Enabling policy frameworks for sucessful community based resource management initiatives: Eighth workshop on community management of forest lands. Hawaii, 2001

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A forest full of values, a river full of interests: Decision making in the face of conflict in the Allegheny National Forest

This paper discusses challenges and opportunities for mediation of the conflict in light of the value-laden nature of the controversy. Findings from qualitative, field-based research, including a stakeholder analysis, participant observation and forty-five semi-structured interviews inform the analysis. Applied to the conflict at hand, traditional dispute resolution efforts are determined to be ineffective in addressing the underlying causes of the debate in the Allegheny National Forest (ANF). Environmental mediation also has its limits, however, and cannot promise the resolution of value conflicts. But, opportunities for improving dialogue and, subsequently, learning between groups become possible once the emphasis is shiftedfrom resolving the conflict to understanding the conflict. Although the value differences that drive the conflict might prevent resolution of the ongoing timber conflict in the ANF, they do not preempt improved management of the conflict.

Ancestral domain recognition and community based forest management: two sides of different coins

The provisions recognizing ancestral domains in the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act of 1997 have not yet been implemented due to various reasons. With pressure mounting for the law'sfull implementation, coupled with continued opposition and an unresolved question of Constitutionality, the Philippine government may opt for a compromise solution by adopting politically non-threatening and industry-friendly mechanisms in Community Based Forest Management (CBFM) to implement ancestral domain recognition. This paper discusses the difference between CBFM and ancestral domains recognition and would argue against using mechanisms of the former to implement the latter. Two streams of analysis are used. First, how will these mechanisms affect the types of property rights available to the ancestral domain owners? Second, how will these mechanisms affect the level of decentralization or devolution mandated by the law? The analyses show that the use of said mechanisms would mean less property rights and powers for ancestral domain owners.

Balancing power: The use of development legal assistance to advance community-based forest management in the Philippines

Although the Philippines has been recognized a leader in innovative community forestry policy and programs, many years of effort by national and local governments, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and people's organizations (POs) have not resulted in effective decentralization of management and control offorestlands. This paper evaluates devolution offour broad powers of decision-making in two community basedforest management projects in Leyte Province. The paper argues that the CBFM Program failed to sufficiently devolve power for the effective decentralization of forest management, in part because the state failed to strengthen the legal basis of community enforcement and supplement community efforts in securing compliance. Using the same framework of analysis, the paper also shows how developmental legal assistance could be used to advance the Philippine CBFM Program.

Changing Land Policies and its impacts on Land tenure of ethnic minorities in Vietnam

Ethnic minorities in Vietnam have their own tradition of land ownership and land use in which communal ownership and administration was a typical characteristic. In the past centuries, from feudal dynasties, colonialist and imperialist regimes to the State of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, there have been land policies. The main issue of land policies from traditional society (before 1945) to 1988 was transfer from traditional land tenure to the concentration of land under government control; and from 1988 up to present has been decentralization - the transfer land right from State to households, individuals and organizations while the role of land administration of community has reduced. The land reform in Vietnam including the Renovation 10 and the 1993 Land Law has had many impacts on land tenure of ethnic minorities. These policies have encouraged the farmers to use the land in dynamics: expanded land under cultivation and crops reduced the shifting cultivation, increased agricultural productions. However, beside positive factors, the land reform has had also negative impacts such as lead to unfair land uses between households, disputes of land, lack of land and losing forest.

Community forestry institutionalized: Never or ever: The Community Forestry program at Sesaot village in Nusa Tenggara Barat province of Indonesia

During the past ten years the Community Forestry Program or Hutan Kemasyarakatan, has been a part of Indonesia's official forestry policy has been. The program was seen as the best strategy for decentralization offorest management and the Ministry of Forestry (MOF) decreed that the building the capacity of community organizations should be a primary objective in the development of community forestry. However, despite the high level of expenditure, the results and impacts of this new policy for forestry development have not been significant. This paper evaluates the success of the community Forestry Programs on the island of Lombok (Nusa Tenggara Barat) in light of other recent moves towards decentralization in Indonesia. The author argued that the government's adoption of community participation in forestry management did not lead to more serious implementation of forestry decentralization, increase community welfare or to strengthen organizational capacity at the community, district and regional levels.

