Discourses regarding the development of the Amazon region highlight the importance of the local c... more Discourses regarding the development of the Amazon region highlight the importance of the local cultures, local knowledge and participation of smallholders, such as indigenous people, traditional communities and small-scale colonists. Current policies, however, still pursue a development model that is oriented towards global commodity markets and the capacity of well-qualified entrepreneurs with the capital required for large-scale investments, despite a growing consensus on its ecological incompatibilities, social limitations and economic risks. Decision makers from both governmental and non-governmental organisations widely disregard the possibility that smallholders could more actively contribute to rural development. Instead, the production practices of smallholders and their modes of social organisation are perceived as obsolete and inefficient. By presenting examples from the region, this paper argues that smallholders have the potential to manage production systems that maintain environmental stability while effectively contributing to local well-being. Therefore, the paper advocates to more effectively using local capacities for the development of rural Amazon through the promotion of small-scale production systems.
We use social ecological systems theory (SES) to analyse change in forest communities in the nort... more We use social ecological systems theory (SES) to analyse change in forest communities in the northern Bolivian Amazon. SES characterises interdependent dynamics of social and ecological systems and we hypothesized it to be a useful frame to grasp dynamics of forest communities affected by changes in forest policies, regulations and institutions, as well as economic demands and conservation objectives. We analysed the long-term historical changes since the region became incorporated in the global tropical forest product value chain since the late 19 th century and quantitatively analysed changes in 85 forest communities between 1997 and 2009. We collected information on 16 variables related to demographic, productive, and socioeconomic characteristics. Results show that forest communities have experienced major changes and have adapted to these changes. Social thresholds, a key concept in SES, are consistent with multiple social economic forces experienced by forest communities. Detrimental feedback effects of SES can be confronted when innovative exploration mechanisms, such as new productive chains are developed, or the agro-extractive cycles of current productive system are expanded. Competition among households, population growth and more profitable economic opportunities may threaten benign forms of forest products extraction that have persisted through various cycles of internal and external changes.
... These included differences in household la-bor, including the total amount of labor available... more ... These included differences in household la-bor, including the total amount of labor available, as well as the type of labor (eg, a household with several young men is more apt to make new altura fields) and the seasonality ... 170 Christine Padoch and Wil de Jong Agricultural ...
Growing trees outside forests can generate rural income and rehabilitate degraded lands. The char... more Growing trees outside forests can generate rural income and rehabilitate degraded lands. The characteristics of existing smallholder tree growing in the Amazon and how much it contributes to livelihoods, however, remains largely unknown. Field surveys in Brazil, Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador were conducted of smallholder tree growing initiatives. Of the studied initiatives, 61% were smallholder initiated and 39% established in donor driven programs. Smallholder schemes generally showed a higher species diversity (85 species) than initiatives in donor driven schemes (52 species). The performance of smallholder tree growing, in terms of growth, health, commercialisation options and contribution to recuperation of degraded areas is limited. Only in 30% of the cases reviewed could smallholders commercialize tree products. Cultivated non-timber forest products had the highest commercialisation rates. The growing of single trees within farm holdings, and the management of natural stands and homegardens showed the highest production efficiencies while depending on minimal inputs. Timber plantations are the least successful. More successful reforestation in the Amazon requires a more realistic view on the limitations of promoting smallholder tree growing, should emphasize non timber products, and better capture local knowledge and experiences.
This paper assesses the influence of forest policies on forestry development, and especially timb... more This paper assesses the influence of forest policies on forestry development, and especially timber production, in Bolivia during three different periods of time. The first period began in the early 1970s when a conservative forest policy was adopted privileging commercial logging companies, and thus fueling land conflicts in particular with indigenous people, allowing a minority to accumulate considerable wealth, and marking the onset of forest degradation. From the mid-1990s, innovative policies were implemented to promote sustainable forest management, enhance the collection of forest royalties, improve the sector access to international timber markets, and include a wide range of social actors in the forest sector. While the adopted policy led to initial improvements in forest management practices, it failed to tackle inherent institutional weaknesses and increase the economic benefits from forest use to local forest users, which stimulated informal logging expansion. A third period emerged when the Morales administration came to office in 2006, questioning the underlying principles of the previous policy reform, and adopting a discourse in favor of a more equitable income distribution. Main answers to promote better income distribution are found in the distribution of public lands, but with a lack of actions to leveling the playing field among different forest users. Ironically, these policies could strengthen the bargaining position of timber companies, and foster short-term decision making in forest use, and thus illegal logging in a context of weak state control and persistence of elite capture.
