Annual Report 1996

Local Livelihoods, Community-Based Forest Management and Devolution

A world-wide trend to promote systems of local management, both through the devolution of centralised structures of control and by strengthening so-called "traditional" forest management systems, has stimulated CIFOR's research on local people's well-being and role in forest management. Amidst growing interest and experience in local management over the last two decades, several issues regularly surface in debates about the development of effective local forest management. How can multiple interests or objectives be accommodated in decision making about forests, especially when some of those interests are less powerful? What is the role of policy, including land-tenure policy, in supporting local management? How do economic incentives influence local people's management of the forest?

CIFOR's research has sought to inform and sharpen understanding about these debates in ways that also have practical implications for improving local people's well-being. With the overall objective of improved understanding of the relationship between the forms of local forest management and its impacts, research activities have examined the question, "how do incentive structures, institutional arrangements and policies affect household well-being and local forest sustainability?" This is addressed in such diverse contexts as protected forests and production forests, private and government forest lands, natural forests and agroforest plantations. Emphasis has been given to protected areas where forest conservation and economic development goals are jointly pursued and where the compatibility of people's needs and forest management objectives are often most at odds. The research has been supported by models of local people's decision making.

Four clusters of research took place in 1996. Activities in collaboration with CIIFAD at Cornell University have concentrated on models for collaborative management in protected areas in Madagascar. This 18-month project is expected to be completed by mid-1997 (see pages 14-16).

Also in Africa, a synthesis of available scientific knowledge on the management of miombo woodlands was completed in 1996 with the publication of The Miombo in Transition: Woodlands and Welfare in Africa. We have worked closely with partners from Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Mozambique and Malawi to design a four-year project on Management of Miombo Woodlands, examining how different policies influence people-woodland interactions and to provide new information to guide sustainable management of the woodlands.

Research continued on household economic strategies and incentives for conservation in the planted Shorea javanica (damar) forests of Krui, Sumatra, and the natural dipterocarp forests of the Kayan Mentarang National Park in East Kalimantan, Indonesia. During 1996, surveys of over 400 households were conducted to assess forest dependence, changing trends in livelihood strategies, and the possible economic basis for why people manage the forests in the way they do. CIFOR also co-sponsored a workshop in May with the IUCN-Laos and the South and South-east Asia NTFP Network to discuss methods for improving the incomes of people living in forest areas based on NTFP conservation and development. (An edited volume of papers from this meeting will be available in 1997)

A quantitative, predictive model of land-use decisions made by rural people at the forest frontier is being developed. Tentatively titled the People-Forest Interface Model, it aims to integrate results from several projects into a concise and explicit form amenable to empirical testing. The model will be spatially explicit, predicting land use within each of the land units in the area under consideration. This has already stimulated discussions amongst CIFOR staff about the causal forces at work at the forest frontier. It will provide an empirical test-bed for ideas and hypotheses arising from CIFOR's work, and provide a quantitative basis for exploring future scenarios and their implications. Later versions of the model should be useful for land-use planning and simulation of policy options.

During 1997, the Project is planning to expand work in Africa and Latin America. A new research activity will investigate the influence of economic development and policy trends on institutions for local forest management. It will also develop a series of future scenarios to better inform decision makers, to enhance the well-being of those people who live near and depend most on forests.

The additional financial support of USAID for this research is gratefully acknowledged.

Principal Collaborators:
Indonesia: : WWF-Indonesia Programme, University of Indonesia, Lembaga Alam Tropika Indonesia (LATIN), Keluarga Pecinta Alam dan Lingkungan Hidup (WATALA);
Madagascar: : CARE International Madagascar, Department of Water and Forestry and Dept of Agro-Management - Atananarivo University; University of Fianarantsoa Dept. of Environmental Law and Management, Association Nationale Pour La Gestion des Aires Protegees (ANGAP), Ramanofana National Park Project;
Eastern & Southern Africa: : University of Zimbabwe, Sokoine University of Agriculture and University of Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania, University of Malawi;
UK : ODA;
USA: : Cornell University, University of Florida, University of Indiana, The East-West Center;
International: ORSTOM, ICRAF, Ford Foundation.

CIFOR Project Team:
Lini Wollenberg, Jerry Vanclay, Godwin Kowero, Susie Hussey, Louise Buck, Bruce Campbell.