Adaptive collaborative management of community forests in Asia ...

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6 • Robert Fisher, Ravi Prabhu and Cynthia McDougall the same time, empower weaker stakeholders within these processes (e.g., Wollenberg et al. 2001; Colfer et al. 1999). We make the assumption that better collaborative learning can lead to better and fairer forest management decisions, but this raises a serious question: Can collaborative learning really address direct conflicts of interest? Using empirical evidence, we explore this question further in subsequent chapters. In the research project we discuss here, we used the terms ‘adaptive collaborative management’ (ACM) and ‘adaptive comanagement’ to signify management that merges the principles of scientific adaptive management with collaborative management, as well as various principles of social learning and participatory approaches. The concepts, elements and roots of ACM are examined in Chapter 2 of this volume. The practice of ACM seeks to create better (more equitable and more sustainable) ways of helping the multiple interests involved in forest management make collaborative decisions. The assumption is that collaborative learning, involving various stakeholders, can lead to better and fairer management decisions. This book is based on the hypothesis that the provision of opportunities for collaborative learning, negotiation and planning, involving different actors, can contribute to better management of complexity and better negotiation between people with differing and competing objectives for forest management. It presents an analysis arising from the Adaptive Collaborative Management Research Project implemented by the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) in three countries in Asia. The Adaptive Collaborative Management Research Project The ACM Research Project tested several approaches for promoting, strengthening and institutionalising active and collaborative learning for forest management in Nepal, the Philippines and Indonesia. The project was hosted and led by CIFOR and was carried out in partnership with multiple national, district and local partners and researchers in the three countries between April 1999 and September 2002. It was part of a wider ACM programme 2 that carried out similar research in Africa, Latin America and Central Asia.
Chapter 1: Introduction: People, Forests and the Need for Adaptation • 7 The project attempted to answer three basic research questions: 1. Can an adaptive collaborative management approach be effectively catalysed and sustained in community forestry systems? If so, under what conditions is it needed and what factors and conditions affect its uptake, impacts and institutionalisation? 2. What strategies, processes, arrangements and tools can catalyse and sustain management and governance based in social learning and collaboration among diverse stakeholders? 3. What are the influences of an ACM approach on people and forests in community forestry systems, including effects on institutions, social capital, livelihoods and forest condition or value? In each country and each site, the three questions were nested among several other, more site- and stakeholder-specific questions. The project used action research because it makes little sense to study questions about collaboration, learning and improvement passively. ACM is a relatively new approach. Although closely related to other learningbased approaches to management (and explicitly based on a combination of collaborative management and adaptive management), ACM seeks to test a unique concept and identify, develop and test practical processes and tools for its application. Without taking specific action to introduce and facilitate local implementation of the approach and its supporting processes, we could not have critically assessed its utility. An initial problem was to identify a research methodology that would enable the project to combine action and rigorous observation and analysis of processes and outcomes. In fact, the ACM project used a mixture of methods, from conventional surveys through action research and participatory action research (PAR). Of the three, PAR was probably the most important and characterised much of the outcome of the three years of research. Action research consciously attempts to combine research with action. It can be thought of as a form of applied research. However, applied research typically separates research and application into distinct phases: the research is carried out and then applied (Fisher and Jackson 1999). In action research, the learning part (research) is carried out as part of the action: the action leads to learning, and the new learning informs future action steps. This process is generally thought of in terms of repeated cycles of planning, action, observation and reflection, leading to new
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Chapter 7: Discussion and Conclusio
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CIFOR is a leading international fo
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