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Knowledge is power: protecting forests with carbon assessments and open data

Kerry Woodward – RECOFTC

Carbon assessments in Northern Thailand have proved instrumental to communities advocating for the protection of their forests. Communities in Chiang Khong district have been under pressure to capitulate to the incursions of a planned Special Economic Zone that would cover their community forest.

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While the forest was full of resources and culturally significant to people living in and around it, the community struggled to articulate the value of their forest in terms that would be understood to outsiders. “[Communities could] only see the traditional value of the forest in terms of the medicinal plants or wood that can be used, we can now highlight the value to people outside of the community”, says Sayan Khanmueng from Living River Association (LRA).

Policy implementers should have a complete picture of the value of natural resources and landscapes to local people if they want to implement policy that offers beneficial outcomes for all the stakeholders in forested landscapes.

As outsiders, it may be difficult for external agencies to appreciate the diversity of economic and cultural benefits that communities derive from forests. This is certainly understandable and warrants a new approach to community engagement on forests and the benefits they offer.

Forest ecosystems provide services for people on both local and global scales. The most commonly recognized ecosystem service is the role that forests play in carbon sequestration, with REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation) as an international mechanism designed by the international community intended to maintain and enhance this service.

New tools such as Global Forest Watch and SERVIR-Mekong’s EcoDash, allow for greater appreciation of forests and biomass. While these open source tools provide global and regional insights into forest resources and services, they do not always lead to local empowerment.

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RECOFTC has been working with communities in Chiang Khong District in an effort to help communities highlight the value of forests to policy makers and external agencies, and to empower communities with scientific knowledge of their forests. The aim of this capacity development is not to undermine national level carbon accounting or monitoring, but rather to empower local communities to understand carbon within the context of broader natural resource management (NRM).

So far RECOFTC has trained eight villages on measuring the carbon content of their trees. The method involved measuring the circumference of trees and then inputting the data into software which calculated the carbon content of their forests.

The information was used in three ways. Firstly, it was used for internal awareness raising about the potential value of the communities’ forests beyond the immediate livelihood products – wood, mushrooms, fruit. The forests have value in terms of carbon sequestration, and potentially offer economic value in carbon credits. Secondly, the information has been fed into the communities’ natural resource management plans. Finally, the information was used to negotiate with local authorities to protect the forest from becoming a Special Economic Zone (SEZ).

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Sayan Khanmueng confirms that “the data has been used for public awareness, we can show how much carbon is stored, and we can show the value of trees in terms of how much oxygen they produce.”

The experience in the Ing Watershed highlights the power of knowledge and the open data movement. The community now understands the importance of forest mapping, inventories and scientific knowledge in advocating for forest protection and for the maintenance of community livelihoods. Moreover, the information they have collected in the process has already had beneficial impacts for the community in serving as a negotiation tool and in informing natural resource management plans.

 

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by RECOFTC on December 4, 2017  •  Permalink
Posted in Carbon assessment, Commentary, Knowledge and technology, RECOFTC activities

Posted by RECOFTC on December 4, 2017

https://recoftc.wordpress.com/2017/12/04/knowledge-is-power-protecting-forests-with-carbon-assessments-and-open-data/

Landscape approach: Lessons from the Ing Watershed in Thailand

Jonas Dahlstrom & Binod Chapagain, RECOFTC

Taking a landscape approach in implementing activities is central to RECOFTC’s upcoming strategic plan. A landscape approach focuses on stakeholders at a scale that is small enough to maintain a degree of manageability, whilst simultaneously operating in a context large enough to be able to deliver multiple outcomes to stakeholders with different interests. The approach emphasises the interdependence of natural resources, people and communities. All natural resources impact each other and their use is interconnected with existing social and economic systems.

The logic of landscape programming is that program staff and partners should always consider the impact of their activities on the broader landscape. For instance, a project aimed at improving social benefits through growing a particular plant in a community should consider the ways in which this activity might impact the wider social, financial and ecological systems (no matter what the actual goal of the activity might be). As no system stands alone in a globalized world, RECOFTC believes that taking a landscape approach is the way to proceed to ensure lasting improvements in human well being and healthy forests.

In fact, RECOTFC’s approach aims to build lasting relationships with all stakeholders and achieve a common vision for what that landscape should look like and provide in terms of services and products.

Ing river (wide)

The Ing River

This blog reflects the lessons from conversations with several stakeholders, including local communities, civil society organizations, fishery department, royal forest department, and the chamber of commerce in the Ing Watershed in Northern Thailand earlier this year.

Our first lesson from the trip was that the objectives of all stakeholders have to be considered to accurately understand social and environmental impacts in a landscape. From an academic angle, it is important to understand the ambitions of all actors when measuring a landscape’s (or community’s) ability to adapt to climate change. Without knowing all players’ intentions it is difficult to make future predictions about environmental or social impacts. Furthermore, from a social angle communities will be best off when local and external stakeholders collaborate for mutual benefits, such as income generation and sustainable resource management.

The second lesson, as shared by community representatives, was about the younger generations’ contributions to bring changes in forest management with the help of technology, specifically through social media. The youth in one community have contributed to an improved online system to store, manage and benefit from data for various natural resources. They also developed connections with young people who migrated from their villages to towns and cities to gain their support in information management. The youth in the community were able to build a new informal network and connect with other communities and forest department officials. These new avenues of information sharing have led to new opportunities for local people to understand the diverse resources in their landscape, as well as increasing youth involvement and leadership in sustainable natural resource management processes.

