Adaptive collaborative management of community forests in Asia ...

Chapter 7: Discussion and Conclusions • 217
the timeframe of the research prevents us from seeing significant outcomes,
the positive changes in social and human capital did begin to stir changes
in the more tangible, economic aspects.
In none of the case studies did natural, physical or financial capitals suffer
as a result of the adoption of an ACM approach. This is not to say that
some groups did not profit more than others: the relatively high transaction
costs of a learning and collaboration approach seemed to favour richer
members of local communities over poorer ones in Indonesia, although the
explicit equity focus in Nepal may have countered this tendency slightly,
with poorer members doing relatively better.
As expected, no major changes in forest condition were observed. There
were, however, signs of increased local efforts to increase value or condition
of the forest system across the sites. One was intensified efforts to enhance
the subsistence or commercial value of forests by planting bamboo, fruit
trees, timber species, rubber trees or traditional herbals. In the Philippines,
a direct investment in natural capital was the planting of herbal and
medicinal gardens in Basac (and concomitant improvement to livelihoods,
if not to financial capital), and in all three countries these efforts led to
reductions in illegal extraction of forest products.
In all Nepal sites there has been a decrease in infraction of CFUG rules,
including by elite members.
Unclear boundaries are an important problem because ‘open access’
encourages behaviours that lead to overexploitation and the tragedy of
the commons. In all the case studies, much was done to resolve boundary
disputes. Although the inventories necessary to determine the effects were
not or could not be carried out, there are good grounds to assume that an
improvement in natural and possibly physical resources would follow.
Furthermore, in some Nepal and Philippines sites, the self-monitoring
processes appeared to heighten awareness of forest conditions and thus
motivate people to manage the land sustainably; groups at several sites
developed or expanded nurseries for reforestation 7 , made changes in
silviculture, or rewrote the rules about use. In Palawan, new rules governed
the exploitation of almaciga resin and cutting of immature trees. In Nepal,
rules on the cutting of green trees for fuelwood were enacted despite
their cost to the community today. These are clear investments in natural
capital.