Community-based wildfire management: An opportunity to integrate social and ecological objectives on federal lands

A community-based approach to wildfire management in the US has the potential to address persistent socio-economic issues inforest communities while accomplishingfuels and fire management objectives in a cost-effective manner. In a community-based approach to managing fire, community expertise and labor is utilized in an ongoing set of integrated ecosystem management activities that reduces the threat of catastrophic fire. To realize the full benefits of this approach, capacity building at the community level will likely be needed in order for community-based businesses and groups to function as partners with government agencies. The case of a community-based approach to ecosystem management in northern California illustrates many of the components of community-based wildfire management as well as capacity-building needs and potential benefits. The emergency Congressional funding available for wildfire management in 2001 could be well invested in developing community-based approaches to wildfire management that yield environmental, social and economic profits.

Decentralization and political space for local civic communities in National Water Policy and Planing

The paper presented decentralization under different political and economic reform stages and globalization impacts in Thailand, Southwest China, and Lao PDR. This paper will be improved into one of the chapter in the book. There are other arguments relating to " decentralization" which has been defmed differently with power devolution, deconcentration, decentralized decision making which mostly are based on the assumption on s single locus of central power of state. There are some evidences that certain degree of local political autonomy or determination are continued and adapted in many local communities or networking of etlmic culture, region, and religion groups who interact with state. Not only, Northern Thailand, the tieldworks in Yunnan, China also provide some evidences of local determination of few ethnic communities of Yao, Naxi, Hmong, In Lao PDR, the action research under UNDP-UNCDF funded project" Eco Development in Udomxay and Phongsaly in Northern Region also indicate a co-existence of state national reconstitution with local etlmic communities' leadership and likely determination. The author observed some evidences which might be series of events called" hidden agenda" and everyday resistance in few villages.

Enabling policy frameworks for successful community based resource management initiatives

The papers reiterated the argument that policy development is a struggle over ideas. The challenges of reconciling competing interests and ensuring that the benefits of environmental management are shared equitably among stakeholders are inunense. Innovative approaches to problem solving and to designing and implementing effective mechanisms for community based resource management are urgently needed and will no doubt continue to emerge in the coming years. These innovations will likely come from collaborative ventures, from exchanges between scientists and practitioners and from dialogue that engages local decision makers with their counterparts in state agencies. Through innovation and engagement that forest laws and policies will come to enable and complement conununity based initiatives and, that conununity groups as well as national agencies will develop the capacity to effectively manage people and the environment.

Forestland policy revisited: Opportunities for policy reform of Thailand

This paper reviews Thailand's forestland related policies, its impacts on forest communities, and lessons learnedfrom policy implementation. It then describes an alternative approach to policy formulation and development in Thailand. The author also concluded with recommendations focus on clearly identifying the right issues and relevant actors; creating atmosphere of cooperation and balance of power among relevant actors; incorporating local knowledge and agreements; balancing policy instruments with the emphasis on motivation and continuing support policy process. The most recent constitution and the national development plan give opportunities for policy reform. Reversing the historical policy process requires genuine leadership of communities and government agencies as well as continually supports from the government and the civil societies.

Forests, collective action and policy instruments in Nepal: Aligning decentralization with fiscal responsibility

Forest policies provide signals to decision makers by means of regulatory andfiscal instruments. Spatial decentralization implemented through forestry acts and regulations facilitate national forest handover to users organized into Community Forest Users's Group (CFUGs). These groups are granted rights of access, withdrawal, management, exclusion but not the right to alienate community forest. While roughly fifteen percent of Nepal's national forests are managed by about seven thousand CFUGs, this is not the case in the lowlying Terai region where only about one percent of the total community forest has been handed over. Sustainability of community forestry or any other development cum conservation program requires that beneficial activities could continue even after the termination of external assistance. Community forestry programs in Nepal are being mainly financed from external sources. This cannot lead to sustainable forest management in the long run. Revenue assignment is one of the fiscal policy tools through which financial resources generated from the sale of surplus timber from community forestry can be ploughed back to polycentric organizations engaged in provision and production of services to CFUGs for the promotion of community forestry and other development programs.