The third lesson was that improved management of landscape resources by local communities contributes to reforestation, rehabilitation of original species, and ecological restoration. Reforestation and the protection of wetlands has helped local people to deal with climate change impacts, such as preventing flash floods, which used to occur when their resources were depleted.

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Ban Boonreung wetlands in the Ing Watershed

It was also clear that local people alone cannot manage the landscape where multiple actors have interests. Effective and sustainable landscape management requires mobilization of the migrant population; collaboration with multiple actors; use of information technology to share and learn; and importantly, long-term sustainable landscape planning with funding commitments from government, private sector and funding agencies. The need to consider multiple actors interests is also important if we are to avoid the more destructive elements that  economic policies can have on environmental and social issues.

In managing ecosystems local people hold the key to effective landscape management and healthy landscape resources (e.g., water, forests and land). Their participation is crucial to build long-term solutions and prevent potential conflicts over resources. In fact, environmental and social issues cannot be addressed without the informed participation of multiple actors, including local women, men and youths and their access to relevant information. In the Ing Watershed, youth demonstrated their ability to organize and disseminate information, which was a catalyst to establishing connections between local communities, broader civil society and government. The Ing Watershed experience shows that informed participation has ultimately benefited the landscape, resources, environment and people living in the area.  

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RECOFTC staff together with local community in Ban Boonreung

Read more on RECOFTC in the Ing Watershed:
https://www.recoftc.org/press-releases/civil-society-groups-gather-ing-watershed-forum-world-water-day

For Thai speakers

More on RECOFTC’s work in the Ing River can be found here:  https://www.recoftc.org/project/%E0%B9%82%E0%B8%84%E0%B8%A3%E0%B8%87%E0%B8%81%E0%B8%B2%E0%B8%A3%E0%B8%AD%E0%B8%99%E0%B8%B8%E0%B8%A3%E0%B8%B1%E0%B8%81%E0%B8%A9%E0%B9%8C%E0%B8%A5%E0%B8%B8%E0%B9%88%E0%B8%A1%E0%B8%99%E0%B9%89%E0%B8%B3%E0%B8%AD%E0%B8%B4%E0%B8%87

A video on the Ing River can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oj9L0AZPwxs

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by RECOFTC on October 24, 2017  •  Permalink
Posted in Commentary, Landscapes, RECOFTC activities

Posted by RECOFTC on October 24, 2017

https://recoftc.wordpress.com/2017/10/24/landscape-approach-lessons-from-the-ing-watershed-in-thailand/

Multi-stakeholder engagement for natural resources management: lessons from landscape restoration in Mae Chaem, Thailand shows that collaboration is key

— Lok Mani Sapkota, Atcharaporn Daisai, Warangkana Rattanarat & Martin Greijmans, RECOFTC

Forest landscape restoration (FLR)  offers a way to restore both degraded forests as well as the surrounding degraded landscape whilst offering socio-economic benefits to people in the wider area. The Mae Chaem model in Thailand is one real-life success story that shows that FLR can contribute to solving multiple problems in the landscape, and that multi-stakeholder collaboration is the key to success.

Mae Chaem 1

Mr.Sakda Maneewong, director of public participation at RFD’s Community Forest Management Bureau, explaining the Mae Chaem FLR site to RECOFTC.

The Mae Chaem model of FLR intended to address declining agricultural productivity, environmental pollution, and deforestation. Local and higher level government agencies, civil society organizations, academic and research institutions and private sector actors all worked together with local communities to understand the problems they are faced with and to identify and implement solutions. This multi-stakeholder approach of finding a shared understanding of the problems and implementing joint interventions has already provided a number of benefits to the Mae Chaem landscape, and beyond, in just two years.

The Mae Chaem model has offered multiple livelihood benefits for the debt-laden local community, who have suffered financial losses in their previous production systems. For example, 42 families in one community had debt of 18 million baht in total. In identifying the root problem, the Mae Chaem model provided the local community with financial flexibility by freezing and refinancing loans through partnerships with local and national financial institutions, for example Bank of Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives. Additionally, the model has facilitated an increase in incomes by helping local communities to gradually switch from unsustainable corn monocropping — which was reported to be in sharp decline in recent years due to the use of pesticides, soil erosion , and insufficient soil moisture to more sustainable options such as agroforestry and upland rice farming.  Furthermore, the organic rice now being produced can be consumed by local communities as well as sold at a premium in markets, unlike the corn which was used for cattle feed. With support from the private sector, local communities have been linked to markets for selling organic products , consequently minimizing the need for agricultural land for subsistence and allocating more land for forest restoration.

Mae Chaem 2

Landscape of Banthap village in Mae Chaem district. The area is mostly bare and is used for cultivation of corn after the onset of the monsoon.

In addition to strengthening food security and enhancing the livelihood of local communities, the Mae Chaem model offers environmental and social benefits. For instance, it forbids pesticide use and avoids the use of fire on agricultural land. While it may take years to see health benefits from reducing pesticide use, the cessation in the use of fire on agricultural land has already relieved tensions between local people and inhabitants of neighboring Chiang Mai — the source of this tension was haze and polluted air from burning off. Haze and air pollution have been successfully minimized through initiatives such as a policy of zero burning for 60 days during a period when the air flows from the Mae Chaem towards Chiang Mai.

