Tag: community forestry

Key messages

A multi-stakeholder consultative process known as Participatory Prospective Analysis (PPA) proved successful at bringing stakeholders together to share information and explore steps to bring about desirable future scenarios for forest tenure in the Mount Kenya and Abedare forests in Kenya’s highlands.

• Of the 29 identified “forces of change”, the participants identified five “drivers of change” in the region for the coming decade, namely: culture; public-private partnerships; the political environment and policy formulation; land tenure systems; and access to financial resources.
• Participants then developed three potential future scenarios, based on various “states” of the identified drivers: one desirable and two undesirable.
• The desirable scenario was characterized by a supportive government, strong public-private partnerships, a clear land tenure system, highly-valued natural resources and strong community awareness and participation.
• In the undesirable scenarios, communities were alienated from the forest resource through privatization and/or poor governance. This resulted in increased tension and illegal exploitation of the forest, as well as livelihood losses for forest-dependent communities.
• At the end of the PPA process, participants devised action plans to help bring about the desirable scenario and avoid undesirable outcomes. Suggested measures included civic education on environmental issues, capacity-building for stronger public-private partnerships, clarification of land tenure, and the promotion of environmentally-friendly income-generating activities. These plans were presented back to stakeholders for feedback at a later meeting, and then adopted.

Key messages

A multi-stakeholder consultative process known as Participatory Prospective Analysis (PPA) proved successful in bringing together stakeholders to find ways to enhance forest tenure security (FTS) in Kilifi County, which was formed in 2010 after a merger of Kilifi and Malindi districts, and is located on the Kenyan coast north of Mombasa. A workshop held in Mombasa in October 2018 brought together actors from government, NGOs, the private sector, community members organized in community forest associations (CFAs), and indigenous leaders.

• The participants identified 32 potential “forces of change” for FTS in Kilifi through to 2023. From these, five “driving forces” were identified: partnerships in forest management; benefit-sharing mechanisms; implementation of policies; management of forest resources; and knowledge management. The process revealed that while clear policies to enhance FTS were already in place, many of these were poorly or negligibly implemented.
• Three potential scenarios for 2023 were developed – one desirable and two undesirable – based on different “states” of the driving forces. In the desirable scenario, both indigenous and conventional bodies of knowledge are well-integrated into forest management, and supported by a clear legal framework and an effective enforcement mechanism. Communities and other stakeholders play an active role in forest management, decision-making and monitoring, and there are strong partnerships between governing bodies. As a result, forest management has improved and there is enhanced forest cover.
• In the undesirable scenarios, a corrupt, inept and self-interested regime leads to dysfunctional partnerships between organizations and to the exclusion of communities and other stakeholders from forest resource management and decision-making. Indigenous knowledge is not valued or managed effectively, leading to a loss of this information and of culturally- and ecologically-significant areas of forest. As a result, forests are encroached upon and destroyed at increased rates, leading to a decrease in forest cover and increase in poverty levels.
• The PPA then identified potential actions to be undertaken by different stakeholders to improve FTS over the next decade, which participants felt were directly or indirectly linked to forest tenure security. These included: strengthening forest management partnerships through capacity-building and improved frameworks; developing a strategy for more equitable sharing of forest products and services by doing inventories of these and developing appropriate policies; enhancing the integration of indigenous and conventional knowledge in forest management through improved documentation, outreach and education; strengthening the rule of law in forestry management; and managing forest resources better, including restoring degraded areas through massive tree-planting campaigns.
• While women’s representation was fair during the workshops, the issue of gender did not feature in the scenarios or actions, probably due to cultural factors that inhibit women’s ability to freely express themselves in the presence of men. It was therefore recommended that a women-only PPA be organized to capture gendered concerns.

Key messages

A multi-stakeholder consultative process known as Participatory Prospective Analysis (PPA) proved successful in bringing stakeholders together to discuss forest landscape restoration (FLR) in the Mount Elgon ecosystem in Kenya’s Rift Valley region. It attracted actors from local and central government, civil society, community-based organizations, and the private sector.

• The participants identified 32 potential “forces of change” for FLR in Mount Elgon for the coming decade. They then selected the five most influential forces. These were government policy, land tenure, financial management, ecosystem products and services, and community involvement.
• Participants then developed three possible scenarios for the future. One was desirable, one undesirable, and one had both desirable and undesirable aspects. The desirable scenario was characterized by: effective, transparent government; empowered, connected and knowledgeable communities that take ownership of FLR activities; clarity on land tenure and integrated management plans leading to sustainable use of ecosystem products and services and to improved local livelihoods.
• In the undesirable scenario, a corrupt, bureaucratic regime fails to implement effective policies and excludes communities from decision-making. This leads to increased forest exploitation. In the mixed scenario, the government is well-funded and effective at implementing FLR, but it excludes communities from the process and ends up privatizing the process. This forces locals to withdraw from the forest, which has severe implications for livelihoods, as well as bringing the risk of violent clashes and conflicts.
• In response to these scenarios, participants developed an action plan, which was presented, revised and adopted in two feedback workshops held four months after the initial meeting. Key actions in that plan include: harmonizing conflicting policies; clarifying land tenure; raising finance for FLR from the public and private sector; mapping, valuing and enhancing ecosystem products and services; and increasing community engagement in FLR through training and capacity-building.
• Although women’s representation in the workshops was reasonable, gender issues were absent in many of the discussions, and it is recommended that a women-only PPA activity be organized to allow female stakeholders to express themselves more fully and to bring out gendered concerns.

