Scope of Chapter: rationale for community based inventories

5272

Forest land in developing countries is increasingly being brought under community 5273

management under programmes such as Joint Forest Management, Community Based 5274

Forest Management, Collaborative Management, etc, more generally called Community 5275

Forest Management (CFM). This movement has been stimulated by the recognition in 5276

many countries that the Forest Department (FD), which is nominally responsible for 5277

management of state-owned forest, does not have the resources to carry out this task 5278

effectively. Rural people, whose livelihoods are supplemented by, or even dependent on, 5279

a variety of forest products such as firewood and fodder, foods and medicines, have the 5280

potential knowledge and human resources to provide effective management capacity to 5281

take care of the forest resources when the FD cannot. Whereas uncontrolled over-5282

exploitation by outsiders, or the communities themselves, will lead to degradation and 5283

loss of biomass, CFM establishes formal systems between communities and FDs in which 5284

communities have the right to controlled amounts of forest products from a given parcel 5285

of forest and in return agree to protect the forest and manage it collectively. Mostly 5286

these parcels are relatively small, from 25 to 500 hectares, being managed by groups of 5287

10 to 50 households. A number of countries have used CFM very effectively to reverse 5288

deforestation and degradation processes. In Nepal, for example, 25% of all forest land is 5289

now more or less sustainably managed by so-called ‗Forest User Groups‘. Similar 5290

processes of forest governance are found on a smaller scale in many other developing 5291

countries, e.g. Tanzania, Cameroon, India and Mexico to name a few examples.

5292

This chapter presents how CFM groups and societies can carry out forest inventories, in 5293

particular if there is any prospect of payment for environmental services which require 5294

reliable, detailed measurements. Carbon services under REDD are a prime example, if 5295

communities are engaged in forest inventory work and rewarded for improvements in 5296

stock with benefits in cash or kind. Moreover, if communities measure the carbon stock 5297

changes in the forests they manage, they may establish ‗ownership‘ of any carbon 5298

savings, to strengthen their stake in the REDD reward system and greatly increase 5299

transparency in the sub-national / intra-national governance of REDD finances.

5300

How the involvement of local communities in REDD will be achieved in individual 5301

countries is within the purview of the national government. Government philosophy, land 5302

ownership and tenure rights, competing claims on forest resources (e.g. commercial 5303

logging operations) all contribute to a variety of conditions that is untenable for a single 5304

solution. However, the requirements for large scale data collection in the field call for the 5305

meaningful involvement of local communities, if only to reduce the cost of the 5306

inventories.

5307 5308 5309 5310 5311 5312

Box 3.4.1: Community Forest Management practice in Cameroon 5313

5314

In spite of the role of central government and forest legislation in Cameroon it 5315

should be noted that social institutions at community level in forest areas are still 5316

strongly rooted in rights based on kinship and descent. These rights are of central 5317

relevance to the understanding of contemporary issues of land tenure, agriculture 5318

and natural resource management and eventually the REDD process.

5319

The state of Cameroon is the sole proprietor and manager of all forest resources.

5320

Nevertheless, in certain instances an agreement can be made between the state 5321

and a community or group of communities allowing them to manage the forest at 5322

their vicinity for their own benefit after the elaboration and acceptance of a 5323

management plan by the forest authorities. It is important to note that such a 5324

management convention neither grants the community property rights for the 5325

domain nor ownership rights for the forest resources. The ownership rights belong 5326

to the state and the benefits of the community are defined in the management 5327

plan.

5328

In stark contrast, land ownership in the traditional land tenure system is based on 5329

succession and inheritance rights that are tied with genealogical rights. Even 5330

though these traditional land tenure values are not covered by statutory laws, 5331

indigenes of forest communities adhere with incredible tenacity to these ―divine‖

5332

rights. In order to involve communities in the implementation of the REDD process 5333

and to guarantee the sharing of benefits, it is of utmost importance to address this 5334

issue. A functional system to include effective community based participation is one 5335

that recognises the state as the main officiating organisation for all REDD activities, 5336

which includes the state‘s requirement for community participation and the state‘s 5337

obligation to equitably share revenues with the communities.