We use social ecological systems theory (SES) to analyse change in forest communities in the nort... more We use social ecological systems theory (SES) to analyse change in forest communities in the northern Bolivian Amazon. SES characterises interdependent dynamics of social and ecological systems and we hypothesized it to be a useful frame to grasp dynamics of forest communities affected by changes in forest policies, regulations and institutions, as well as economic demands and conservation objectives. We analysed the long-term historical changes since the region became incorporated in the global tropical forest product value chain since the late 19 th century and quantitatively analysed changes in 85 forest communities between 1997 and 2009. We collected information on 16 variables related to demographic, productive, and socioeconomic characteristics. Results show that forest communities have experienced major changes and have adapted to these changes. Social thresholds, a key concept in SES, are consistent with multiple social economic forces experienced by forest communities. Detrimental feedback effects of SES can be confronted when innovative exploration mechanisms, such as new productive chains are developed, or the agro-extractive cycles of current productive system are expanded. Competition among households, population growth and more profitable economic opportunities may threaten benign forms of forest products extraction that have persisted through various cycles of internal and external changes.
Among the reasons why an income that people get from any given non timber forest product can decl... more Among the reasons why an income that people get from any given non timber forest product can decline are, over-harvesting of the resource base, capturing of the business by local elite, domestication of the product, decreased demand, or manufacturing of substitutes. In all of these scenarios, income for local collectors is likely to diminish or disappear altogether. This Special Issue
Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy, Dec 1, 2015
The paper uses a policy integration (PI) approach to analyse forest sector reforms in tropical co... more The paper uses a policy integration (PI) approach to analyse forest sector reforms in tropical countries, using the case of reforms that affected the northern Bolivia forest economy. The paper provides a brief overview of PI and then analyses the various reforms that all contributed to reshaping Bolivia’s forest sector. The major related reforms are forestland tenure reforms, a new forestry law, but also important public administrative and democratic reforms. The case of democratic reforms linked with land and forestry reforms in northern Bolivia makes it possible to discuss environmental policy integration in a tropical context, and thus to review some of the key postulates that have been formulated on the topic, but which are to date largely based on empirical experiences from the northern hemisphere.
This article analyzes land transition in the peripheral areas of Kyoto City during a period of fa... more This article analyzes land transition in the peripheral areas of Kyoto City during a period of fast economic growth in Japan. Disorganized urban growth during periods of urban transition consumed farmland and forestland, with a lasting impact on the city’s environment. The article reports changes in land use and land cover (LULC), population, roads and other transportation infrastructure and the factors behind these changes. The analysis is based on classification of a georeferenced mosaic of black-and-white aerial photos processed with the use of remote sensing technology to reconstruct the city’s LULC change for the years 1950 and 1960. This information is complemented by GIS data, and information derived from the consultation of primary and secondary historical sources. The results show that the urbanization patterns in periods of urban transition and economic growth which vary in different parts of the city determine LULC trajectories. Complex factors and mechanisms at the local...
The concept of a social licence to operate (SLO) was originally developed for mining and has sinc... more The concept of a social licence to operate (SLO) was originally developed for mining and has since been extended to other resource extraction operations, such as forestry. We develop and apply SLO theory as the conceptual framework to analyse neoliberal economic development in the Peruvian Amazon. The Peruvian administration of Alan García secured a legal licence to pursue this programme through legislative decrees, but the policies were not considered legitimate by Amazonian communities. As such the administration lacked a SLO from the communities affected by the policies. The failure to obtain a SLO led to civil protests culminating in violent confrontations between police and citizens causing 33 deaths. Theoretically, the study extends SLO analysis from projects proposed by companies and contested by communities to government policy decisions that may support actions by companies but which are contested by a range of social actors. The state, we argue, is not a neutral arbitrator in economic development and resource extraction but an active political agent. As such, it needs to legitimize its policies. In addition to the SLO literature, therefore, we also draw from legitimacy theory and argue that legitimacy requires both legal compliance and coherence with wider societal norms and standards.
