Chapter One. Partnerships for sustainable forest and tree resource management in Latin America: The new road towards successful forest governance?

This book assembles experiences acquired with sustainable forest and tree resource management partnerships in various Latin American countries. It addresses the question of which conditions are necessary for partnerships to stimulate sustainable, socially just and pro-poor governance of forest resources.

Demand side economic analysis or the so called market approach economic analysis was conducted to evaluate the Indonesian Selective Cutting and Planting System (IPTI) and its complementary technique called TJTI (Indonesian Strip Cutting and Planting System) at PT. ITCI (International Timber Corporation Indonesia) Forest Concession Management and Operations in East Kalimantan. The analysis proved that the logs produced and marketed both with TPTI and TJTI systems of forestry operations and practices in East Kalimantan, one of the Indonesian Outer Java Inslands rich tropical forest archipelagoes is viable and economically feasible to maintain the sustainable production and marketing. However, further research is needed to evaluate the resource and supply side economic analysis including sustainable forest resource management, minimum and maximum management unit sizes of both TJTI and TPTI and its sustainability in terms of production, socio-economic and ecological-biophysical. Key words: Economic analysis, TPTI, TJTI and Sustainable Forest Management.

Numerous studies examining gender roles in sustainable management of forest resources (SMFR) have shown that women's engagement adds a new dimension to the equation. However, their effective participation is still low, largely due to gendered subordination. To ascertain women’s potential in sustainable forest management in Yumbe district, this study examined the conventional roles of both genders. Random sampling techniques were used to select 371 general respondents (51% female) from 15,346 households, while purposive sampling was used to select 19 key informants and 4 focus group discussants. The findings revealed that different genders played different roles in forest management. Despite being the poorest, least educated, most involved in agriculture, and having limited access to and control over forest resources, women were the most concerned about the declining state of forest resources in the area. They are more effective in implementing programmes geared towards sustainable management of forest resources. Lessons learned from the study indicate that, despite being marginalised, women continued to play an important role in the management of forest resources. The study therefore recommends that gender-inclusive approaches be embraced to achieve sustainable management of forest resources. The approaches should ensure equal participation between both genders in order to disentangle some participatory challenges caused by gendered subordination. Key words: Gender, forest resources, sustainable forest management, indigenous knowledge, women’s role in forest management, social well-being.

Sustainable forest management (SFM) plays a critical role in maintaining ecological balance, supporting livelihoods, and mitigating climate change. This study was conducted to explore the management practices and user perspectives regarding sustainable forest management in Nepal, focusing on community forestry and government-led initiatives. Using a mixed-methods approach, data were collected through surveys, interviews, focus group discussions and field observations. A total of 180 user’s opinion were collected in 9 selected forest user groups from four district of Nepal (i.e. Ilam, Jhapa, Sarlahi, and Makawanpur). The study revealed that major forest management practices applied by community users’ are thinning, pruning, and improvement felling. Majority of the users (70.56%) were unsure about the forest management practices prescribed in the Operational plans (OPs). Accordingly, most users (92.78%) were agreed with the opinions that they need to be trained about forest management practices and its implementation. Majority of the users (92.00%) also agreed that participatory forest management modalities like Community Forest (CF), Collaborative Forest Management (CFM) and Leasehold Forest (LHF) area protecting biodiversity and reducing environmental risks. However, people believe that arbitrary policy changes was the main challenges for proper implementation of sustainable forest management practices. Therefore, strengthening capacity-building programs, enhancing government support, developing a consistent guideline, and promoting adaptive management practices are essential for improving sustainable forest resource management in Nepal.

Forest co-management in the Sundarban mangrove forest: Impacts of women's participation on their livelihoods and sustainable forest resource conservation

This paper uncovers the importance of people’s place-values on sustainable forest management, and how such values can be incorporated into forest management actions and decision-making. Specifically, it focuses on mapping economic and cultural values on forest ecosystem services; assesses how non-materials and materials benefit from forest ecosystem cause landscape fragmentation; and how this information could assist in better forest planning and management. The data were collected from ten villages surrounding the Ngezi forest reserve in Pemba, Tanzania. Data were collected through participatory mapping, field observation, and focus group discussions. A map of place-values for each respondent was transferred from paper to digital format, digitized and coded using the GIS, and analysed using kernel density. Non-spatial data were processed and integrated into GIS-based spatial analysis. The results indicate that only 12 areas were identified as very high-valued and these require careful consideration for sustainable forest planning and management. About 4 out of 6 very high-valued areas for material services are found inside the reserve. The areas outside the reserve are undervalued and not utilized effectively for material services. Contrary to cultural services, only 1 out of 6 very high-valued places is located inside the reserve. Furthermore, economic situations, together with social driving forces, have been important determinants of forest values in the areas. Therefore, placevalues issues, particularly economic development outcomes, preservation of the aesthetics and improvement of recreational amenities should be considered when examining sustainable forest resource management.