Consequently, by making progress towards addressing one another’s land use and related concerns, trust among the  stakeholders involved in the Mae Chaem model has been strengthened. They have together divided land into three different categories and have developed strategies and plan to restore forests considering local communities’ need and degradation status of lands.  As part of that, in the first year they constructed terraces, build trench to retain water and planted multipurpose plant species on selected area they identified as degraded (shown on photo below). This increased trust has boosted confidence to scale up collaboration for the greater cause of restoring forested landscapes and improving local livelihoods through locally negotiated processes.

The Mae Chaem model, which is the first of its kind in Thailand, also pointed to issues and gaps that need to be addressed for scaling up and providing sustainable outcomes. Although central and provincial stakeholders were found to be supportive of the development and implementation of the model, stakeholders reported the need for more connected and flexible central government policy and harmonized working procedures among government agencies. Such flexibility and harmonization is needed to facilitate integrated planning and development, and for implementing tenure related agreements among stakeholders at the local level. Financial, technical and information resources need to be significantly increased given the large amount of ground work the stakeholders need to undertake and the capacity development required to move forward.

While it may take years to see whether, and to what extent, the Mae Chaem model of FLR will restore the degraded forest and its surrounding landscapes, the multi-stakeholder engagement that emerged in the process is encouraging. It emphasizes the necessity for local communities to have clear and secure rights to manage natural resources, as involving them in natural resource management decision-making contributes to ensuring their livelihoods are not endangered. Additionally, there is a need to create environments for local government authorities and other stakeholders to engage at the local level through supportive policy, laws and procedures. These aspects of the model are instrumental in encouraging local communities to move towards a more sustainable path of restoring the forested landscape and working with other stakeholders in managing the landscape.

Mae Chaem 3

Part of the Ban Thap landscape where land development has begun by planting multipurpose plant species, constructing terraces, and building trenches and conservation ponds for retaining water from rainfall.

Read more:

Forest landscape restoration for Asia-Pacific forests
https://www.recoftc.org/reports/forest-landscape-restoration-asia-pacific-forests

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by RECOFTC on September 5, 2017  •  Permalink
Posted in Commentary, Forest landscape restoration, RECOFTC activities

Posted by RECOFTC on September 5, 2017

https://recoftc.wordpress.com/2017/09/05/multi-stakeholder-engagement-for-natural-resources-management-lessons-from-landscape-restoration-in-mae-chaem-thailand-shows-that-collaboration-is-key/

To keep our coasts, coastal communities must benefit from sustainable enterprises

By David Ganz, Chandra Silori and Maung Maung Than

Three quarters of the world’s population living in coastal zones are in Asia[i]. These coastal communities are increasingly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, as a consequence of the dynamic economic growth being experienced in Asia that is driving a dramatic loss of biodiversity. Mangrove ecosystems – and the diversity of life they encompass – are critical for a healthy, safe and prosperous natural and social heritage. So how can mangroves be sustainably  managed, and what is the role of coastal communities themselves?   

Successfully tackling the challenges facing mangroves and coastal communities must be undertaken using a holistic approach. RECOFTC takes such an approach by testing, advocating and providing evidence of how community-based natural resource management can provide sustainable solutions for balancing human, social and economic well-being of coastal ecosystems. RECOFTC’s expertise on community forestry includes integrated coastal resource management, partnering with local communities and organizations like Mangroves for the Future (MFF).

Recently RECOFTC and partners had the privilege of awarding 18 Community Forestry certificates to 18 villages in Gwa township, Rakhine State, Myanmar. This was part of a three-year project funded by the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Myanmar to scale up community forestry in Myanmar. RECOFTC was accompanied by the Ambassador of Norway to Myanmar, Tonne Tines, Myanmar’s Deputy Director General of Forestry, U Kyaw Kyaw Lwin and the Country Director of The Nature Conservancy (and former Executive Director of RECOFTC), Tint Lwin Thaung. Just a month earlier, RECOFTC similarly had the honor of hosting the Ambassadors of Sweden and Switzerland, Staffan Herrström and Ivo Sieber, and a representative of the Norwegian Embassy, Chatri Moonstan, to visit the coastal communities of Pred Nai, Trat Province in eastern Thailand. These coastal communities have all benefited from over 20 years of support from RECOFTC and MFF.

CF Area location map , Gwa , Rakhine AKN

As a result of the Scaling Up Community Forestry in Myanmar (SuComFor) project, RECOFTC and partners awarded community forestry certificates to 18 local community villages in Gwa township, Rakhine State, Myanmar.

Over the years, RECOFTC has been fortunate to work with MFF and have come to learn and respect the challenges of mangrove restoration and coastal resource conservation. While MFF and RECOFTC continue to invest in local participatory approaches to integrated coastal management, we are often reminded of sustainability concerns of projects, policy reform and regional coastal management initiatives. For both of the sites that we visited in Myanmar and in Thailand, success can be tempered by the increasing need for additional resources, namely donor-led initiatives. Now more than ever, there is an increasing focus on sustainable community enterprise development.

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RECOFTC and partners continues to invest in local participatory approaches to integrated coastal management, but now more than ever there must be an increased focus on sustainable community enterprise development.