This paper analyses the contributions of community and smallholder forestry (CSF) to achieving th... more This paper analyses the contributions of community and smallholder forestry (CSF) to achieving the sustainable development goals (SDGs). A CSF-SDG positive feedback model is proposed; a model that holds that successful CSF positively contributes to 13 SDGs and 31 SDG targets. Recent CSF meta-studies have scrutinized factors leading to CSF success and found some 10 factors and conditions that contribute to that objective. If efforts towards reaching the SDGs support or enhance these factors leading to the greater success of CSF, this in turn would boost CSF contributions to the SDGs and their targets. As a result, CSF or active support for CSF, focusing on the 10 CSF factors that favor success, can be linked to 48 unique SDG targets. The analysis suggests that there is a significant opportunity to explore win-win options for efforts to support CSF and contribute to SDGs, but also for efforts to pursue the SDGs and targets that favor CSF, which will in turn boost the contribution of CSF to the SDGs. The case of CSF and its feedback links with the SDGs suggests that it may be relevant to identify interactions between the SDGs and other socio-ecological realities and related research.
and FRANK MATOSE * Forestry Commission, Harare, Zimbabwe Summary. Ð There is a fair degree of mis... more and FRANK MATOSE * Forestry Commission, Harare, Zimbabwe Summary. Ð There is a fair degree of misplaced optimism about common property resource (CPR) management. In investigating common property issues for woodlands in communal areas in Zimbabwe, we are struck by the numerous case studies showing a breakdown of local institutions for CPR management, and the lack of any emerging alternative institutions for such management. There are a number of contributing economic, social and ecological factors to this phenomenon. We argue that the formal rule-based systems that form the cornerstones of the proposed CPR systems are far removed from the current institutional systems, rooted in norm-based controls. We suggest that advocacy of CPR systems has to be tempered with critical analysis. Ó
Total income and income from forest resources among rural dwellers in tropical forest regions are... more Total income and income from forest resources among rural dwellers in tropical forest regions are influenced not only by market access, prices, but also organizational, institutional, and social factors. These factors influence the diversity of resources to which the poor have access and result in specializations in livelihood strategies. We analyzed the relation between forest dependence and livelihood strategies in the Bolivian Amazon, applying the SLF. We tested for the differences across strategies with respect to financial, human, physical, social, and natural livelihood assets. Results show that forest income is highly related to cash income from Brazil nut, while income from agriculture and timber exploitation is associated with higher levels of education. Brazil nuts serve as a safety net and start-up capital for certain livelihood strategies in our study region. Livelihood strategies that are based on the commercialization of multiple products from forests and agriculture and services inside and outside communities depend less on forests. Livelihoods can be supported by investing in sustainable livelihood asset endowments. Our results demonstrate that activities that aim to support community forest management and to enhance household income should explicitly consider a differentiated support for different strategies. This will result in a more effective outcome of development efforts from which the poorest people would benefit most.
This editorial introduces the special issue: Incentives and constraints of community and smallhol... more This editorial introduces the special issue: Incentives and constraints of community and smallholder forestry. The special issue contains nine papers, listed in a table in the main text. The editorial reviews briefly some key elements of our current understanding of community and smallholder forestry. The editorial also briefly introduces the nine papers of the special issue and points out how they link to the debate among academics and specialists on community and smallholder forestry. Finally, the editorial highlights the new elements that the nine papers contribute to our understanding of community and smallholder forestry, before it concludes at the end.
Discourses regarding the development of the Amazon region highlight the importance of the local c... more Discourses regarding the development of the Amazon region highlight the importance of the local cultures, local knowledge and participation of smallholders, such as indigenous people, traditional communities and small-scale colonists. Current policies, however, still pursue a development model that is oriented towards global commodity markets and the capacity of well-qualified entrepreneurs with the capital required for large-scale investments, despite a growing consensus on its ecological incompatibilities, social limitations and economic risks. Decision makers from both governmental and non-governmental organisations widely disregard the possibility that smallholders could more actively contribute to rural development. Instead, the production practices of smallholders and their modes of social organisation are perceived as obsolete and inefficient. By presenting examples from the region, this paper argues that smallholders have the potential to manage production systems that maintain environmental stability while effectively contributing to local well-being. Therefore, the paper advocates to more effectively using local capacities for the development of rural Amazon through the promotion of small-scale production systems.