Community participation for forest sustainability and use of forest resources for community development is considered a vital way in all societies. This study was conducted to assess the public views toward sustainable forest management in the area of Gilgit–Baltistan, Pakistan, through collecting data from 255 respondents. Views about forest management techniques at different levels were discussed. Three main areas of focus to manage forest resources were: strategic-level management, local-level management, and communication-level management. To provide confidence and to measure factors affecting sustainable forest management, this study applied the structural equation modeling approach and built a model that explained and identified the critical factors affecting sustainable forest management. A quantitative approach via Smart Partial Least Squares version 3.2.8 was used for analysis. The findings of the study show that the R2 value of the model was 0.653, which means that the three exogenous latent constructs collectively explained 65.3% of the variance in sustainable forest management. In this study, the goodness of fit of the model was 0.431, which is considered valid for further analysis. Among the three proposed levels for forest management, the strategic-level-management factor was found the most important of the three variables. This study concluded that for better and sustainable forest management, policies should flow from the strategic level to the local and also focus on communication-level management because all these factors appear to be significant in measuring sustainable forest management. Community engagement and awareness are also found to be an important way for forest resource management.

Forest ecosystems are a prime example of the heated debates that have arisen around how forests should be managed, and what services and benefits they should deliver. The European transitions in governance to and from communist regimes have had significant impacts on forests and their management. Unstable legislative and institutional changes prior to, during, and after a communist regime, combined with unique remnant areas of high-conservation-value forests, make Romania an ideal case study to explore the social–ecological transitions of forest landscapes. The aim of this paper is two-fold. First, we present the origins of, the evolution of, and the current state of forest management and ownership in Romania during transitions between the pre-communist (–1945), communist (1945–1989), and EU periods (2007–). Second, we focus on the enablers and barriers in Romania towards sustainable forest management as defined by pan-European forest policies. We used a semi-systematic, five-step scientific literature review on forest ownership, governance, and management in Romania. The analysis shows that both enablers (e.g., forest certification) and barriers (e.g., redundancy and the questionable effectiveness of the network of protected areas; illegal, unsustainable, and unreported logging; loopholes in the legislative framework) have contributed to the current approaches to interpreting forests, forestry, and forest management. The installation of the communist regime translated into sustained wood yield forest management under singular forest ownership, which opposed the previous system and forest ownership pluralism. In the post-communist period, forestland restitution led to significant legislative changes, but forest management must still confront remnant elements of the communist approach. Both communist and post-communist policies related to forests have shaped the evolution of forest landscape management in Romania, thus stressing the need to learn from the past towards securing sustainable forest management into the future. These lessons provide insights on both positive and negative drivers of forest management, which can contribute to smooth future transition towards more sustainable forest management practices.

This chapter presents an overview on historical and current forestry and forest management in China. Although China’s natural forests had greatly reduced over the past several centuries due mainly to agricultural development, over-exploration and wars, there has been a sustained growth in total forest area and volume for several decades partly because of the implementation of several national key forestry programs aiming at biodiversity conservation and sustainable forestry development. China’s forest resource today is still insufficient because of low quality and productivity, and inadequate forest management. The major problems of forest management in China include deficiency in linking forest management with end usage, inadequate forest health management, lack of integrated forest landscape management, and unbalanced consideration on economy over environment. Forest management must address increasing concerns on challenges and emerging global issues, of which climate change is identified as the most severe threat. To tackle the existing problems and cope with uncertainties in changing environmental conditions with climate change, landscape ecology can play a major role in facilitating sustainable forest management (SFM) by providing theories and management tools for forest restoration, biodiversity conservation, land and water resource management and forest landscape planning. Forest management practices that consider spatial heterogeneity, pattern-process, disturbance regime, scale and spatial-temporal context of forest landscapes beyond forest boundary are increasingly adopted by forest researchers and managers in China. However, more research is needed to enhance long-term forest ecosystem monitoring, develop cross-scale and multiple-purpose forest management guidelines, improve landscape decision support systems, and formulate integrated ecosystem management policies and practices so that forest landscape management can be adapted to climate change and landscape sustainability can be strengthened.