In Thailand, the communities of Ban Pred Nai and Ban Tha Ra Nae in Trat Province have begun to tap into the local eco-tourism market. While these communities have pursued grants to develop mangrove walkways through the community-managed coastal areas, they continue to seek outside support for their community-led conservation and development programs to restore large areas of heavily degraded mangrove forests and set up rules and procedures to effectively manage natural resources within the larger landscape. In order to bridge the gap, these communities are looking to learn from the Marriott-inspired turtle conservation program in Mao Khao Beach, where each tourist is asked to contribute to a development fund upon checking out of their resort. The same could be pursued with the communities of Ban Pred Nai and Ban Tha Ra Nae and several large resort enterprises that have started to work with youth as local eco-tourism guides to escort tourists through the community-managed coastal areas.

In Myanmar, the communities of Long Kyo, Gwa township, Rakhine State, are in a very precarious situation. Road building and encroachment continues to threaten coastal areas and in particular a rare form of mangroves that are stunted in their growth and resemble bonsai trees. Now that local communities have been awarded CF certificates, these communities are in a better position to address threats. There is an expectation that a sustainable tourism enterprise can bring in much-needed resources to maintain the coastal resources for future generations. Despite being supported by the Rakhine Coastal Regional Conservation Association, these communities need additional support for developing economic solutions and building local partnerships with other economic development interests to help protect the mangrove and coastal resources. These communities, which have developed 30-year forest management plans (a requirement to obtain their CF certificates), are now bolstered in their ability to negotiate with outside investors or to develop sustainable community-led small scale enterprise that values the forests, rivers, wetlands and coastal resources.

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The coasts of Gwa township, Myanmar, are home to a rare form of dwarf mangroves that  resemble bonsai trees.

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Now that communities have community forest certificates, local people are in a better position to participate in sustainable small scale enterprises as long as enabling conditions are met.

In each of these cases, the prevailing paradigm for RECOFTC and its partners is to promote integrated coastal management and private sector solutions which recognize that communities must have ownership the business and the businesses’ impact on their coastal resources. That is, these private sector solutions must have arrangements for communities to manage coastal resources that are built on a shared understanding between the community, local government and private sector.  There are a series of enabling factors that allow these critical elements of integrated coastal resource management to develop. These are:

  • The community has the capacity to make implementable decisions that reflect their objectives.
  • The community derives benefits from the integrated coastal resource management.
  • There are both an internal capability and external conditions for communities to make meaningful inputs into decisions on how coastal resources are to be managed.

Ultimately, these conditions must be met for sustainable community-led small scale enterprises to succeed. If outside investors are going to have entry points then they must focus on the community’s capacity to make decisions and give meaningful input into how eco-tourism or any other private sector solution is tested as a business case for sustainable community enterprise development. Organizations like RECOFTC and its regional partner MFF will continue to assist in these private sector solutions. While RECOFTC and its partners are well positioned to continue to build the community’s capacity to make these decisions and negotiate with the private sector, sooner or later, it will be very important for local institutions like the Rakhine Coastal Regional Conservation Association and the Good Governance for Social Development and the Environment Institute (GSEI) to step into this critical capacity building role.

For more information, see:

Embassy of Norway’s coverage of Scaling Up Community Forestry in Myanmar https://www.norway.no/en/myanmar/norway-myanmar/news-events/news2/scaling-up-community-forestry-in-myanmar/

Ambassador of Sweden Staffan Herrström’s blog on community forestry in Pred Nai, Thailand (in Swedish) https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1524082227604340&substory_index=0&id=120425627970014

RECOFTC’s country program in Myanmar https://www.recoftc.org/country/myanmar (in Myanmar-language)

RECOFTC’s award-winning video of Pred Nai communities in Thailand (in Thai and English) http://www.recoftc.org/videos/voices-forest-thailand

ScandAsia’s coverage of  Ambassador’s visit to Pred Nai, Thailand http://scandasia.com/swedish-representatives-visited-trat-mangrove-forest-restoration/

RECOFTC’s coverage of Ambassadors’ visit to Pred Nai, Thailand http://www.recoftc.org/press-releases/swedish-swiss-ambassadors-norwegian-embassy-visit-recoftc-field-project-prednai

[i] IUCN

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by RECOFTC on May 31, 2017  •  Permalink
Posted in Commentary, RECOFTC activities
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Posted by RECOFTC on May 31, 2017

https://recoftc.wordpress.com/2017/05/31/to-keep-our-coasts-coastal-communities-must-benefit-from-sustainable-enterprises/

Advancing the rights of local people: How REDD+ can continue to foster open and honest dialogues about natural assets to better manage forested landscapes

by Dr David Ganz, Executive Director, RECOFTC – The Center for People and Forests

22 April is Earth Day! To celebrate the occasion, RECOFTC Executive Director Dr David Ganz makes the case that now more than ever we must continue to work to empower local people to effectively engage in mechanisms like REDD+ and other forms of Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) to better manage their forested landscapes.

I am often asked where I stand on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation or REDD+. As RECOFTC’s new Executive Director, I am also asked where the organization stands on REDD+. For those who do not understand this issue, let me briefly explain.

In the early days of REDD+, advocates of community forestry viewed it as a new way to compensate forest users for the opportunity costs of foregoing deforestation and degradation and incentivize more “climate-friendly” livelihood options, such as sustainable small-scale forest enterprises and climate smart agriculture. Protecting rights, including livelihoods, became a major concern in REDD+ policy, e.g., as reflected in the ‘‘safeguards” adopted at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference of the Parties (COP16) in Cancun, Mexico in 2010.