We use social ecological systems theory (SES) to analyse change in forest communities in the nort... more We use social ecological systems theory (SES) to analyse change in forest communities in the northern Bolivian Amazon. SES characterises interdependent dynamics of social and ecological systems and we hypothesized it to be a useful frame to grasp dynamics of forest communities affected by changes in forest policies, regulations and institutions, as well as economic demands and conservation objectives. We analysed the long-term historical changes since the region became incorporated in the global tropical forest product value chain since the late 19 th century and quantitatively analysed changes in 85 forest communities between 1997 and 2009. We collected information on 16 variables related to demographic, productive, and socioeconomic characteristics. Results show that forest communities have experienced major changes and have adapted to these changes. Social thresholds, a key concept in SES, are consistent with multiple social economic forces experienced by forest communities. Detrimental feedback effects of SES can be confronted when innovative exploration mechanisms, such as new productive chains are developed, or the agro-extractive cycles of current productive system are expanded. Competition among households, population growth and more profitable economic opportunities may threaten benign forms of forest products extraction that have persisted through various cycles of internal and external changes.
... These included differences in household la-bor, including the total amount of labor available... more ... These included differences in household la-bor, including the total amount of labor available, as well as the type of labor (eg, a household with several young men is more apt to make new altura fields) and the seasonality ... 170 Christine Padoch and Wil de Jong Agricultural ...
Growing trees outside forests can generate rural income and rehabilitate degraded lands. The char... more Growing trees outside forests can generate rural income and rehabilitate degraded lands. The characteristics of existing smallholder tree growing in the Amazon and how much it contributes to livelihoods, however, remains largely unknown. Field surveys in Brazil, Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador were conducted of smallholder tree growing initiatives. Of the studied initiatives, 61% were smallholder initiated and 39% established in donor driven programs. Smallholder schemes generally showed a higher species diversity (85 species) than initiatives in donor driven schemes (52 species). The performance of smallholder tree growing, in terms of growth, health, commercialisation options and contribution to recuperation of degraded areas is limited. Only in 30% of the cases reviewed could smallholders commercialize tree products. Cultivated non-timber forest products had the highest commercialisation rates. The growing of single trees within farm holdings, and the management of natural stands and homegardens showed the highest production efficiencies while depending on minimal inputs. Timber plantations are the least successful. More successful reforestation in the Amazon requires a more realistic view on the limitations of promoting smallholder tree growing, should emphasize non timber products, and better capture local knowledge and experiences.
This paper assesses the influence of forest policies on forestry development, and especially timb... more This paper assesses the influence of forest policies on forestry development, and especially timber production, in Bolivia during three different periods of time. The first period began in the early 1970s when a conservative forest policy was adopted privileging commercial logging companies, and thus fueling land conflicts in particular with indigenous people, allowing a minority to accumulate considerable wealth, and marking the onset of forest degradation. From the mid-1990s, innovative policies were implemented to promote sustainable forest management, enhance the collection of forest royalties, improve the sector access to international timber markets, and include a wide range of social actors in the forest sector. While the adopted policy led to initial improvements in forest management practices, it failed to tackle inherent institutional weaknesses and increase the economic benefits from forest use to local forest users, which stimulated informal logging expansion. A third period emerged when the Morales administration came to office in 2006, questioning the underlying principles of the previous policy reform, and adopting a discourse in favor of a more equitable income distribution. Main answers to promote better income distribution are found in the distribution of public lands, but with a lack of actions to leveling the playing field among different forest users. Ironically, these policies could strengthen the bargaining position of timber companies, and foster short-term decision making in forest use, and thus illegal logging in a context of weak state control and persistence of elite capture.
We use social ecological systems theory (SES) to analyse change in forest communities in the nort... more We use social ecological systems theory (SES) to analyse change in forest communities in the northern Bolivian Amazon. SES characterises interdependent dynamics of social and ecological systems and we hypothesized it to be a useful frame to grasp dynamics of forest communities affected by changes in forest policies, regulations and institutions, as well as economic demands and conservation objectives. We analysed the long-term historical changes since the region became incorporated in the global tropical forest product value chain since the late 19 th century and quantitatively analysed changes in 85 forest communities between 1997 and 2009. We collected information on 16 variables related to demographic, productive, and socioeconomic characteristics. Results show that forest communities have experienced major changes and have adapted to these changes. Social thresholds, a key concept in SES, are consistent with multiple social economic forces experienced by forest communities. Detrimental feedback effects of SES can be confronted when innovative exploration mechanisms, such as new productive chains are developed, or the agro-extractive cycles of current productive system are expanded. Competition among households, population growth and more profitable economic opportunities may threaten benign forms of forest products extraction that have persisted through various cycles of internal and external changes.