How the Logging Ban affects community forest management: Aba prefecture, North Sichuan, China

Since 1998, a logging ban has been in effect on all natural forests in Sichuan province. The ban, which seeks to protect natural forests and to restore degraded vegetation, targeted state-owned logging companies but has impacted many community forests as well. Since the implementation of the logging ban, communities have not been able to access their forests or to use forest products. This paper describes community forests in a study area before and after the implementation of the logging ban. Through this analysis, theauthor seek to highlight the linkages between the logging ban and a community's tenure rights. He concluded with several recommendations for making the logging ban more equitable as well as sustainable.

Irrigation technology and devolution of water management tasks: Examples of community managed irrigation systems

In any irrigation system, the irrigation technology it employs shapes its operational characteristics, which in turn strongly influence equity, operational flexibility and organization, especially the level of devolution of water management tasks to irrigation users. Of the various types of irrigation technologies, this paper concentrates mainly on water division technologies, which are of three types: ad hoc adjustment, open-close and fixed proportional. In choosing a particular technology, the system designer should be aware of these relationships, especially in the context of promoting farmers participation. As the current approach to irrigation development and management considers farmers as the major actors in both turnover of agency managed irrigation systems and rehabilitation of community managed irrigation systems, understanding of the relationships between water division technology and aspects of irrigation management is vital. The paper suggests that recognition of these relationships can guide policies for better use of water resources and to improve livelihoods of local communities.

Land reform and women's property rights in Vietnam

The equality of property (land) rights in Vietnam became a very important issue during the process of transfer of land management rights from collectives to households. As the household became an economic unit, instead of strictly an administrative one, the role of the household head as the property representative became very important. In Vietnam today, strong gender stereotypes favoring men still exist. However, this issue has not been considered or integrated into the legislation documents, and land allocation implementation guidelines lead to the fact that most land titles are issued in men's name. The absence of women's names on land titles puts women at a disadvantage when it comes to using formal financial services, which require collateral. As a result, many women borrow from the informal sector at much higher interest rates. In some cases, women can lose their land altogether.

Panchayatiraj Institutions in natural resources management

This paper evaluates the distinct institutional forms emerging from these two policies using Ostrom's design principles for the establishment of long enduring organizations for managing common pool resources. In the end, it is argued that although neither set of institutions meet the criteria for success, if these organizations were to be formally linked, they may in fact achieve the goals of decentralization and public participation. Finally, recommendations for establishing effective institutional linkages are presented.

Scaling up participatory irrigation management in India: Lessons learned from the Andhra Pradesh model and strategies for the future

The past decade has witnessed wide spread reforms in the irrigation sector across the World. The state of Andhra Pradesh in India is pioneering the irrigation reforms underway in India. The paper reviews the factors leading up to the reforms and then goes on to analyze the irrigation reforms accomanying the introduction of the Andhra Pradesh Farmer Managed Irrigation Systems Act 1997. The paper argues that Participatory Irrigation Management cannot succeed without a political will and the readiness of the irrigation bureaucracy to change. Secondly a variety of factors create incentives for farmers to manage and maintain their system and land and affect investment in increased agriculture production. The paper reasons that a an enabling legal environment forms the institutional framework conducive for the implementation of irrigation reform processes. The paper highlights the possibilities for scaling up through robust policy initiatives by the Government. In a political democracy like India this could be one of the approaches available to other states wherein elements of "good governance" are introduced.

Tenure without security

Over the past twenty-five years forest policy in the Philippines has moved away from policies oriented toward corporate led extraction and is now racing to address resource degradation problems associated with the condition of open access. Community Based Forest Management (CBFM) has been declared the national policy for forest management and in June 2000 the government expanded CBFM to include multiple-use zones and buffer zones of protected areas. This paper examines the case of Mt. Apo Natural Park, one such protected area, where a significant portion of stakeholders already residing in the park would not qualify for tenure. The paper argues that all concerned State agencies and local governments, in partnership with the affected communities (including indigenous people), tenured migrants, and non-tenured migrants should define rules on park access and management.