However,  more than a decade after the REDD+ concept was proposed, direct payments to forest communities remain rare, while concerns about safeguarding livelihoods are increasing. The argument stands that while REDD+ has been very useful for changing the public discourse on conservation and the way national policy-makers view natural assets, the flow of investments, incentives and/or co-benefits has not made it down to the village level. Initially, REDD+ was viewed as a way to compensate actors for foregoing income-generating activities that involve deforestation and degradation. Therefore, we should have seen more smallholders and communities compensated for (or benefiting from) their opportunity costs of changing behavior and practices or development of other metrics that capture the co-benefits that REDD+ aspires to achieve.

While working with The Nature Conservancy, I had the chance to conduct research with Professor Kathleen Lawlor.  We analyzed the initial outcomes of REDD+ projects that systematically reported their socio-economic dimensions. We conjectured that REDD+ projects could affect local well-being by:

“(1) creating  (or  blocking)  material  opportunities  for  wealth  creation  and  well-being,  such  as  jobs, revenue streams, infrastructure, and improved educational conditions;

(2) enhancing  (or  weakening)  populations’  security,  including  tenure  security,  food  security, livelihood security, and adaptability to climate change; and

(3) facilitating  (or  preventing)  the  empowerment  of  individuals  and  communities  to  participate  in decisions affecting local land-use and development. “

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Eucalyptus felling in Srakaew, Thailand.

These are the underlying issues that face RECOFTC, which is committed to empowering local people to effectively engage in mechanisms like REDD+ and other forms of Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) to better manage their forested landscapes. While RECOFTC works on advancing the agenda for local people to have a strong voice in climate mitigation and adaptation, there is still a perception that the social and environmental safeguards are not yet aligned with REDD+, the Green Climate Fund and more broadly, green growth finance. This is far from the case. In my humble opinion, the timing is right for even more investment in climate mitigation, REDD+ and PES, especially from the private sector.

Like other sustainable forest management initiatives, REDD+ suffers from the inability to transform government organizations and institutions into having stronger governance structures, rules, regulations and enforcement. RECOFTC remains committed to working with both state and non-state actors on climate change mitigation through improved forest conditions and improved forest governance. We have, and must, continue to remain active on issues like REDD+,  and now with donor support, we are working closely with Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) Voluntary Partnership Agreements and these government-led dialogues to hear and incorporate “local voices” for more equitable decision-making processes that strengthen forest governance in the region.

Ahleichaung CF Rakhine explaining iron wood management3

Local community members in Ahleichaung community forest in Rakine, Myanmar discuss iron wood management.

Lastly, RECOFTC also must view its engagement with REDD+ with a “no regrets” mindset — just as many countries and donors have begun to do.  Overall, the investments into these approaches and initiatives  are helping to transform the forestry sector into one that takes into account the intersection with agriculture and other land uses — a more holistic landscape approach for the Agriculture Forestry and Land Use sector. REDD+ investments have been instrumental for forestry to take on this larger perspective, as well as to update and upgrade critical infrastructure like National Forest Monitoring Systems or set up National Spatial Data Infrastructure for initiatives like One Map in Indonesia and Myanmar. In many REDD+ countries, this investment has led to the development of robust, repeatable forested landscape inventories, sometimes including ancestral rights and land tenure systems. These investments have helped create open, honest dialogue about a country’s natural assets, how they are managed and, more importantly, how local rights are allocated and/or strengthened.

Now, when people ask me whether I believe we should continue working on REDD+ and FLEGT, I can honestly answer, “Yes I do…. as it can continue to foster the spirit of community engagement in forest governance and management”.

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by RECOFTC on April 21, 2017  •  Permalink
Posted in Commentary, FLEGT, RECOFTC activities, REDD
Tagged , ,

Posted by RECOFTC on April 21, 2017

https://recoftc.wordpress.com/2017/04/21/advancing-the-rights-of-local-people-how-redd-can-continue-to-foster-open-and-honest-dialogues-about-natural-assets-to-better-manage-forested-landscapes/

To what extent has women’s rights to access and control over forest resources been recognized and addressed in forest policies and laws in Asia and the Pacific?

By Ratchada Arpornsilp, Country Program Coordination Officer, RECOFTC

Gender report coverInternational Women’s Day is 8 March. This year RECOFTC is launching the new report ‘Mainstreaming gender into forest policies in Asia and the Pacific’ which was developed as a part of the regional initiative of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations’ Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific. It aims to shed light on how gender perspectives are being integrated or mainstreamed in the forest policies of eight countries – Nepal, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Fiji, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. The report and policy briefs for each of the eight countries included in the study are available at http://www.recoftc.org/reports/mainstreaming-gender-forest-policies-asia-and-pacific

While countries in Asia and the Pacific have made progress on gender equality and women’s empowerment, women’s participation and representation in forest management structures and decision-making process still have a way to go. RECOFTC’s new report asks: to what extent has women’s rights to access and control over forest resources been recognized and addressed in forest policies and laws?

