Action Research into the Poverty Impacts of Participatory Forest Management (ARPIP)
Initiative I0032
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| Implementing org | Overseas Development Institute (ODI) (Environment-Development Institution) CARE International (Development organisation) Humbolt University, Germany (Other (Private/Educational)) |
Summary
Almost every country in Africa and many in Asia are promoting the participation of rural communities in the management and utilization of natural forests and woodlands through some form of participatory forest management (PFM). This is based on government belief that PFM can bring substantial benefits in terms of livelihood security and poverty reduction. This project, however, builds on growing concern that PFM approaches may not be as pro-poor as they could be and that, in some cases, the poorest people in communities may be actively disadvantaged by PFM initiatives. The objective of this 2-year research project, therefore, is to determine the extent to which PFM provides sustainable benefits to poorer segments of rural society, and to identify ways in which PFM programmes and supporting policies could promote more pro-poor PFM and be recognised in national-level planning (e.g. Poverty Reduction Strategies and national forest programmes).
Outputs
The final conclusions will be available later in the summer but a number of interesting poverty-conservation issues are already arising:
- Definitional issues: Definitions of what constitutes PFM are extremely variable both between and within countries
- Unintended impacts beyond the PFM area: Another issue relates to how the introduction of PFM displaces forest use to other forest areas in the vicinity
- What kind of PFM is possible in high biodiversity forests? Without a doubt, this is one of the most difficult questions on which the initiative hopes to shed some light. It may be necessary to rethink the role communities can be expected to play in high biodiversity forests. Rather than promising an unrealisable version of PFM, a better option may be to negotiate with communities to (a) allow as much sustainable use is compatible with biodiversity conservation and (b) agree to employ community members for conservation-related duties such as guarding and maintenance of firebreaks.
Geographic coverage
Viet Nam
Nepal
Kenya
Tanzania
People
Kate Schreckenberg
E-mail: KSchreckenberg@odi.org.uk
Phil Franks
E-mail: phil@ci.or.ke
Thomas Sikor
E-mail: thomas.sikor@agrar.hu-berlin.de
Related records above this one:
- Overseas Development Institute (ODI) (Organisation O0057)
- CARE International (Organisation O0010)
- Humbolt University, Germany (Organisation O0338)