Adaptive collaborative management of community forests in Asia ...

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198 • Herlina Hartanto of the intracommunity relations is crucial for DENR staff in developing the POs into cohesive and durable institutions. Lack of incentives for people’s organisations Economic incentives encourage communities to participate (Gilmour and Fisher 1997), and without them, it will be difficult to maintain interest in forest management, especially where people are struggling with poverty. One resident of Barangay Basac said, ‘It is difficult to think about longterm benefits coming to us in the next five years when today we are hungry and have nothing to eat tomorrow; it is more difficult to think about the future generation when today you can hardly feed your children’. Several POs had DENR reforestation contracts that provided economic incentives for their members, but once the rehabilitation work ended, the incentives disappeared. Extractive activities were usually limited to small volumes of nontimber forest products, such as rattan, bamboo, resin, honey, or dead wood; this was the case for the PO in the Palawan site. Forest resources may be sufficient to provide economic incentives to the POs for a certain period of time, but in general, their tenurial areas are of marginal economic importance. As Li (2002) points out, the upland communities of the Philippines were given management rights over state forestland only after the most profitable opportunity—timber extraction— had run its course and the elites had found better investments elsewhere. DENR views nonforest income-generating activities as viable alternatives for meeting the POs’ needs and in controlling people’s dependency on forest resources. The agency therefore supports ‘pump-priming’ activities to generate financial capital that the POs can invest in nonforest incomegenerating activities. Unfortunately, these enterprises have often failed, the POs cannot provide much-needed income for their members, and interest and participation wane. Although DENR has no mandate for POs’ economic development, because forest resource management is intertwined with livelihood, it cannot ignore the importance of addressing the economic needs of PO members. By proactively approaching the organisations that do have the resources and the mandate to provide economic assistance, DENR may be able to channel resources to the POs. During the ACM project in Bukidnon, a drug manufacturer considered establishing partnerships with the PO because it needed agricultural areas to grow herbs. DENR could offer incentives for
Chapter 6: Facilitating Change from the Inside in the Philippines • 199 private companies to engage in such partnerships with the POs and help rural communities reach fair benefit-sharing agreements. Limitations of ACM The case studies presented in this chapter show that ACM can strengthen the implementation of community-based forest management. Many positive outcomes were observed in the two research sites. The ACM concept and processes, however, are not without limitations and drawbacks. The application of ACM is limited by the willingness of stakeholders to discuss, negotiate and work together towards their common goals. Where they are not willing to resolve their conflicts, ACM cannot operate effectively or produce positive outcomes. In deadlock situations, it may be necessary to wait for a change of leadership and see whether the new leader is more willing to collaborate. Furthermore, because the strength of ACM lies in its ability to deal with complexities and uncertainties, stakeholders must be willing to engage in an extensive process of learning and iteration before the ‘best solution’ can be identified. Thus ACM may not be the appropriate process in situations where the problems are simple and the appropriate solutions have been tried out and proven effective elsewhere. The main challenge that the ACM facilitators faced in the Philippines was the limited duration of the project. Different people learn at different paces. Although positive outcomes were observable during the project, ACM processes need to be internalised by the local stakeholders. Success in both sites hinged on the facilitation skills of outsiders—the ACM team—whose presence was temporary. Although the necessary attitude, knowledge and skills can be developed, local facilitators would have to take off their institutional ‘hats’ to prevent a conflict of interest (real or perceived) from hampering their effectiveness. The implementation of ACM has not resulted in policy change or ideological shift in the Philippines. Although community forestry in the Philippines is highly regarded in Asia, continuing state control is reflected in community forestry policies and implementation. Because such fundamental problems could not be solved by the ACM project, the team attempted to increase policy makers’ awareness of them. The team established a national steering committee of key policy makers and prominent players in community forestry and at periodic meetings described the challenges faced by local
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Adaptive Collaborative Management o
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Copyright © 2007 by Center for Int
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iv • Contents Chapter 5. Muddling
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vi • Foreword problem solving. Th
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viii • About the Contributors God
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Acknowledgements In early 1999, two
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Chapter 1. Introduction: People, Fo
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Chapter 1: Introduction: People, Fo
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Chapter 2: Adaptive Collaborative M
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Chapter 3: Adaptiveness and Collabo
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Chapter 4: Improving Forest Quality
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