Forests Sourcebook - HCV Resource Network

Box 1.5
Entry Points for Reassessing Poverty-Forest
Linkages: The Example of Indonesia
In testing the toolkit in Indonesia, key informant
interviews conducted in the capital revealed that
the entry points offered by the Ministry of Forests
and other national-level institutions were limited
for reassessing the relationship between forests
and the poor. Instead, other pathways were found.
Work was undertaken in one province at the district
and provincial levels, and a series of mini forest-focused
participatory poverty assessments
made their mark at lower levels. Commitment and
enthusiasm were generated, and, in due course,
provincial-level actors began to be able to drive
national-level change from below.
Source: PROFOR forthcoming b.
process, the main donors to the process, other important
players (civil society groups, NGOs, and so forth), and the
key documents that have been produced. These might
include household, rural, or living standard surveys; a
national census; or the drafting of an NFP. National-level
analysis makes it clear whether the efforts to measure
poverty-forest linkages can proceed with the support of the
forest ministry or those responsible for the PRS.
Gathering information at the village or community
level. After the national-level analysis has been completed,
the next step is to collect data to identify forest–household
use linkages at the local level. The results generated will be
used at both the district and field levels and at higher
(provincial and national) levels to underline the
contribution of forests and trees to the livelihoods of the
poor, and sometimes to highlight ways in which the
presence of anachronistic, anti-poor forest policies or laws
are an impediment to poverty reduction. The toolkit details
several tools for identifying users (and nonusers) of forest
resources, the level of dependency on and contribution of
forest and tree products, existing resources and products,
and key constraints of the existing system (see boxes 1.6
and 1.7).
Preparing and presenting data for different
audiences. Data gathered need to be analyzed and
prepared in different formats for presentation to district
and higher levels. Information should be presented in userfriendly
forms (for example, diagrams and charts) that
accurately represent what is occurring at the local level,
highlight essential livelihood information and critical
factors (such as access and tenure, markets, and status of
resources), and satisfy the needs of users of the data. The
information should be debated at the district level and
reframed, with the assistance of local officials, to fit with
district-to-national reporting requirements. District
officials’ views on the incorporation of forest contributions
to incomes into data-gathering systems should be written
up and submitted to the national-level body responsible for
collecting poverty data or to the forest ministry, or to both.
At the national level, this information is further streamlined
to fit with the formats needed for the PRSP process, the NFP
process, and others as relevant (see box 1.8). Furthermore,
many countries have found that disseminating a simple
guide to the results of the assessment makes a large
difference to the extent to which ideas are understood and
acted upon.
The progress a country has already made in drafting its
PRS and developing data-gathering and monitoring instruments
should inform the planning of analysis and data
gathering of poverty-forest linkages. If a country already has
data-gathering systems in place at the local level and collates
the data at the national level, the focus of the exercise will be
on linking forest and poverty data by, among other
processes, learning whether forest product contribution is
recorded and integrated into income and livelihood assessments
and, subsequently, discussing with the appropriate
bodies ways of inserting forest data into national poverty
data collection systems and poverty data into national forest
data collection systems. If, however, no such national datagathering
systems exist, the Toolkit outlines forest-focused
participatory poverty assessments to generate a nationallevel
picture of the contribution of forests to poverty
through “snapshots” from different forest contexts around
the country. The Toolkit further describes how to collate
collected data for discussion and planning purposes within
the PRS process.
LESSONS LEARNED AND RECOMMENDATIONS
FOR PRACTITIONERS
A participatory approach to measuring poverty could provide
more detailed information on the informal and formal
uses of forest resources. Informal uses are often overlooked
because they are not easily valued—but these uses reflect the
important role of forests as safety nets.
Without a comprehensive understanding of forest
dependency, policies and investments may discriminate
NOTE 1.1: MAINSTREAMING THE ROLE OF FORESTS IN POVERTY ALLEVIATION: MEASURING POVERTY-FOREST LINKAGES 27