All of the studied countries are signatory to key international instruments that promote women’s rights – the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, the UN’s Millennium Development Goals and the UN’s Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People (UNDRIP). Fiji is the only country that has not signed UNDRIP. While a number of national efforts have been developed in each country, with regards to gender concerns in forest policies, the key findings from the report are as follows:

  • Cambodia – The Forestry Law provides a legal framework for the involvement of user-groups in forest management and protection but different needs, priorities, capacities and customary practices of women and men have not been recognized. Although the Sub-decree on Community Forestry (CF) Management encourages women’s participation in CF Management Committees, no specific quota is guaranteed.
  • Fiji – Inclusion of women in the Forest Decree and National Forest Policy Statement is unclear due to an absence of gender-specific guidelines to enhance women’s participation and representation in forestry.
  • Indonesia – The President Instruction in 2000 instructs all government agencies to mainstream gender throughout the development process of policies and programs. But it is far from being adopted in any specific forestry regulations or laws.
  • Nepal –Nepal commenced to acknowledge women’s inclusion in community forestry in its Master Plan for the Forest Sector, forest law and regulation. A Gender and Social Inclusion Strategy and associated monitoring framework were developed, following by an amendment of CF Guidelines which mandate the composition of 50% women represented in CF Users’ Groups executive committees.
  • The Philippines – The National forest strategy and the Indigenous People’s Rights Act are people-oriented and have recognized the rights of people living in forest lands, ensuring access to forest resources for forest-dependent communities, including women. The Community-based Forest Management strategy mandates 30% representation of women in its committees.
  • Sri Lanka – The Forest Sector Master Plan emphasizes the empowerment of people and rural communities to manage and protect forests for multiple uses, but has no specific recognition of gender differences. The Forest Department so far has no gender strategy to facilitate women’s inclusion in forestry planning and interventions.
  • Thailand – Recognition of women’s rights, participation and representation, as well as gender differences, in forest management and decision-making remains absent in laws governing forest protection and management. In implementing some of these laws, such as the National Parks Act, women’s subsistence and income generation are hindered with the denial of access to forest resources.
  • Viet Nam – The Law on Forest Protection and Development provides equal land rights to men and women and the National Forest Strategy acknowledges the need for promoting a gender focal point unit, gender-sensitive research and capacity development of forestry officials.

In general, the report considers Nepal and the Philippines to be relatively progressive. Nonetheless, all countries still face common challenges, including 1) lack of legal framework or implementation gaps if the laws have already incorporated gender considerations; 2) lack of evidence-based research on gender and gender-disaggregated data in forestry; 3) limited technical expertise and resource availability for effective implementation and advocacy; 4) imbalanced representation of gender in leadership and decision-making positions; 5) deep-rooted gendered norms and cultural prejudices that reinforce male domination in forestry activities.

These challenges seem to always be present and there is nothing new about them. The assessment simply unpacks and supports them with more evidence. It is time to implement some practical steps to move forward. Recommendations include:

  • Hold national and sub-national consultations and dialogues to discuss and keep abreast of the issues and gaps in existing policies and practices as well as facilitate multi-stakeholder exchanges and platforms for advocacy.
  • Knowledge generation and understanding on gender rights, roles and responsibilities among forestry officials and communities.
  • Gender working groups and women’s representation with clear functions and obligations to raise women’s leadership roles and participation in decision-making.
  • Gender-sensitive monitoring and evaluation systems to develop gender-disaggregated data necessary for policy planning and implementation.
  • Gender-responsive budgets that provide specific budget allocation for gender relevant activities.

It is important to note that gender mainstreaming is not an end in itself but a process toward gender equality. One small action from each of us can aggregately make a difference. RECOFTC strongly believes that women’s empowerment is a key component of sustainable forest management. Thus in collaboration with its partners, RECOFTC continues working to strengthen social and gender equity in all aspects of community forestry.

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by RECOFTC on March 3, 2015  •  Permalink
Posted in Commentary, RECOFTC activities

Posted by RECOFTC on March 3, 2015

https://recoftc.wordpress.com/2015/03/03/to-what-extent-has-womens-rights-to-access-and-control-over-forest-resources-been-recognized-and-addressed-in-forest-policies-and-laws-in-asia-and-the-pacific/

Forestry officials in Lao PDR take on new teak plantation management practices

Evan Gershkovich, Associate Communications Officer, provides an update on ForInfo activities in northern Lao PDR.

Houay Xai, Bokeo province, Lao PDR – In northern Lao PDR, RECOFTC’s ForInfo project is conducting trainings for local forestry officials. By introducing them to new technologies for better surveying practices of teak plantations, the project hopes to ultimately increase local peoples’ livelihoods.

“Our staff has really learned how to better conduct teak plantation management. We are sharing this knowledge with district authorities, and have even trained district staff on these new skills,” said Khame Phalakone, Director of Provincial Agriculture and Forestry Office of Bokeo (PAFO), who has been working with RECOFTC since the introduction of the ForInfo project in 2011.

Before the project, PAFO staff would calculate teak plantation areas by the number of teak trees that were planted, essentially an estimate. That is, if 10,000 seedlings were given to a farmer in one year, for example, PAFO would record that it had planted a certain number of hectares of land that year. But 10 years later, PAFO would not be able to know if the 10 or 20 hectares all still contained teak trees – the farmer might have harvested the teak trees and planted rice instead.

Since, ForInfo project staff has supported the implementation of government-sponsored teak management certificates. The certificates give farmers temporary user-rights to their land for the duration of utilization, and ultimately, ForInfo intends the certificates to serve as loan collateral based on a plantation’s current market value and commercial volume for financial institutions so that farmers do not have to harvest their teaks before they reach commercially viable sizes.

