Gender, tenure and community forests in Uganda

Bioenergy is the form of clean energy with the greatest potential for growth in Spain, especially in those regions with a large forest area and a high potential for the utilization of forest resources for energy purposes. This is the case in Galicia (a region located in northwestern Spain), where the communal management of forest resources is widespread. Within this type of management, there is a pioneering case study in which biomass energy use activities have been initiated through an international project. The possible success of this project is of great importance since it could represent an alternative to the main energy activity in the common management of forests: the production of wind energy. In recent years, and with a special increase in 2022, Galician public opinion has expressed its opposition to the implementation of new wind farms in its forests. The aim of this article is to analyze whether or not it is profitable for forest management communities to participate in bioenergy initiatives, which is a novel analysis of the Galician geographical area. For this purpose, the main economic and financial variables of the Galician forest management communities participating in the bioenergy project, SilvaPlus Project, have been analyzed, before and during their participation in the project. In addition, a financial comparison is also made with a group of Galician forest management communities without the energy use of their resources. The evolution of the relevant variables, analyzed between 2011 and 2020, shows a generally positive trend in the values of the forest communities participating in the bioenergy generation project, resulting in a positive experience, both environmentally and financially, for the forest community.

This paper present the data for monitoring forest conditions and forest resource management by a local community adjacent to the Doi Laung Wildlife Sanctuary, Huaimai Sub-district, Song District, Phrae Province, Thailand. This study uses quantitative forest surveys, interviews, discussions, and descriptions of the historical context of public participation in forest management including a detailed assessment of field conditions. The findings of a forest resources inventory show that (1) from the three sampled areas, Doi Laung Wildlife Sanctuary has highest richness, followed by village #16 and #14, and (2) Huaikhon #16 implied the process of framework to maintain a healthy condition and response to community needs with collective management. The conceptual model assessment that links key group indicators and drivers is presented based on previously developed assessment models. The framework focuses on the best way to provide forest management, forest fire prevention, and firefighting as well as monitoring of Check-dam construction and other activities that support the recovery of the forest community. This paper demonstrates the general of an environmental assessment framework to applying organize environmental information to facilitate policy decision making for the sustainable development.

Forest resources are a salient and critical issue requiring ongoing attention by the Thai government. Community forest management (CFM) is a practice used to, among other things, resolve land use issues and regulate the extraction and use of non-timber forest product (NTFPs). Managing as a community forest can not only enhance the livelihoods of the local people but also improve their socio-economic condition. This research was conducted at the Ban Mae Chiang Rai Lum Community Forest located in Pa Mae Phrik National Forest Reserve in Thailand’s northern province of Lampang. We collected species biodiversity data of the forest’s total area of 3,925 ha using a systematic sampling method, and twenty-five 40 × 40 m (0.16 ha) survey plots were established in the community forest. Interviews of 159 household heads and/or other household representatives were conducted using a designed questionnaire. The questionnaire focused on information regarding the households’ NTFP utilization habits and engagement in CFM processes. A forest survey was conducted which found that there were 197 plant species, 144 genera, and 62 families in the community forest. Of these, 160 plant species were classified as having medicinal uses, 89 were used as food, 37 as extractives, 32 for firewood, and 12 for fibers. This study also revealed that unmonitored over-exploitation of NTFPs may negatively impact forest biodiversity. As surveyed, 68.55% of households depended on NTFPs. The value of the harvested NTFPs was 6.35% of the total community income. A positive correlation between NTFP income and CFM suggests that utilization of NTFPs combined with CFM can create income opportunities and promote participation in CFM. In addition, income earned from NTFPs and participation in CFM were directly related to the socio-economics of identifiable groups in this community. Laborers, merchants, and low-income families utilized NTFPs to a lesser degree. Single people, household heads, those with a bachelor’s degree, and low income families were less likely to participate in CFM while land owners were more likely to do so. This study implies that the harvesting of NTFPs should not go unchecked, especially of species that are threatened or likely to be threatened if over-harvested. Efforts to enhance lower income household utilization, to more equitably distribute the benefits, and to incentivize community involvement should be prioritized as doing so is crucial to maintaining a healthy supply of NTFPs and safeguarding the community forest biodiversity.

