改革已经开展了6年,对这一轮改革及时进行评价,不但对于认识改革的效果有积极的作用,而且对于有效地推进改革也是必不可少的.本文通过分成地租模型预测,集体林权改革对林产品生产效率会产生正向的影响,这些正向的影响主要包括林户劳动积极性的提高和林产晶产量的增加,同时也可能会对林产品全要素生产率产生积极影响.利用此次林权改革的主要省份之一--福建2县11乡(镇)29村320林户调查数据,本文的研究结论证实了前者,林户劳动投入由改革前146.53工日增加到改革后的180.76工日,增长了23%;竹产品的产量也由改革前的1 312.33 kg增长到改革后的1 815.09kg,增加了38%.另外,基于肯德里克方法,本文计算了集体林权改革前后林产品全要素生产率,对比二者发现,改革对林产品全要素生产率并没有产生正向的影响,相反而是负向的影响.据此本文提出,下一步的林业改革在做好相关配套改革的基础上,还要注重提高林产晶全要素生产率.     

New Development in Study of the Faustmann Optimal Forest Harvesting

Abstract

Chinese forest resources have become very scarce in the face of rapid economic growth demand, while the reform of collective forest right system is in full swing across the country. It will directly affect the regeneration level of forest resources and the diverse ecological value functions. In this article, the mainstream model paradigm of forest economics, that is, the basic framework of the Faustmann model and its evolution process are made in a more detailed explanation, especially the extended model including considered silvicultural effort, tax subsidies, risk dynamic management, and forest regeneration factors are made in more detailed explanations. This article concludes with the future further research directions of forest economics, including the design of dynamic models that includes considered uneven-aged forest management, non-timber goods and services, dynamic forest models. The research reflects the general trend of interdisciplinary and cross-border.     

Forest fires and adaptation options in Europe

This paper presents a quantitative assessment of adaptation options in the context of forest fires in Europe under projected climate change. A standalone fire model (SFM) based on a state-of-the-art large-scale forest fire modelling algorithm is used to explore fuel removal through prescribed burnings and improved fire suppression as adaptation options. The climate change projections are provided by three climate models reflecting the SRES A2 scenario. The SFM’s modelled burned areas for selected test countries in Europe show satisfying agreement with observed data coming from two different sources (European Forest Fire Information System and Global Fire Emissions Database). Our estimation of the potential increase in burned areas in Europe under “no adaptation” scenario is about 200 % by 2090 (compared with 2000–2008). The application of prescribed burnings has the potential to keep that increase below 50 %. Improvements in fire suppression might reduce this impact even further, e.g. boosting the probability of putting out a fire within a day by 10 % would result in about a 30 % decrease in annual burned areas. By taking more adaptation options into consideration, such as using agricultural fields as fire breaks, behavioural changes, and long-term options, burned areas can be potentially reduced further than projected in our analysis.     

Community forestry management and livelihood development in northwest China: integration of governance, project design, and community participation

In projects of community development and natural resource management, local residents collaborate with government and NGOs on decisions about forest management and participate in programs designed to improve livelihoods while sustaining natural resources. This paper uses case studies and survey data in Gansu province of northwest China to explore social, ecological, and economic outcomes of community-based co-management (CBCM). Findings show that CBCM appears to have significantly increased livelihoods for local community residents overall. Forest condition and attitudes about forest conservation were also improved. However, economic benefits were not enjoyed uniformly within the communities because, although CBCM projects are nominally available to all, certain subgroups within communities are less likely to participate. Greater education, being married, and access to information are all strongly correlated with participation and thus the economic benefits of CBCM projects. Women, although they frequently participate in household decisions, are infrequent participants in CBCM projects, perhaps because project design does not meet their needs. Future improvements to CBCM project design should include increased access to information, education, and equitable treatment of diverse stakeholders in the decision-making process. Such improvements would likely lead to improvements in livelihoods as well as more sustainable forest management and conservation.     

Consumptive values and local perception of dry forest decline in Burkina Faso,West Africa

Traditional ecological knowledge and local experience of resource management and the usefulness of plant species can make important contributions to attempts to understand forest ecosystems and to develop effective sustainable management strategies for them. Therefore, the utilization of tree species by local people, their perceptions of changes in the surrounding forests, and suggested solutions for associated problems, were studied in the Sissili province of southern Burkina Faso. Information was collected through a combination of participatory rural appraisals, household interviews, and observational methods. Principal component analysis was used to analyze the consumptive values of woody species and their respective parts. A total of 82 species were identified, 90% of them were used for medicinal purposes, 78% for fodder, 73% for food, 67% for house construction, and 58% for wood carving. This suggests that forests play a key role in sustaining the rural livelihood and contributing to poverty reduction. The various stakeholders perceived that vegetation clearing for cultivation of cash crops (agribusiness) was the main driver of the change in forest cover. Species reported to be declining in the area included Parkia biglobosa, Pterocarpus erinaceus, Afzelia africana, Bombax costatum, Tamarindus indica, and Diospyros mespiliformis. Thus, a concerted effort should be made to manage the remaining natural forests in the country. Appropriate management strategies should be developed jointly by the local communities and external support groups to integrate the valuable local knowledge about forest species with the stakeholders’ suggestions in order to promote sustainable management of the region’s forest ecosystems.     

A survey-based evaluation of community-based co-management of forest resources: a case study of Baishuijiang National Natural Reserve in China

Community-based co-management (CBCM) mechanisms for forest management have matured through the development of new economic analysis and common property theory. However, while many local CBCM mechanisms have been initiated in Chinese Natural Reserves, there are few objective, data-based evaluations of whether these mechanisms improve forest conservation and local livelihoods. This research uses Baishuijiang National Natural Reserve (BNNR) as a study case to evaluate China’s current CBCM mechanisms. The evaluation is based mainly on three criteria: efficiency, equality and sustainability of project operation. Survey data indicate that local CBCM mechanisms provide a wide-participation platform for local villagers, associated administration managers, research institutions and NGOs to join in forest resource protection work while improving local livelihood. CBCM projects have also facilitated a reduction in forest resource dependency, the improvement of household income and encouragement of local people to participate in forest resource protection. Our analysis suggests that most CBCM organizations have made progress in efficiency, equity and sustainability. However, further study should focus on how to deal with the lingering problems of inequity in responsibility and rights among CBCM committee members, poor distribution of benefits, insufficient program-design and management expertise, faulty information dissemination, and insufficient capital investment.