There are serious shortcomings in the supply and use of information needed for policy making in the forestry sectors of developing countries (and often also in developed countries). The main weakness is the failure to connect supply to demand. Much information has been gathered not because it was needed but because donors were willing to fund inventories, on traditional lines, that were vaguely thought to be potentially useful. Information is usually inadequate on topics such as actual removals of wood and other products, or the usefulness of the forests, especially to the local people. Not enough provision is made for continuous inventories to the necessarily high standards that are needed to measure change. The way in which remote sensing has been used has often been heavily influenced by the facilities that are on offer, rather than the potential usefulness of the results. It is suggested, for example, that the resources would be better used on the assessment of changes in land use and forest cover than on elaborate cartography. A key proposal is to set up national ‘Analysis Units’ that will collate and interpret available information, help users to define their needs, and make the link with suppliers, so that information gathering can be more driven by demand. Information at international level depends on what is available nationally, and therefore improvement should be sought mainly at national level.
Tag: institutions
The prospects for Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) in Mesoamerica
The general reluctance of policy makers to include forests in discussions about global warming has changed with the development of measures to Reduce Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD). Mesoamerica presents a logical starting point to promote REDD due to the extent of its forest, and the relatively advanced state of its forest management institutions and policies. This paper reviews the prospects for REDD in Mesoamerica using PES and other instruments, with emphasis on the effectiveness of REDD measures at reducing emissions, and their effi ciency and fairness. It concludes that in spite of reduced deforestation in the region, the growth of payments to avoid deforestation will be the most important policy change related to REDD in the region in the coming years. However, the magnitude and impact of any payments must not be exaggerated and should be set in context of the overall trends resulting from broader social and economic dynamics.
Property rights, risk and livestock development in Africa: issues and project approach
This book documents the proceedings of the International Symposium on Property Rights, Risk, and Livestock Development. The symposium was held to appraise progress, review achievements, and identify remaining research gaps atthe conclusion of a three-year research project led by the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), and the University of Goettingen. The goal of the project was to support appropriate reforms of property institutions and land policies in the semiaridareas of Sub-Saharan Africa.
Property rights, risk and livestock development in Africa
This book documents the proceedings of the International Symposium on Property Rights, Risk, and Livestock Development. The symposium was held to appraise progress, review achievements, and identify remaining research gaps at the conclusion of a three-year research project led by the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), and the University of Goettingen. The goal of the project was to support appropriate reforms of property institutions and land policies in the semiarid areas of Sub-Saharan Africa. The objectives werea) to better understand how environmental risk affects the use and management of resources under various property-rights regimes,b) to identify circumstances under which different pathways of change in land use and property rights are followed, andc) to identify how policy and other external interventions can help communities achieve desirable pathways and mitigate negative impacts of undesirable pathways.The introductory chapter provides a description of the research, development, and policy context that shaped the formulation of the project’s goal and objectives; a summary of the research approach taken in the project; and a discussion of how the papers presented in this book relate to the project’s objectives.
Value chain analysis of furniture: action research to improve power balance and enhance livelihoods of small-scale producers
Value chain analysis (VCA) has emerged since the 1990s as a novel approach for understanding how power, benefits and costs are embodied and distributed to various actors. The Indonesian furniture industry demonstrates a long chain of production to consumption, from raw material producers (tree growers), semi-finished producers, finished product producers, and retailers to exporters. Each actor is connected by intermediaries. Indonesian furniture, dominated by teak, contributed 2% of the global wood furniture trade (valued US$ 85 billion in 2007). Indonesian forest includes more than 35% of the world’s teak forests. The furniture industry provides employment and livelihoods to millions of people. This paper describes the value added distribution to all furniture actors, actions to strengthen small-scale producers, and global comparisons with other forest product value chains. The furniture value chain connects producers from Jepara District, the center of Indonesian furniture with annual exports of US$ 150 million, with furniture retailers in Europe, the USA, Australia and Japan. The problem is power imbalance throughout the value chain and unhealthy competition among producers, which result in poverty of small-scale producers, product quality degradation and an unsustainable furniture industry. The adaptation of small-scale producers to market demand is low. They are price takers rather than the price setters, as indicated by their decreasing bargaining power. We used VCA to hypothesize governance and institutional arrangement scenarios for more equitable power and income to sustain both the forest and the furniture industry. Following the VCA analysis, action research is being conducted. Researchers and furniture stakeholders have jointly developed plans and actions to strengthen the industry structure, improve value addition and improve livelihoods. To ensure local and national impacts, we have collaborated with the Jepara Furniture Multi-stakeholder Forum, the Jepara local government, the Forestry Research and Development Agency (FORDA) of the Indonesia Ministry of Forestry, and Bogor Agricultural University. At international level, we are comparing this study with lesson learned from value chains of bamboo in China, honey bee in Zambia, potential for reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD) credit in Indonesia, and palm heart/ palmito in Brazil.