David Upton Peter de Groot Planting and Establishing of Tropical Trees 2008 Commonwealth Secretariat London 142 pp., £23.00, ISBN 978-0-85092-708-5

The global community recognizes social forestry as a way to improve community welfare through sustainable forest programs. In Indonesia, this program aims to involve local communities in forest management, providing multiple benefits such as forest preservation, improved livelihoods, and poverty reduction. This study aims to analyze the sustainability of a social forestry program for both Community Forest (CF) and non-Community Forest (non-CF) schemes (Village Forests and Community Plantation Forests). The research was conducted in Sijunjung, Solok, Padang Pariaman Regencies, and Padang City, involving a sample of 33 CF participants and 65 non-CF participants selected through snowball sampling. The data were collected through direct interviews and focus group discussions (FGDs) at provincial and regency levels. The business sustainability assessment utilized multidimensional indicators (MDS) across three dimensions: economic, social, and institutional and analyzed using Rap_MForest. The findings revealed that social forestry program had a moderate level of sustainability in all dimensions; however, the social dimension showed lower sustainability, owing to limited community participation and ineffective empowerment of non-group members. The sustainability index of CF scheme was higher than the non-CF (VF and CPF). The CF model emerged as the more adaptable and comprehensive approach, promoting both environmental conservation and socioeconomic development. Therefore, prioritizing the institutional strengthening of VF and CPF became crucial. In addition, enhancing the active role and involvement of group members in the social forestry program within the social dimension was also essential. To enhance sustainability, efforts should be focused on strengthening mentoring and counseling programs for social forestry groups involved in state forest and community plantation initiatives.

Community forest management (CFM) is increasingly recognised as a potentially effective way of maintaining forests, especially in the Global South. Despite the growing adoption of this approach, the results have been mixed and there is a need to explore both the ways in which a wider range of benefits can be obtained and how CFM can be implemented more effectively. New forest legislation on community forest management in the Southern Region of Ethiopia in 2012, alongside the development of a highly devolved method of CFM, provided a natural experiment for testing the effectiveness of this method as a way of maintaining forest and also supporting biodiversity conservation and carbon storage. The specific circumstances and details of the methods applied also provided an opportunity to compare this approach against other experiences of CFM to assess factors seen to be influencing success. This study was undertaken in an area of montane forest in south-west Ethiopia, which includes some of the remaining stands of wild Coffea arabica, and so it also sought to create supportive conditions for the in situ conservation of the wild coffee. Analyses of this approach to CFM over the six years show that the loss of forest was reduced to 0.18% per annum in the CFM managed areas compared to 2.6% per annum in the non-CFM forest, while biodiversity, in terms of species diversity, richness and evenness of distribution, was maintained in the natural forest managed under CFM. Carbon storage also increased in the natural forest managed under CFM. While the long-term results will only be seen after several decades, the findings show that the use of a highly devolved form of CFM, responding to felt needs and building up a community of practice were some of the positive influences which helped in achieving multiple impacts towards sustainable forest management and wild coffee conservation.

Participatory forest management (PFM) has emerged as a successful strategy in almost all countries in the Hindu Kush-Himalayan region. One of the earliest recorded examples of an attempt to formally involve communities in forest management was the introduction of the Kangra Forest Cooperative Societies (KFCS) in 1940 in Kangra District, now in Himachal Pradesh (HP), India. This paper examines the KFCS providing an historical overview, reviewing past processes and milestones, and discussing the present problematic situation. Before attempting to look for solutions, the author analyses the roles played and positions taken by the various actors and reviews the recent history of PFM in Himachal Pradesh. The history of the Kangra cooperatives provides fascinating lessons for community forestry today on what does and doesn't work and why. Many fundamental changes are suggested. The ideas are not only relevant for decisions now being taken in Himachal Pradesh, they provide insights that will be useful to foresters and policy-makers across the region. This is a thought provoking document, and we hope it will stimulate discussion - and action - that will help facilitate the success of community forestry across the region.