“Before farmers had this certificate, they only had memory of their land – they didn’t know the volume of the trees they had because they didn’t do surveys,” said Mr. Phalakone. RECOFTC staff trained PAFO and the District Agriculture and Forestry Office of Bokeo (DAFO) in the use of tools like global positioning software (GPS) and open-source mapping software (QGIS), and have taught the staff how to conduct on-site plantation registration surveys, forest inventories, and issue plantation certificates.

The provincial and district officials are now better able to manage the teak plantations, the farmers who operate them, and the contractors who purchase the teak timber. In the process, the officials have also gained a much better understanding of the existing teak resources and the quality of teak available in the province.

“Improving the capacities of the local officials is essential for the success of ForInfo,” said Fabian Noeske, ForInfo’s Technical Advisor. “They are learning how to manage these methodologies on their own, making the future of the project sustainable.”

The improvement of the agriculture and forestry officials’ capacities will be essential in the coming years. Although establishment of new teak plantations has stagnated recently because of other land-use options, one of the main alternative options, rubber, has been on the decline. While rubber prices are falling rapidly, and its market deteriorating, global teak prices have been on a constant rise, and its use as timber is increasing in popularity.

“With improved teak management practices, smallholders in northern Lao PDR will be able to access the growing teak markets, and will gain increased financial diversification, as well as the security of long-term savings” said Mr. Noeske.

Through better management of teak resources, smallholders will be able to improve their financial future.

About ForInfo

Since 2011, RECOFTC, with funding from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland, has been working on the ForInfo project, which aims to provide local people with better access to markets for forest products and environmental services through clearer and more accurate information about their forest resources. In Houay Xai, Bokeo province, Lao PDR, one of ForInfo’s 8 sites in 4 countries of the Lower Mekong region: Cambodia, Lao PDR, Thailand, and Vietnam, ForInfo has been working to improve community livelihoods and create access to markets from teak cultivation based on sustainable forest management principles.

Stay Connected to ForInfo

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by RECOFTC on August 7, 2014  •  Permalink
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Posted by RECOFTC on August 7, 2014

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“The Forest is Our Supermarket…and We Don’t Need Money”

RECOFTC’s first Executive Study Tour on food security brings up questions on need, greed and forest creed.

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Organic rice field at Huai Hin Dam.

With the steep rise in global food prices pinching millions of poor rural households, families are becoming more dependent on natural resources for their sustenance. RECOFTC –The Center for People and Forests, has been working with local communities living in and around forests in the Asia-Pacific region for 25 years, trying to understand the challenges and solutions for improving their lives through community forestry.

On October 12, 2012, RECOFTC organized its first Executive Study Tour on “Forest and Food Security” for 11 senior government and civil society professionals from four countries in the region. The group visited the ethnic minority Thai Karen village of Ban Huai Hin Dam, some three hours  west of Bangkok, and spent the day listening to their story of settlement as refugees 200 years ago, the threat that led to the formation of their community forest in 1995, and what it means for their way of life today.

In a materialistic world, it’s important to remind ourselves that there are also people who regard money as meaningless when life depends on the preservation and skillful use of natural resources. It’s a powerful message that resonated throughout the presentations made in the morning, the lunch served from forest products, and the walk through an organic farm and agro-forest plantation in the afternoon.

Regenerating the forest…and their lives

Tracing the story of the community forest on a hand drawn map, the Village Head Mr. Joe Kueng Ba Ngamying  recounts how a logging concession from 1974-89 led to the loss of farming land for the community and destroyed the forests and watersheds, leading to drought, loss of sustenance and great distress for the community. Continued encroachment of the open land even after the concession ended in 1989, brought the community, now 567 strong, together to preserve their environment and their way of life. With support from NGOs, the community forest committee was formed in 1995, boundaries were demarcated, and regulations for the joint and sustainable use of natural resources were put in place.

RECOFTC has been active in the area since 2000, helping the community sustainably manage and monitor utilization of their forest resources through a project called “The Thailand Collaborative Country Support Program” until 2008. Action research on Bamboo monitoring and planning for the community forest was completed by 2004, after which RECOFTC acted as a facilitator for boundary demarcation and resource management. Two years later, RECOFTC included Ban Huai Hin Dam in its youth-focused “Strengthening Young Seedlings Network: Youth Capacity Building for Sustainable Natural Resource Management,” project under which capacity building work still continues.

Today, life has improved visibly for the community: “We get clothes, food, medicine and shelter from the forest,” says Mr. Noei Aimchan, Chairman of Community Forest Committees of Ban Huai Hin Dam. “The forest is our supermarket. When you go to the supermarket, you need money. We don’t need money but we need to educate people how to use the forest.”

Huai Hin Dam Spirit House.

A Spirit House at the Huai Hin Dam.

Mr. Kwai Ngamying, the local wise man and advisor to the community forest committees, describes a way of life based on inversing the consumerism of the West: “In the West we believe that forests belong to people, but in the East we believe people belong to the forest.” It’s a telling difference fortified by reverence and rituals that have sustained the community for decades. Rituals that include meditating in the forest to know oneself, planting food as offerings for other living creatures and testing one’s wisdom by navigating a maze through the forest during a festive season.

18 years to build trust

To avoid conflict, the community has divided the forestland into zones for growing food, conserving wildlife and plant species, and for human habitation. The creation of a Pu Toei National Park in 1997 presented some problems as it encompassed an area traditionally used by the community for sustainable rotational agriculture. As we walked in that area admiring the abundant vegetables, fruit and grain crops, a committee member explains that trees are felled in a particular way to level a field for planting so that the stumps stay alive and can regenerate when the land is lying fallow. “We had to prove that we could conserve the forest and even improve it with our cultivation methods,” he says, “before the National Park authorities would agree to let us use it. It took 18 years for us to build the trust but we have a good understanding today.”

