Community Forestry

Community-based mangrove forest management: Implications for local livelihoods and coastal resource conservation along the Volta estuary catchment area of Ghana

Background

The author of this paper recognize that there has been limited research into the primary motivators for motivating long-term community-based mangrove restoration and management on local scales. In order to fill this gap, this paper aims to assess management practices of community-based mangrove restoration projects in the Volta River estuary in Ghana, paying close attention to the ecological and economic incentives for community-based mangrove forest management (CBMFM). The site was evaluated between 1974 and 2011 and the authors used participatory mapping and orthophotos. 

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Communal management as a strategy for restoring cloud forest landscapes in Andean Ecuador

Background

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Social Capital in Biodiversity Conservation and Management

Background

The article begins with a description of the opposing views of the roles of smallholders in conservation strategies.  On the one hand they directly use resources that external agencies attempt to protect, on the other hand these people have intimate knowledge of these systems.  Thus leading to the question, “Could local people play a greater role in biodiversity conservation and management?” (Pretty, 2004).

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The Communal Management of Forests in the Semi‐arid and Sub‐humid Regions of Africa: Past Practice and Prospects for the Future

Background

This article is based on an extensive literature search to analyze indigenous forestry practices in the dryland regions of anglophone and francophone regions of Africa. The authors drew on biology, forestry, and ethnographic material and was written with the aim of encouraging practitioners to involve peoples living near forests into the land management strategies.

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An ecological integrity assessment of a Brazilian Atlantic Forest watershed based on surveys of stream health and local farmers' perceptions: implications for management

Background

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The Restoration of Forest Biodiversity and Ecological Values

Background

Throughout Asia there has been significant push to restore degraded lands yet many of these initiatives lack clear objectives. This paper explores the failures that have emerged from this trend, paying close attention to restoration schemes that were politically driven and unsuccessful in yielding the economic and environmental benefits due to the lack of clarity in defining the precise restoration objectives.

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Strategies for empowering the local people to participate in forest restoration

Background

This study examined how local people’s involvement in determining and establishing appropriate reforestation techniques and practices can yield positive results. The study also examined the conditions for local people’s willingness to participate in implementing such techniques in their practices. The study was conducted in 10 villages surrounding Mabira Forest Reserve located in Central Uganda.

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A Multicountry Assessment of Tropical Resource Monitoring by Local Communities

Background

The study compared data collected on status and trends collected independently by local community members and trained scientists for 63 taxa and five types of resource use in 34 tropical forest sites over 2.5 years so examine the assumption that local people are less objective than external scientists when monitoring natural resources.

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Environmentality: Community, Intimate Government, and the Making of Environmental Subjects in Kumaon, India

Background

Agrawal writes about the relationship between government and subjectivity, particularly about the processes that create “environmental subjects” (people who care about the environment), using an example of changing interests in forest protection following the creation of community-forest management groups in Kumaon, India.

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Adaptive value of participatory biodiversity monitoring in community forestry

Background

This paper looks at using a conceptual framework (values, diversity, stakeholders) for forest monitoring, communication and conservation by villagers in Baglung District, Nepal. The goal was to assist local foresters in developing monitoring programs.

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