Formation trend analysis and gender inclusion in community forests of Nepal

ABSTRACTRural communities in Thailand have long managed and used forest resources for their livelihoods. Using survey data collected from 400 households across two villages in northeastern Thailand, this study identifies the factors influencing household members’ participation in local community forest management (CFM) programs. Results of the logit regression models revealed that occupation, the number of years of residence in the community, household income and expense, the receipt of CFM information and training, CFM knowledge, decision process in CFM program, and the perceived social and institutional benefits of CFM positively influenced participation in the CF programs. Furthermore, self-efficiency was found to negatively influence participation. Overall, the findings indicate that local people who are less confidence or do not view participation goals as important but when they have been trained, have knowledge about the value of community forest. They are more likely to participate in CFM programs. These results improve our understanding of household participation in community forest management and highlight the need for context-specific approaches to community engagement in forest management programs for optimal policy solutions.

Community forest management (CFM) is one way used to mitigate deforestation and forest degradation which have been occurring for more than half a century, particularly in northern Thailand. The collaboration in CFM, especially at multiple scales (e.g. subdistrict, district, or provincial levels) is essential to improve a forest ecosystem status and avoid forest degradation risks in the future. Recently, integrative and participatory modelling methodologies, specifically the Companion Modelling (ComMod), have been implemented in the context of sustainable common-pool resource management in several regions of the world. However, the application of this approach in CFM across institutional scales has still been challenging. Therefore, this research aimed to assess community forest ecosystem functions at the seven villages of Lainan Subdistrict, Wiang Sa District, Nan Province, and conduct a participatory modelling and simulation process to promote collaborative CFM at the subdistrict scale. Ecologically conventional and participatory assessments of ecosystem functions were performed to assess community forest ecosystem status. Lainan’s community forests have officially been operating for nearly 50 years. There were 67 tree species, 18 orders of soil fauna, 105 wild mushroom species, and 183 non-timber forest products (NTFPs). Among these diverse NTFPs, Melientha suavis, Oecophylla smaragdina’s queen broods, and wild edible mushrooms were identified as the three common NTFPs at this site with the productivity of 2, 12, and 2 kg/ha/y, respectively. The results from the participatory assessment showed that the forest status scores of all villages ranged from 233 to 322 of 500 points. Only village 3 obtained “good” for its community forest ecosystem status while the other villages’ status was “moderate”. However, all villages were still facing forest degradation risks. Following this preliminary diagnostic analysis, a ComMod process including two participatory modelling and simulation sequences was implemented with 48 local stakeholders. The results showed that this iterative and evolving process could stimulate the integration of scientific and local knowledge through the exchanges of viewpoints, perceptions, knowledge, and experiences among local stakeholders, as well as between them and researchers. Moreover, it also supported collective decision-making among them as two CFM collective action plans at the subdistrict scale were proposed, including establishment of firebreaks and management options to deal with the over-harvesting of non-timber forest products by outsiders. In summary, the participatory assessment generated a shared understanding on the community forest ecosystem status and the participatory modelling and simulation approach supported collaborative CFM at the subdistrict scale. To translate the proposed CFM plans into actual collective action, focus group discussions and further participatory gaming and simulation sessions need to be enhanced by enrolling diverse stakeholders across generations, especially young local villagers. The participatory assessment and modelling process used in this case study would be useful to improve collaborative CFM at higher institutional scales or at other sites facing the similar problems.

In Vietnam, a legal framework for Community Forest Management (CFM) development has been established since 2003. Although the government has paid increasing attention to development, CFM has yet to show notable signs of progress in this area. This paper aims to understand problems and challenges to CFM development. A field survey was conducted through different methods in which information was cross-checked for credibility. In August of 2009, an interview using visual tools was applied to informants with low education and considerable language barriers for reliable information. The results of this study showed that current laws and regulations of the time had been insufficient in supporting CFM development. These interviews indicate that during the process of implementing forest and forestland allocation policy, there was little effort to build people's awareness of the project or to properly develop the skills of those designated to work in a managerial capacity, and overall participation was limited due to the poor approach employed by policy implementers. Outside actors have less support and poor collaboration with the village community, leading to many villagers with poor knowledge of the laws, regulations and policy. Village regulation was less effective, and many households lost a chance to benefit from community forest. The CFM system did not function well and serious conflicts happened. Moreover, it was found that people's lack of arable land put a large pressure on CFM. The village failed to cover certain costs for the CFM operation as expected. Errors in defining forest boundary will make it difficult to stop severe disputes in the allocated forest. Failure to realize forestry production causes a decrease in people's interest and motivation to CFM.

