Abstract
Forest and landscape restoration in the tropics is often undertaken by groups of smallholders and communities whose livelihoods are primarily agricultural and forest-based. In the Philippines, the implementation of forest restoration programs involving people’s organizations showed mixed results. We present a case study of a pilot community-based forest restoration project that was undertaken in Biliran Province to understand the impediments, and pilot test interventions to improve restoration outcomes. The project was designed using systems thinking, employing smallholder-based best-practice, and applying the principles of a participatory approach. The results revealed that the initial participation of smallholders is mostly driven by short-term financial incentives. However, long-term commitment to managing the trees is attributed mainly to sustainable livelihood, land and tree rights, equitable sharing of benefits, strong leadership, effective governance and improved human and social capitals. The support of extension officers, use of high-quality seedlings, and participation of women are essential for community-based forest restoration success. Key lessons from our research could contribute to fulfilling the forest and landscape restoration commitments of developing countries in the tropics.
Highlights
Issues of poverty and lack of food security are widely recognized as among the primary causal factors of deforestation in many developing countries [1,2,3,4,5,6]
The community-based approach to undertaking large-scale restoration has been the national strategy of the Philippine government since the launch of the Community-Based Forest Management (CBFM) program in 1995 [10]
While the people’s organizations (POs) officials initiated the solicitations from government agencies, the extension officer of the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) Project assisted the group in developing the funding proposals
Summary
Issues of poverty and lack of food security are widely recognized as among the primary causal factors of deforestation in many developing countries [1,2,3,4,5,6]. The community-based approach to undertaking large-scale restoration has been the national strategy of the Philippine government since the launch of the Community-Based Forest Management (CBFM) program in 1995 [10]. In this program, community groups, in the form of people’s organizations (POs), are given legal access to state-owned lands for 25 years and renewable for another 25 years. The pilot community-based forest restoration project was located in a 26-hectare upland area in barangay Kawayanon, a community in the municipality of Caibiran, Biliran Province (Figure 1). The community holds a Community-Based Forest Management by land claimants were amonga tenurial the reasons for the poor the outcomes of the restoration projects.
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