Key messages

• Participatory Prospective Analysis (PPA) proved to be effective for encouraging collective reflection to identify threats to forest tenure security and to develop ways for improving it at a national-level workshop in Uganda, where stakeholders identified several factors that strongly influence the forest tenure rights of forest-dependent communities.
• Factors influencing forestry tenure security that they identified were: forest resource governance; community capacity to sustainably manage forests and demand/defend tenure rights; the priority level of forestry and tenure security for development partners; local norms and beliefs that impact upon vulnerable groups’ tenure rights; forestry sector financing in national budgetary allocations; and local communities’ legal literacy on land / forest tenure.
• When analyzing the potential evolution of forest tenure security over the next 25 years, stakeholders identified some desirable potential outcomes. Among them are: forestry being prioritized in national development plans; availability of adequate financial resources; existence of capable, well-coordinated district- and national-level government structures to promote community forest tenure; availability of technical staff with capacity to equip communities with knowledge and skills to enable them to exercise their tenure rights; presence of enterprising communities with skills to innovate and adopt alternatives to forestry products; and effective enforcement of gender-sensitive forestry-related laws and policies to promote benefit-sharing equity.
• After analyzing potential future outcomes, both negative and positive, PPA stakeholders recommended prioritizing a set of actions to safeguard the future forest tenure security of forest-dependent communities. These actions were: improving coordination of key government agencies; adopting inclusive and participatory decision-making processes for tenure-related activity implementation; improving stakeholders’ technical and financial capacity with traditional and emerging innovative financing mechanisms; and implementing policies and strategies designed to provide alternative livelihood sources, thus reducing local dependence on forests and forest products.

Key messages

• The Participatory Prospective Analysis (PPA) process in Masindi district in Uganda’s Western Region brought together stakeholders from government, the private sector, NGOs and local communities to collectively reflect on factors affecting local tenure rights, forecast future scenarios and propose actionable plans for securing forest tenure rights.
• Participants identified several factors threatening local forest tenure rights. These included: lack of land ownership documentation; inadequate implementation and enforcement of forest policies, laws and programs; land use changes; gender bias against women; political interference; lack of community awareness of forest tenure rights; and inadequate financial and human resources to effectively protect local people’s rights to forests and land.
• To identify potential barriers and drivers, three workshops were organized. With both forestry and agricultural sectors being male-dominated, one women-only workshop was organized to capture women’s perspectives and compare findings with those of the mixed gender group.
• The two groups identified four key “driving forces” impacting forest tenure security: (1) community participation in forest tenure reform implementation, particularly that of women; (2) access to financial resources to implement forest tenure reform activities; (3) the importance of outside organizations having an awareness of community, cultural and institutional norms and beliefs regarding forest tenure rights; (4) the role played by local and national government agencies and politicians in coordinating and promoting progress towards forest tenure reforms.
• Women stakeholders emphasized the importance of access to land for forestry activities as critical to securing their rights; they also noted that supportive men and domestic relationships can impact on women’s rights to forest land. Mixed group stakeholders identified the role of oil, gas and other industrial activities as a key threat to local forest tenure security.
• Participants developed four scenarios to anticipate potential future situations impacting on local forest tenure rights. Desirable scenarios depicted a well-governed, well-financed forestry sector characterized by gender equality and participative forest management. Undesirable scenarios were characterized by a dominant oil and gas sector undermining forest sustainability and forest rights; a weak, underfunded and poorly-managed forest sector; forest conversion to other uses; government failure to recognize community rights and integrate communities in forest management; and disappointed, disempowered communities collectively destroying forests for survival instead of managing them sustainably.

Several actions were identified to secure local forest tenure rights: 1) making district-level government more responsive to local needs and aspirations around community forest tenure reforms; 2) increasing the number of well-trained district government officers and providing adequate financial resources; 3) facilitating a faster and affordable process for community forest registration, including community incentives; 4) equipping communities with knowledge, skills and resources to enhance their participation in forest tenure reform implementation; 5) promoting environmentally and socially responsible investments to mobilize resources for protecting local people’s forest tenure rights.

Key messages

• The Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) undertook a review of Kenya’s legal framework to understand whether, and to what extent, Kenyan legal provisions were sufficient to secure community land and forest rights. The primary objective was to assess how adequate Kenya’s legal framework was in protecting and promoting tenure rights of forest communities, including in protected areas.
• The law appears to offer adequate security for the tenure rights of forest communities. Kenya’s Community Land Act, enacted in 2016, defines community tenure rights comprehensively and has legal provisions to enhance and guarantee tenure security. Forests on communal land are secure, at least on paper.
• Areas of public gazetted forests that are claimed by indigenous groups as their customary territory are not well secured by law, even though the Constitution recognizes indigenous groups. However, a task force is now addressing this gap.
• Most challenges lie in determining community identity and customary land rights, and registration of the community and land rights. This affects areas claimed as ancestral lands by indigenous and marginalized communities. Resolution requires investigations into historical land injustices to provide remedies.
• Key actions to strengthen protection and promotion of forest communities’ tenure rights are: participatory mapping and inventory of community land requiring determination of customary rights and registration; implementation of legal mechanisms for community participation in public forest management; and a system to map out community forests which fall under a) land lawfully held, managed or used by as community forests, grazing areas or shrines or ancestral lands; and b) lands traditionally occupied by hunter-gatherer communities.