Assessment of soil organic carbon (SOC) pool is an essential pace for understanding the carbon sequestration potential (CSP) of the soil system as a mitigation strategy and also investigate that they act as a source or sink for the atmospheric CO2 subject to the level of saturation. Improved CSP has been recognized as one of the possible solutions for mitigating climate change. The CSP of soil system for the community forests (CFs) in Nepal is not well recognized. Therefore, a study was conducted in two community-managed forests viz Ganesh (degraded) and Ramnagar (non-degraded) CFs situated in the Kanchanpur district of Nepal to quantify the SOC and Bulk density (BD). For determining SOC, systematic sampling with a sampling intensity of 0.5% was used for collecting altogether 189 soil samples from both the CFs. In addition, the soil samples from varying depths (0-10, 10-20, and 20-30 cm) of each soil profile were collected from each sampling plot. The mean SOC observed upto 30 cm soil depth in Ganesh and Ramnagar CF was 42.55 ± 3.10 t ha-1 and 54.21 ± 3.59 t ha-1 respectively. While, maximum SOC was noticed at 0-10 cm whereas minimum at 20-30 cm in both the CFs. Moreover, SOC decreased and bulk density increased with increasing soil depth in both the CFs. SOC and BD was negatively correlated in both CFs. The total SOC pool exhibited a significant (p<0.05) difference between the two CFs. Hence, the outcome of study shows that the both CFs has enormous potential to sequester the atmospheric concentration of Co2 into soil. With this concern, the participation of local people in sustainable management of community forests enhance the soil quality and meets strategy to mitigate the climate change.

Community forest management actively promotes the rights of individual living in the areas nearby forest through participation in equitable benefit sharing and decision making practices. Community forest management in Vietnam has been active part of research since many decades but still there is a lot of room to find the solutions regarding the sustainable forest practices. The present research has highlighted the impact of several factors which impact the community forest management practices in Vietnam which includes Forest Land Allocation, Sustainable forest practices and poverty alleviation. It is understood by the review of past research that strong community forest practices aid societies to protect their forest rights and minimizing GHF emissions causing from deforestation and enhancing forest health. To analyze the impact of these factors on community forest management in Vietnam, the real data has been collected and analyzed with the help of statistical tools. The results of the study indicates the poverty alleviation, forest land allocation and sustainable forest practices have significantly and positively impact of community forest management in Vietnam.

The study investigated gender participation in sustainable forest management in Cross River State, Nigeria. Multistage sampling procedure was used to select 135 respondents. Data was collected with the aid of structured questionnaire and analyzed using descriptive statistics and t-test at 5% level of significance. Socio-economic characteristics showed that 59.3% of forest users were males and 64.5% had primary education and below. Users were aware of sustainable forest management practices like: participation in forest management committee meetings (100%), prohibition of deforestation (98.5%), and membership into forest management committees (95.6%). Concerning participation in community forest management activities, 3.6% women participated in forest patrol activities against 27.5% men, 14.6% women belonged to community forest management groups compared to 40% men. Major factors that constrained women’s participation were: traditional gender roles/responsibilities (MS= 4.37) and high level of poverty (MS=4.32). For men they were: stringent laws on accessing/harvesting forest resources (MS= 4.25) and age of forest user (MS= 4.17). The t-test results showed that when equal variances were assumed, there was no significant difference in the level of participation in community forest management activities between the males and females [t (133) = -.723, p=.472, 95% CI (-.140, .065)]. The study recommended that technical support to community members should focus on strategies that motivate them to get actively involved in sustainable management of their forest.

The last three decades have witnessed shifts in forest governance in favour of more inclusive approaches. In Uganda, two main approaches have been embraced in the forest sector: collaborative forest management and community forest management. However, there is scanty empirical evidence on how the latter has affected the forest condition over time. Using data from two bio-physical surveys (2006 and 2016) and Key Informant Interviews, this study examined changes in vegetation characteristics in two de facto community forests (Ongo and Alimugonza) over a 10-year period. The basal area and stem densities of tree species locally preferred for poles and charcoal declined in both forests due to extractive uses, some of which were illegal. The densities of those preferred for timber increased as a result of their heightened protection by the community members. However, the community members still faced challenges of apprehending rulebreakers due to the high costs involved and their informal recognition as responsible bodies since the two forests have not yet been declared "community forests" as required by law. The gains made by the approach amidst these challenges demonstrate its potential to achieve conservation goals.