Through organic farming, the community has ensured a bumper crop of papayas, potatoes, eggplants and bananas and a particular variety of organic rice that is not available in the market. They deliberately  introduce different species on residential and forestland  to enrich the forest ecosystem and diversify the biosphere.  “We don’t use any chemicals here because we make our own organic fertilizer from rice husk and dung,” explains Mr. Kwai Ngamying, as we walk around a compost heap to examine the bark of a medicinal tree. “It’s quite strange, but if you have these leaves when you are sick, you get well. But if you have them when you are well, you may die,” he says, giving us an example of the forest lore which sustains communities even if it seems contradictory to outsiders.

Traditional medicine thrives in the many residential gardens which function as pharmacies, providing a range of remedies for common ailments. Delegates were offered a bitter brew made from forest herbs but many give up after the first few sips from their bamboo cups. I can vouch for the powerful cleansing properties of that drink however, after 24 hours.

Food Security Insurance: A rice bank

Being the basis of nutrition, a rice bank has been established in a small wooden hut opposite the community hall.  Under a barter system, a family may borrow up to 20 buckets (1 bucket = 15 kg.) of rice, but must replace it with 10% interest by the next season. The community also reserves a percentage of their collective cash for the poorest families, ensuring that the food security of all is preserved.

Some of the women community members at Huai Hin Dam.

The women of the community make their own important contribution to livelihood activities. Mrs. Lamyai Kongkae, the head of a women’s group from a neighboring village is here today to learn from the study tour discussions. Like the other women in the village, she is attired in a beautiful hand woven sarong and blouse that would not look out of place around the best addresses in town. Young girls are dressed in white by contrast, to signify purity. Pastel pinks, dusky browns, blues and red, the women look splendid in their ethnic creations. A selection of table runners, scarves, bags and other items woven by the women using natural dyes and the finest cotton are on sale.

The delegates buy presents for family members back home and suggest the women take up the activity on a commercial basis. This startles them as they are used to producing and harvesting only enough for their needs. It is what differentiates them from the consumer culture prevalent outside these communities.  The villagers don’t see a particular value in acquiring more than they need. As one of them points out:  “First you own the land, but later, you become the land.”  Trying to instill these creeds in a younger generation is more challenging they say, because development paradigms from the west are impacting their ancient belief systems. As the youth leader says, “In the west you protect forests with fences, here we protect them with love.”

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by RECOFTC on October 26, 2012  •  Permalink
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Posted by RECOFTC on October 26, 2012

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Community Leaders Attend RECOFTC’s Silver Jubilee in Indonesia

RECOFC’s Silver Jubilee celebration in Indonesia was organized on 20 September 2012 in Jakarta. The event was attended by 30 participants representing government officials from the Ministry of Forestry, donor agencies, NGO partners, and community leader representatives.

Guests participated in the celebration of RECOFTC’s Silver Jubilee.

Indonesia is a key country for RECOFTC given the wealth of its forest resources and the millions of local people who depend on them for their subsistence. Despite the commitment of the central government to boost community forest development, lack of capacity at provincial and district levels has hampered progress to date. The process of acquiring official permits for community forests remain slow due to complicated procedures and bureaucracy, not to mention the lack of support provided to community forest proponents. Reversing this power equation and “Putting the Last First,” as recommended by Robert Chambers in his publication of that name, should be the norm for local government units.

These were some of the candid reflections at a panel discussion held in Jakarta on 20 September, 2012, to mark the 25th Silver Jubilee of RECOFTC – The Center for People and Forests. The panelists were Mr. Subhan, a prominent community leader from Labbo Forest Village, Bantaeng district, South Sulawesi, and one of the first officially recognized village forests in Indonesia; representing the government was Mr. Haryadi Himawan, Director of Land Rehabilitation and Social Forestry at the Ministry of Forestry; and Mr. Kusworo, from Flora and Fauna International, who was the civil society representative.

The participants credited the strong commitment and collaboration amongst the villagers of Labbo, RECOFTC, the district government, and the University of Hasannuddin, as key to the successful realization of the first Village Forest. Legal recognition and the ensuing security have already resulted in better management of forest resources and improved livelihoods – in one study, the income from coffee has increased some 50%.

However, the slow follow up in recognizing other Forest Villages has caused concern. RECOFTC’s field and capacity building work, particularly with the Center for Forestry Education and Training (CFET), Bogor, Indonesia was seen as both relevant and warmly appreciated in this context by Dr. Agus Justianto, head of the organization. Indeed, RECOFTC has had an active training program in Indonesia for over 14 years and recently renewed its MoU with the Government to widen and deepen its support for the community forestry movement.

The event was attended by 30 participants representing government officials from Ministry of Forestry, donor agencies, NGO partners and representatives from communities. The informal gathering provided a good opportunity for networking and a better understanding of RECOFTC’s activities in Indonesia with the scope for widening collaborations in the near future.

Please click here for more information on our Silver Jubilee.

Please click here to be directed to our Indonesia country program page.

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by RECOFTC on September 25, 2012  •  Permalink
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Posted by RECOFTC on September 25, 2012

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