Forests Sourcebook - HCV Resource Network

Box 1.19
Characteristics of Secure Community Tenure
Security of community tenure encompasses a number
of characteristics:
1. Requires that there is clarity as to what the rights are.
Confusion about one’s rights can significantly
undermine the effectiveness and enthusiasm with
which rights are exercised.
2. Requires certainty that rights cannot be taken away or
changed unilaterally and unfairly. In almost any situation,
of course, there are circumstances where it
may be appropriate for rights to be taken away or
diminished, but conditions for doing so need to be
fair and clearly spelled out, the procedures fair and
transparent, and compensation addressed.
3. Is enhanced if the duration of rights is either in perpetuity
or for a clearly spelled-out period that is long
enough for the benefits of participation to be fully
realized. If rights are to be in force only
temporarily—as in some comanagement arrangements
or community forestry leases—care should
be taken to ensure that agreements are at least as
long as is realistically required to reap the appropriate
degree of benefits.
4. Means that rights need to be enforceable against the
state (including local government institutions)—
that is, the legal system has to recognize an obligation
of the state to respect those rights.
5. Requires that the rights be exclusive. The holders of
rights need to be able to exclude outsiders or control
the access of outsiders to the resource over which
they have “rights.” A corollary to exclusivity is that
there must be certainty both about the boundaries
of the resources to which rights apply and about
who is entitled to claim group membership. A second
corollary to exclusivity where comanagement
concerns government land is that the government
entity entering into the agreement must have clear
authority to do so, authority that the responsible
entity is empowered to fulfill.
6. Requires that the law recognizes the holder of the
rights. The law should provide a way for the holder
of the rights to acquire a legal personality, with the
capacity to apply for credits and subsidies, enter
into contracts with outsiders, collect fees, and so
forth.
7. Requires accessible, affordable, and fair avenues for
seeking protection of the rights, for solving disputes,
and for appealing decisions of government officials.
Source: Lindsay 1998.
Box 1.20
Examples of Potentially Pro-Poor Approaches to Tenure Reform in Forests
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Overarching forest sector reform programs
(Uganda, Ghana, Guyana, and South Africa)
Titling of indigenous territories in Latin America
and the Philippines
Collectively managed community forests in Latin
America—from extractive reserves to social
forestry, to ejidos (Brazil, Guatemala, and Mexico)
Recognition of community rights in Africa (The
Gambia and Tanzania)
Devolution of state and collectively owned forests to
individual households (China and Vietnam)
Joint forest management and collaborative management,
where communities are given greater control
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over degraded resources, with the purpose of rehabilitating
the resource (Cambodia, India, and
Nepal)
Decentralization of some decision making over
forests (Indonesia) opening political spaces for local
communities
Some ethnic minority control over forests through
peace negotiations (Myanmar, the Philippines, and
Northeast India)
Outgrower schemes where large-scale plantations
have become politically untenable (Indonesia and
South Africa)
Comanagement in protected areas
Source: D. Kaimowitz, personal communication, in Hobley 2005.
NOTE 1.4: PROPERTY AND ACCESS RIGHTS 53