Adaptive collaborative management of community forests in Asia ...

Chapter 6: Facilitating Change from the Inside in the Philippines • 181
Several other positive outcomes resulted from the successful resolution of
the boundary dispute. First, cooperative members learned about the Bataks’
indigenous knowledge, specifically on resin extraction and medicinal herbs
growing in the forset. Second, the cooperative became more willing to
engage the Bataks in skill-building activities. It invited several Bataks to
participate in the handicraft and nursery establishment trainings that were
organised for the cooperative by assisting agencies. Lastly, the two POs
made coordinated efforts to control illegal activities, such as illegal timber
cutting and almaciga extraction, and report them to the appropriate state
agencies.
The joint learning and action within the group and with participating
stakeholders contributed to the success of the dispute settlement. Members
learned by reflecting on their actions, and learning was immediately
transformed into collective action (the survey, the dialogue) that engaged
different stakeholders. Members also gained insights into the Bataks’
conception of boundaries and their livelihood problems. By accepting
the Bataks’ different conceptualisation of space, new opportunities for
partnerships in almaciga trading emerged for both POs. Another outcome
was the significantly improved levels of trust and engagement between the
cooperative and the Bataks.
Communication through newsletters and bulletin boards
The low level of community participation in forest management was another
priority issue in the Palawan site. The action learning group attributed
the problem to villagers’ unmet expectations for economic benefits from
community forestry and lack of information about the PO’s activities and
achievements. The group realised that the lack of benefits had discouraged
their members from participating in community forest activities and
investing in forest management and decided to improve information and
communication 9 .
Its first strategy was to produce a newsletter, called Balangaw. The first
issue was produced by two members of the board of directors with the
help of the ACM team. The PO members and the local government who
received this newsletter responded positively, finding it informative, with a
clear statement of the PO’s vision, mission, objectives and recent activities.
Encouraged, the group decided to produce the newsletters regularly and
established an editorial team of three women and four men. Realising that