Empowering communities to manage natural resources: where does the new power lie?: a case study of Duru-Haitemba, Babati, Tanzania
Recent approaches to community-based natural resource management appear as diverse as their varied implementing agencies and natural resource settings; yet they rest on a set of common assumptions about community, natural resources and the relationship between them. This paper focuses on power relations between local actors and how these set the framework for resource management in Duru-Haitemba. As one of the few remaining tracts of Miombo woodlands, the Duru-Haitemba had been targeted for gazzettment. However the exercise faced ‘local discontent’, originating in the ‘generalized narrative’. Before colonial powers the community lived in balanced harmony with nature, which when disrupted led to disequilibrium and hence degradation. A range of factors may account for this, including: technological change; breakdown of traditional authority; social change; urban aspirations and intrusion of inappropriate state policies. The community and environment should be brought back into harmony. This requires either the discovery and rebuilding of traditional collective resource management institutions or their replacement by new ones. At the local level the elites and the traditionalists compete for power: The primary concern of traditionalists is ‘ritual’. Elites tend to hijack community-based processes and forcefully occupy the political space opened by decentralisation. Besides power struggles at the micro level, another challenge is the government leadership at the macro level. Government officials usually have very mixed feelings about community actions but increasingly are realising that community action can be substituted for the expensive exercise of putting government officials in the field. The paper points out that community-based natural resource management is a plausible way to reduce public costs of managing resources. However, the power struggle between local communities, field agents and supervisors remains. This ‘triangle’ of relationships constitutes the social arena marking out the actual ‘locale’ of community based natural resource management in Duru-Haitemba.
Land tenure and farm management efficiency: The case of smallholder rubber production in customary land areas of Sumatra
This study assesses the impact of land tenure institutions on the efficiency of farm management based on a case study of rubber production in customary land areas of Sumatra, Indonesia. Using the modes of land acquisition as measures of land tenure institutions, we estimated tree planting, revenue, income, and short-run profit functions, and internal rates of return to tree planting on smallholder rubber fields. We find generally insignificant differences in the incidence of tree planting and management efficiency (defined as residual profits) of rubber production between newly emerging private ownership and customary ownership. This is consistent with our hypothesis that tree planting confers stronger individual rights, if land rights are initially weak (as in the case of family land under customary land tenure systems). On the other hand, short-term profits are higher on land that is rented through share tenancy. This result indicates that rubber trees are over-exploited under renting arrangements due partly to the short-run nature of the land tenancy contracts and partly to the difficulty landowners face in supervising tapping activities of tenants in spatially dispersed rubber fields.
Agroforestry policies, institutions and advocacy
But smallholder agroforestry SYSTEMS have not evolved to a scale critical for livelihood and conservation purposes
Towards improved natural resource management in African agriculture
This paper draws together lessons learned as to how governments and donors might stimulate necessary investment in improved natural resource management (NRM) in African agriculture. Policy interventions to support improved NRM are presented. These policy interventions are built on 5 points: investment, incentives, information, inputs, and institutions.
The role of institutional arrangements and policy on the conservation, utilization and commercialization of indigenous fruits in Southern Africa
Food insecurity, health, especially HIV/AIDS, high levels of unemployment and poverty are some of the key development challenges facing the southern Africa region. To overcome these challenges, most governments are implementing programmes that promote sustainable economic growth to reduce poverty and unemployment. As part of these programmes, rural people are coping with food insecurity and sustaining their livelihoods by using forest products, including wild foods and indigenous fruit trees. These foods supplement their diets and are traded to provide cash income (FAO, 1989). The forests and natural woodlands support millions of livelihoods for people living within and neighbouring them. They provide direct and indirect benefits that include environmental services of soil, water and biodiversity conservation, animal habitats, beauty, tourism, a variety of wood and non-wood products, medicines, herbs and fruits. They are home to several indigenous fruit trees (IFTs) that offer various products and services to rural and urban communities in Africa (FAO, 1989). These IFT products and services have sustained rural and urban livelihoods for thousands of years. The biggest challenge to forest sectors in southern Africa is to promote self-sufficiency in forest products through sustained forest management and biodiversity conservation.