Adaptive collaborative management of community forests in Asia ...
Adaptive collaborative management of community forests in Asia ...
Adaptive collaborative management of community forests in Asia ...
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198 • Herl<strong>in</strong>a Hartanto<br />
<strong>of</strong> the <strong>in</strong>tra<strong>community</strong> relations is crucial for DENR staff <strong>in</strong> develop<strong>in</strong>g the<br />
POs <strong>in</strong>to cohesive and durable <strong>in</strong>stitutions.<br />
Lack <strong>of</strong> <strong>in</strong>centives for people’s organisations<br />
Economic <strong>in</strong>centives encourage communities to participate (Gilmour and<br />
Fisher 1997), and without them, it will be difficult to ma<strong>in</strong>ta<strong>in</strong> <strong>in</strong>terest <strong>in</strong><br />
forest <strong>management</strong>, especially where people are struggl<strong>in</strong>g with poverty.<br />
One resident <strong>of</strong> Barangay Basac said, ‘It is difficult to th<strong>in</strong>k about longterm<br />
benefits com<strong>in</strong>g to us <strong>in</strong> the next five years when today we are hungry<br />
and have noth<strong>in</strong>g to eat tomorrow; it is more difficult to th<strong>in</strong>k about the<br />
future generation when today you can hardly feed your children’.<br />
Several POs had DENR reforestation contracts that provided economic<br />
<strong>in</strong>centives for their members, but once the rehabilitation work ended,<br />
the <strong>in</strong>centives disappeared. Extractive activities were usually limited to<br />
small volumes <strong>of</strong> nontimber forest products, such as rattan, bamboo, res<strong>in</strong>,<br />
honey, or dead wood; this was the case for the PO <strong>in</strong> the Palawan site.<br />
Forest resources may be sufficient to provide economic <strong>in</strong>centives to the<br />
POs for a certa<strong>in</strong> period <strong>of</strong> time, but <strong>in</strong> general, their tenurial areas are<br />
<strong>of</strong> marg<strong>in</strong>al economic importance. As Li (2002) po<strong>in</strong>ts out, the upland<br />
communities <strong>of</strong> the Philipp<strong>in</strong>es were given <strong>management</strong> rights over state<br />
forestland only after the most pr<strong>of</strong>itable opportunity—timber extraction—<br />
had run its course and the elites had found better <strong>in</strong>vestments elsewhere.<br />
DENR views nonforest <strong>in</strong>come-generat<strong>in</strong>g activities as viable alternatives<br />
for meet<strong>in</strong>g the POs’ needs and <strong>in</strong> controll<strong>in</strong>g people’s dependency on<br />
forest resources. The agency therefore supports ‘pump-prim<strong>in</strong>g’ activities<br />
to generate f<strong>in</strong>ancial capital that the POs can <strong>in</strong>vest <strong>in</strong> nonforest <strong>in</strong>comegenerat<strong>in</strong>g<br />
activities. Unfortunately, these enterprises have <strong>of</strong>ten failed, the<br />
POs cannot provide much-needed <strong>in</strong>come for their members, and <strong>in</strong>terest<br />
and participation wane.<br />
Although DENR has no mandate for POs’ economic development, because<br />
forest resource <strong>management</strong> is <strong>in</strong>tertw<strong>in</strong>ed with livelihood, it cannot<br />
ignore the importance <strong>of</strong> address<strong>in</strong>g the economic needs <strong>of</strong> PO members.<br />
By proactively approach<strong>in</strong>g the organisations that do have the resources<br />
and the mandate to provide economic assistance, DENR may be able to<br />
channel resources to the POs. Dur<strong>in</strong>g the ACM project <strong>in</strong> Bukidnon, a drug<br />
manufacturer considered establish<strong>in</strong>g partnerships with the PO because it<br />
needed agricultural areas to grow herbs. DENR could <strong>of</strong>fer <strong>in</strong>centives for