Among the reasons why an income that people get from any given non timber forest product can decl... more Among the reasons why an income that people get from any given non timber forest product can decline are, over-harvesting of the resource base, capturing of the business by local elite, domestication of the product, decreased demand, or manufacturing of substitutes. In all of these scenarios, income for local collectors is likely to diminish or disappear altogether. This Special Issue
Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy, Dec 1, 2015
The paper uses a policy integration (PI) approach to analyse forest sector reforms in tropical co... more The paper uses a policy integration (PI) approach to analyse forest sector reforms in tropical countries, using the case of reforms that affected the northern Bolivia forest economy. The paper provides a brief overview of PI and then analyses the various reforms that all contributed to reshaping Bolivia’s forest sector. The major related reforms are forestland tenure reforms, a new forestry law, but also important public administrative and democratic reforms. The case of democratic reforms linked with land and forestry reforms in northern Bolivia makes it possible to discuss environmental policy integration in a tropical context, and thus to review some of the key postulates that have been formulated on the topic, but which are to date largely based on empirical experiences from the northern hemisphere.
This article analyzes land transition in the peripheral areas of Kyoto City during a period of fa... more This article analyzes land transition in the peripheral areas of Kyoto City during a period of fast economic growth in Japan. Disorganized urban growth during periods of urban transition consumed farmland and forestland, with a lasting impact on the city’s environment. The article reports changes in land use and land cover (LULC), population, roads and other transportation infrastructure and the factors behind these changes. The analysis is based on classification of a georeferenced mosaic of black-and-white aerial photos processed with the use of remote sensing technology to reconstruct the city’s LULC change for the years 1950 and 1960. This information is complemented by GIS data, and information derived from the consultation of primary and secondary historical sources. The results show that the urbanization patterns in periods of urban transition and economic growth which vary in different parts of the city determine LULC trajectories. Complex factors and mechanisms at the local...
The concept of a social licence to operate (SLO) was originally developed for mining and has sinc... more The concept of a social licence to operate (SLO) was originally developed for mining and has since been extended to other resource extraction operations, such as forestry. We develop and apply SLO theory as the conceptual framework to analyse neoliberal economic development in the Peruvian Amazon. The Peruvian administration of Alan García secured a legal licence to pursue this programme through legislative decrees, but the policies were not considered legitimate by Amazonian communities. As such the administration lacked a SLO from the communities affected by the policies. The failure to obtain a SLO led to civil protests culminating in violent confrontations between police and citizens causing 33 deaths. Theoretically, the study extends SLO analysis from projects proposed by companies and contested by communities to government policy decisions that may support actions by companies but which are contested by a range of social actors. The state, we argue, is not a neutral arbitrator in economic development and resource extraction but an active political agent. As such, it needs to legitimize its policies. In addition to the SLO literature, therefore, we also draw from legitimacy theory and argue that legitimacy requires both legal compliance and coherence with wider societal norms and standards.
This paper analyses the contributions of community and smallholder forestry (CSF) to achieving th... more This paper analyses the contributions of community and smallholder forestry (CSF) to achieving the sustainable development goals (SDGs). A CSF-SDG positive feedback model is proposed; a model that holds that successful CSF positively contributes to 13 SDGs and 31 SDG targets. Recent CSF meta-studies have scrutinized factors leading to CSF success and found some 10 factors and conditions that contribute to that objective. If efforts towards reaching the SDGs support or enhance these factors leading to the greater success of CSF, this in turn would boost CSF contributions to the SDGs and their targets. As a result, CSF or active support for CSF, focusing on the 10 CSF factors that favor success, can be linked to 48 unique SDG targets. The analysis suggests that there is a significant opportunity to explore win-win options for efforts to support CSF and contribute to SDGs, but also for efforts to pursue the SDGs and targets that favor CSF, which will in turn boost the contribution of CSF to the SDGs. The case of CSF and its feedback links with the SDGs suggests that it may be relevant to identify interactions between the SDGs and other socio-ecological realities and related research.