Legislation on forest genetic resources management and conservation in Latin America is closely related to the forest policies as applied to the natural resources and forests in general. These policies, widely variables among countries, present, however, common trends in the historical evolution of their objectives. Lately, besides the national forestry policies, international agreements like the Convention on Biological Diversity, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the International Processes on Sustainable Forest Management, must be considered in forest genetic resources legislation. In spite of the great amount of national and international legal documents, few ones are exclusively dedicated to the forest genetic resources management and conservation. The present works contains a synthesis of the main national and international aspects of the forest legislation in Latin America with emphasis to its relationship with the forest genetic resources management and conservation

Global issues of greenhouse effect include the depletion of the ozone layer and the increases surface temperature. Response to these issues is attempted to empower and enhance the role of community participation in sustainable and equitable forest resource management. Since 1993, Indonesian NGO Konservasi Alam Indonesia Lestari (KAIL) starts empowering the forest buffer community with MEE (Medical, Education, Ecotourism) site model. Purpose of this paper is to describe the model of MEE in empowering forest buffer communities, describe the ecological, economic and social impact of the model, and describe the collaborative forest management. The strategies of community empowerment with MEE in Meru Betiri forest rehabilitation zone improvem the forest ecology. The success of MEE site model reduces negative perceptions on communities that have less conservation awareness. Community-based forest resources management need to integrate ecological and economic value in achieving forest conservation and community's welfare. Keywords: MEE (medical, education, eco-tourism), forest management, Meru Betiri National Park

In a community-directed forest management context, research is needed that will help both the managers of forest resources and the community residents who set forest management directions to consider climate change in their decision making. Specific research needed in light of climate change to support implementation of the forest management plan for the Champagne and Aishihik Traditional Territory, southwest Yukon, was identified through 1) sessions with local forest practitioners and 2) a community climate change workshop. Local residents highlighted the importance of formalizing a monitoring network based on local knowledge as part of a broader adaptive management framework. They also wanted an important role in any discussion on adapting existing forest management plans, practices, and policies to incorporate climate change considerations. Forest practitioners expressed a need for research to identify forest management tactics that would enable them to achieve community-directed forest management objectives in light of climate change. Addressing these research needs will have benefits beyond just adapting forest management to climate change. Climate change is providing the impetus and a forum for discussing a broader issue: the need for a more comprehensive research and monitoring program to support the sustainable management of forest resources.

The Triple Forest Management Principle: A holistic approach to forest resource use in South Korea

Increased use of forest resources to meet increasing world demand for wood and other forest products threatens forest sustainability and highlights the importance of conservation and sustainable management of these resources. Maintaining well-adapted and productive forests, and conserving natural forest genetic resources are important for sustainable forest management. Over exploitation of species can lead to excessive forest fragmentation and reduction of population sizes to a point that threatens population viability and species existence. In many cases, restoration of genetic resources of threatened species is needed. Molecular genetic markers, combined with population genetic principles and concepts, can greatly facilitate programs in conservation, restoration and sustainable management of forest genetic resources. We have used various biochemical and molecular genetic markers, such as allozymes, microsatellite DNA, random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) and sequence-tagged site markers, to examine effects of alternative silvicultural harvesting and regeneration systems, and forest fragmentation and small population size on genetic diversity, fine-scale population genetic structure, mating system and other population genetic parameters in white spruce (Picea glauca), eastern white pine (Pinus strobus), and red spruce (Picea rubens). The objectives of our studies are to provide genetic benchmarks and indicators for developing guidelines for genetically sustainable forest management practices and scientifically sound strategies for conservation and restoration of forest genetic resources. The results of these studies are discussed, particularly in the context of sustainable management, conservation and restoration of forest genetic resources.

<div> <p>The study examined the willingness of rural households to pay for sustainable management of community forests in Southwest Nigeria. The value elicitation format used was the dichotomous choice contingent valuation technique. The multistage random sampling technique was used in selecting 180 rural households for the study. Data obtained were analyzed using descriptive statistics and logit regression analysis. Evidence from the logit model indicated that the mean willingness of rural households to pay for sustainable management of community forests was ₦389.04/month. The result also shows that bid, perceived importance of forests, age, educational level of household head, total household income, perception of deforestation effect and intergenerational equity were the significant factors that influence the rural households’ probability of willingness to pay for community forests management.  The study recommends policy measures aimed at inclusion of rural communities in the management of community forests as the rural people are willing to pay for its management which will help ensure sustainable management of forest resources and as well improve the welfare of the rural households.</p> </div> <p> </p>