Abstract
Michon, G., H. De Foresta, P. Levang, and F. Verdeaux 2007. Domestic forests: a new paradigm for integrating local communities’ forestry into tropical forest science. Ecology and Society 12(2): 1. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-02058-120201
Highlights
All over the tropics, forest people have developed forest management practices that have proven their efficiency and their sustainability in accommodating local users' needs and in maintaining a healthy and dynamic forest cover over centuries (Noble and Dirzo 1997, Küchli 1997, Boffa 1999, Wiersum2004, Cairns 2007).Despite a long history of confrontation between forest agencies and forest people, these indigenous or local practices are increasingly considered as a viable alternative of forest management
Despite a long history of confrontation between forest agencies and forest people, “indigenous” or “local” practices are increasingly considered as a viable alternative of forest management
In spite of a strong move for more local participation in forest management in the tropics, why are these forests still neglected? Beyond their diversity, do they represent a comprehensive mode of forest management? If so, what are forest agencies losing by ignoring this type of management? What can be done to integrate these forests into global forest development and conservation?
Summary
Forest people have developed forest management practices that have proven their efficiency and their sustainability in accommodating local users' needs and in maintaining a healthy and dynamic forest cover over centuries On local forest management gives way to real management plans, these local forests are generally considered as being too secondary or too degraded to serve global conservation objectives or sustainable production goals This discrepancy reflects the failure of most professional foresters, especially in developing countries, to admit that forests used and transformed by locals have a value of their own and that the social needs and values through which these forests were designed and shaped are legitimate and deserve consideration. This paper is a synthesis derived from various longterm research programs carried out by the authors on forests managed by farmers in Indonesia and Laos from 1992 to 2005, and in Kenya, Tanzania, and Ethiopia from 1996 to 2007 These researches involved multidisciplinary teamwork in ethnobotany and ethnoecology, anthropology, economics, ecology, and botany. We conclude with the need for a redefinition of forest policies and regulations to accommodate this neglected but widespread aspect of forest management and to fully integrate its benefits for the society at large
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