5338

5339

Box 3.4.2: Community Forest Management in Ghana 5340

Until recently, legislative control in Ghana over land, particularly forest resources, 5341

was largely vested in the state, whilst custodial title to these resources remained in 5342

the stools, skin and families who hold the land in trust for their respective 5343

communities. In recognition of the role of local communities in sustainable 5344

management of land, the constitution of the Republic of Ghana has empowered and 5345

legalized the local communities through the District Assemblies in respect of the 5346

Local Government Act (Act 462) to actively court local communities, NGOs, civil 5347

society, etc. in the management and conservation of biodiversity. The process is 5348

being actively pursued through the Community Resource Management Area 5349

(CREMA) concept which seeks progressive devolution of power and management 5350

functions to local communities. Several projects and activities have been developed 5351

that have relevance to community involvement in REDD:

5352

• The GEF Small Grants Programme is supporting the Wildlife Division of the 5353

Forestry Commission to implement the CREMA concept by assisting local 5354

communities, NGOs and civil society, to manage wildlife and other natural 5355

resources in their own forests. This, in a way, is directly relevant to the REDD 5356

process as it will ensure sustained community ownership of the forest resources 5357

which ultimately will facilitate the data collection mechanisms for REDD activities.

5358

The GEF/SGP in Ghana has distinguished itself in assisting local communities to 5359

conserve biological diversity of forests outside the gazetted forest reserves, e.g. by 5360

creating buffer zones around sacred groves, rehabilitating degraded areas through 5361

enrichment planting and natural regeneration. To date about 200,000 ha of 5362

traditionally protected community forests have been conserved and new 5363

community natural resource management areas are being created and conserved.

5364

• The Geo-Information for Off-Reserve Tree Management in Goaso District 5365

(GORTMAN Project) was funded by Tropenbos International (TBI) as a collaborative 5366

research project among the University of Ghana, ITC (Netherlands), University of 5367

Freiburg (Germany), and the Resource Management and Support Centre of the 5368

Forestry Commission of Ghana (RSMC). This project built capacity in the Forestry 5369

Commission to manage large-scale data collection in basic forest properties by 5370

local communities, and to develop alternatives for tree felling in lands under control 5371

of the local chiefs.

5372

• The GEF-Funded Project ―Sustainable Land Management for Mitigating Land 5373

Degradation, Enhancing Agricultural Biodiversity and Reducing Poverty‖ (SLAM) in 5374

Ghana , and its successor the GEF-Funded United Nations University (UNU) project 5375

―People, Land Management and Environmental Change‖ (PLEC) also successfully 5376

adopted participatory approaches which sought community entry via similar 5377

methods in the major agro-ecological zones in Ghana. This included establishment 5378

of sampling plots with residents undertaking the more rudimentary aspects of field 5379

data collection, e.g. tree species, tree count, DBH including, in some instances 5380

integration of hand-held GPS. Additional data collected within the scope of projects 5381

included vital-socio-economic data.

5382

Whilst there are no deliberate carbon stock measurements, efforts are being made 5383

by NGOs and university and research institutions to involve local communities in 5384

participatory activities for field data collection. The capacity of participating 5385

communities has been enhanced through training programmes including the 5386

Darwin programmes (UK) and local collaborators. REDD processes will offer great 5387

opportunities for local communities to have a sense of ownership over their forest 5388

resources thereby ensuring data accuracy and integrity. This will ensure their 5389

commitment beyond prevailing unattractive alternative livelihood packages being 5390

offered them by environmental NGOs. In these and other projects, successful entry 5391

has been initiated in close collaboration with local communities and their leaders.

5392

5393

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