and FRANK MATOSE * Forestry Commission, Harare, Zimbabwe Summary. Ð There is a fair degree of mis... more and FRANK MATOSE * Forestry Commission, Harare, Zimbabwe Summary. Ð There is a fair degree of misplaced optimism about common property resource (CPR) management. In investigating common property issues for woodlands in communal areas in Zimbabwe, we are struck by the numerous case studies showing a breakdown of local institutions for CPR management, and the lack of any emerging alternative institutions for such management. There are a number of contributing economic, social and ecological factors to this phenomenon. We argue that the formal rule-based systems that form the cornerstones of the proposed CPR systems are far removed from the current institutional systems, rooted in norm-based controls. We suggest that advocacy of CPR systems has to be tempered with critical analysis. Ó
Total income and income from forest resources among rural dwellers in tropical forest regions are... more Total income and income from forest resources among rural dwellers in tropical forest regions are influenced not only by market access, prices, but also organizational, institutional, and social factors. These factors influence the diversity of resources to which the poor have access and result in specializations in livelihood strategies. We analyzed the relation between forest dependence and livelihood strategies in the Bolivian Amazon, applying the SLF. We tested for the differences across strategies with respect to financial, human, physical, social, and natural livelihood assets. Results show that forest income is highly related to cash income from Brazil nut, while income from agriculture and timber exploitation is associated with higher levels of education. Brazil nuts serve as a safety net and start-up capital for certain livelihood strategies in our study region. Livelihood strategies that are based on the commercialization of multiple products from forests and agriculture and services inside and outside communities depend less on forests. Livelihoods can be supported by investing in sustainable livelihood asset endowments. Our results demonstrate that activities that aim to support community forest management and to enhance household income should explicitly consider a differentiated support for different strategies. This will result in a more effective outcome of development efforts from which the poorest people would benefit most.
This editorial introduces the special issue: Incentives and constraints of community and smallhol... more This editorial introduces the special issue: Incentives and constraints of community and smallholder forestry. The special issue contains nine papers, listed in a table in the main text. The editorial reviews briefly some key elements of our current understanding of community and smallholder forestry. The editorial also briefly introduces the nine papers of the special issue and points out how they link to the debate among academics and specialists on community and smallholder forestry. Finally, the editorial highlights the new elements that the nine papers contribute to our understanding of community and smallholder forestry, before it concludes at the end.
La cuenca amazónica y su riqueza forestal han generado bastante debate acerca de sus tesoros natu... more La cuenca amazónica y su riqueza forestal han generado bastante debate acerca de sus tesoros naturales, su potencial para el desarrollo económico y los derechos de sus poblaciones a la exclusividad de beneficios. Este debate se inició en la década de 1970 y ha continuado desde entonces. El presente capítulo identifica algunas de las actuales dinámicas sociales, ocupacionales y políticas importantes en la región y reseña las principales amenazas que afectan a los bosques y los medios de sustento en la Amazonia Entre estas se encuentran la ganadería, la producción de soya, la explotación maderera, la expansión de las infraestructuras y la industria de gas y petróleo. Estos sectores han cambiado con el paso del tiempo y se han adaptado a un nuevo ambiente económico, político y social. Por consiguiente, en el capítulo se reseña una serie de las respuestas más recientes a dichas amenazas. Se han logrado grandes avances en cuanto a reformas institucionales, reforma agraria, descentralización gubernamental y desregulación e incentivos de apoyo al uso forestal sostenible, en particular
se destacan las recientes iniciativas de REDD. La parte final del capítulo brinda una evaluación equilibrada de los intereses en conflicto, las amenazas persistentes y las opciones de respuesta que han logrado resultados positivos los cuales indican que tanto los desafíos anteriores como los nuevos requieren acciones políticas innovadoras.
innovadoras.
Natural resources often stretch across borders that separate modern nation states. This can creat... more Natural resources often stretch across borders that separate modern nation states. This can create conflict and limit opportunities for regulated consumption of their goods and services, but also provide opportunities for joint multinational efforts that exceed single country capabilities. This book illustrates the diversity of transborder natural resources, the pressures that they experience or the opportunities that exist for multinational regulatory regimes, monitoring and enforcement. It presents ten case studies of transborder natural resources that are of interest to two or more neighboring countries, and that are subject to, or in need of bilateral or multinational coordinated management. The case studies include the exploitation of specific marine resources in international waters, rivers that travel through several countries and contiguous tropical forests across national borders, and where commodities, nature conservation or even territorial integrity are at stake. They are drawn from across the globe, including flood management in Western Europe, tropical forests in the Western Amazon, hydropower development in the Mekong region of South-east Asia, forest conservation in Central Africa and marine resource and fisheries exploitation in the waters of Japan, South-east Asia and Australia. Together the chapters provide a review of a wide range of transborder natural resource examples, and the diverse regulatory regimes that need to be devised to achieve successful management. An introductory chapter provides a conceptual and theoretical underpinning that can guide future research efforts on similar cases and a concluding chapter draws major conclusions and implications for related concepts and theories.
Local peoples and communities in rural Latin America are the traditional users of extended areas ... more Local peoples and communities in rural Latin America are the traditional users of extended areas of forests. Due to the advance of the agricultural frontier and forest degradation for inappropriate use, CFM is seen as a promising option to get a double goal: improve human welfare of local populations, and conserve forests. In the way it is presently promoted, CFM is based on four keystones: legality, reduced impact practices, commercialization in non-local markets, and technical assistance and training. In spite of positive results related to legal and institutional frameworks and joining strategies, almost all the CFM projects confront serious challenges and depend upon external aid. The evident lack of connection between CFM and the actual conditions of local populations proves that forest use by communities requires a strong change of paradigm: externally defined models are to be abandoned, and strategies to help communities to develop their own ideas are to be promoted. So, instead of local stakeholders adapting themselves to CFM, CFM should be adapted to local interests and capacities.
At a time when the international community is devoting significant attention to the issue of gove... more At a time when the international community is devoting significant attention to the issue of governance as a key factor in global environmental decline, this book provides a timely insight into the relationships between extreme conflict, the international trade in forest products, and the social, economic and environmental condition of tropical forests and their human communities. Drawing on the expertise of both natural and social scientists, Extreme Conflict and Tropical Forests explores the underlying causes and the social and environmental consequences of conflict in tropical forest areas. Case studies from Africa, Asia and Latin America present a range of issues – from illicit crops and ‘conflict timber’ production, to the potential of peace parks for improving human security, social quality and biodiversity conservation. With implications for specific aspects of security, environment, development, forest policy and international relations, this book will be an important resource for both students and researchers exploring these issues – as well as a useful background for practitioners and policy makers working in these fields.
An important contribution to understanding the relationship between migration and deforestation, ... more An important contribution to understanding the relationship between migration and deforestation, this book brings together various analyses from the three major tropical regions: Southeast Asia, the Amazon basin, and Sub-Saharan Africa. The scope of the discussion is extensive, covering historical issues such as the impact of the slave trade on Sub-Saharan African forests and communities, and contemporary dilemmas like the over-exploitation of natural forest products in Vietnam. The analyses are spatially and temporally contextualized, drawing on both qualitative and quantitative data to provide a useful resource for studying the societies of tropical regions and their social ecology.
Vietnam forestry history is as eventful as its political history. The country has experienced ser... more Vietnam forestry history is as eventful as its political history. The country has experienced serious forest cover decline most of the 20 th century, but especially since the unification. Intensive logging and later expansion of estate crop production added to the damage caused by many years of war. Since the end of the 20 th century, though, official data show an increase in forest cover. Although quite a few question what exactly this data means, few question that the country has put much effort in forest rehabilitation, and that these efforts have led to important successes.The country’s forest rehabilitation history received important boasts during the 1950s, and has continued its momentum ever since. The focus of forest rehabilitation has shifted during its 50 years history. Especially during the 1990s and until today, two large forest rehabilitation programs have shifted the focus from production to environmental protection and from State run companies to small producers and communities. Despite this glorious picture, forest rehabilitation has its problems, shortcoming and challenges, and may benefit from the critical reflection that this volume provides on the country’s forest rehabilitation history, its realities and its possible futures. The volume is based on extensive documentation review and primary field surveys and provides an overview of the rich experiences and a detailed look at current policies, practices and future plans. The authors hope that it will provide a useful input in shaping the future directions of Vietnam’s forests and the people who depend on those forests.
A simplistic explanation of why tropical forests degrade or disappear all together is, because lo... more A simplistic explanation of why tropical forests degrade or disappear all together is, because loggers take out too many trees, companies convert forest for plantations, and small farmers slash forest to make agricultural fields. Political ecology is a scientific inter-discipline that tries to identify the political dimension of forest resource appropriation, contestation over forest benefits, and the role of power and discourse in the processes of unsustainable use and resulting forest degradation. This chapter summarizes ten chapters in the volume in which it is published. Several of chapters demonstrate that modern struggles over forests have their roots in colonial periods. Colonial powers used force, but also the argument that deforestation negatively affected the local climate, to expulse forest farmers from timber rich forest lands. Often control of the trade of lucrative forest products like rattan was decided by force. In these struggles, colonial powers used force against local Sultans, local Sultans used force against forest dwellers, and powerful forest dweller groups used force against weaker groups, concludes de Jong in his chapter. In the modern day tropical forest landscape in Asia the actors have change, but many of the processes of contestation remain the same. National rulers, like Suharto in Indonesia, gave away forest concessions to business cronies and the military for the sake of national economic development, but equally often to win political support. Under the recent decentralisation wave, control over forests is now increasingly contested at lower government levels, or even at the village level among forest dwellers with different ethnic affiliations, as Steve Rhee, demonstrates in his chapter. The political ecology of Asia’s tropical forest also has a wider international dimension, and it is not only confined to underdeveloped countries. Fred Gale discusses in his chapter the history of the International Timber Organization. ITTO was set up to advance the cause of tropical timber producing countries, in the face of increasing international concern of the affect of unsustainable logging. In order to adequately represent its interests, ITTO developed and disseminated the sustainable logging discourse. John Knight in his chapter demonstrates that modern problems of a forest dependent population that suffers from the impact of contemporary economic development thinking also happen in Japan. Traditional Japanese timber producers grow high value trees that are used in ritually enshrined housing construction. The mass import of foreign, tropical timber not only negatively affects their livelihood. Japanese timber growers loose maintain their traditions and cultural identity that were closely linked to their forestry existence.
The Cultural Value of Trees: Folk Value and Biocultural Conservation, 2022
The Kitayama sugi, or Japanese cedar case is an example of the endurance of a system that adapted... more The Kitayama sugi, or Japanese cedar case is an example of the endurance of a system that adapted to socioeconomic, political, and cultural changes since the premodern period. This system demonstrates a capacity to adapt to modernization periods due to its cultural value. It has struggled throughout an extremely challenging process of rural abandonment that is counterbalanced by the emergence of new explorations of cultural landscape designation. For the system, there is endurance of both the instrumental values (economic or utilitarian ones – i.e., related to the construction industry and the efforts to maintain the final product quality by caring for trees) and the inherent values (those related to an environmental ethics of care and appreciation for the intrinsic features of nature, and a culture of affection for the trees).
Community forestry is pursued as rural development strategy in many tropical forest regions world... more Community forestry is pursued as rural development strategy in many tropical forest regions worldwide. In Tropical America, rich experiences have been accumulated with community forestry support initiatives and this chapter summarizes published and the author's hands on experiences. The chapter is divided in two parts. The first half focuses on the actual contribution of forests and trees to rural livelihoods, evidence that allows a more precise identification of the actual potential of communal forestry for rural development. The second half of the chapter reviews some of the challenges faced by community forestry development initiatives. The chapter critically reflects on generating profits, inserting communities in forest product value-chains, setting up community forestry enterprises and the challenge to adequately deal with complex regulations. By exploring the experiences of a handful of current community forestry initiatives in Amazonia, and with some reference to Central America, the potentials , limitations and challenges of communal and smallholder forestry are discussed.
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Papers by Wil de Jong
se destacan las recientes iniciativas de REDD. La parte final del capítulo brinda una evaluación equilibrada de los intereses en conflicto, las amenazas persistentes y las opciones de respuesta que han logrado resultados positivos los cuales indican que tanto los desafíos anteriores como los nuevos requieren acciones políticas innovadoras.
innovadoras.
Despite this glorious picture, forest rehabilitation has its problems, shortcoming and challenges, and may benefit from the critical reflection that this volume provides on the country’s forest rehabilitation history, its realities and its possible futures. The volume is based on extensive documentation review and primary field surveys and provides an overview of the rich experiences and a detailed look at current policies, practices and future plans. The authors hope that it will provide a useful input in shaping the future directions of Vietnam’s forests and the people who depend on those forests.