Guardians Of Forest Research Articles

Community Forest Management and the Resilience of Karen Indigenous Knowledge in Northern Thailand.

This study investigates the resilience of indigenous knowledge in five Karen villages, located in Thailand's Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, and Lampang provinces, that have been recognized for best practices in community forest management (CFM). The CFM model was initiated by local communities to promote forest conservation and community engagement. Data on CFM practices, land-use rights, social networks, and indigenous knowledge were collected through 17 in-depth interviews and 5 focus group meetings. The findings include how these Karen communities have adopted payment for environmental services (PES) to fund conservation projects and social welfare. More specifically, PES generates social capital by facilitating coordination with stakeholders from the private sector, academia, and government. These social networks promote markets for local products and advocate for indigenous land-use rights. The PES model also serves as a tool whereby Indigenous Peoples can shape their identities as innovative forest guardians and legitimize their residence within the forest. Additionally, the study reports on how Karen people have diversified their livelihoods to include hosting academic tourism, handicrafts, and livestock, reducing their dependence on forest resources.

Policy Review and Regulatory Challenges and Strategies for the Sustainable Mangrove Management in Zanzibar

The aim of this study was to examine the challenges of the policies and regulatory framework and strategies for the sustainable mangrove management in Zanzibar, from 1890 to present. The study collected both primary and secondary data. The secondary data were collected through the a review of previous policies, legal documents, by laws, ministry/department reports, research reports, newspapers and articles. The primary data were mainly collected through focus group discussions (FGDs) and semi-structured interviews. The study found that, before Zanzibar became a British protectorate in 1890, the forests were communally managed with the guidance of forest guardians, chiefs and elders. The colonial government enacted a number of land administration laws, policies, and arrangements aimed at conserving the natural resources, including the mangrove forests. From 1930 to the end of the Second World War (WWII), mangrove forests were severely degraded because the colonial government paid little attention to their conservation and management. The policy arrangements put in place after independence, such as the National Forest Conservation and Management Act of 1996, laid the legal groundwork for the introduction of the participation of the local communities in the conservation of mangroves. However, they were not sufficient enough to promote the sustainable use of mangrove forests. This study proposes that there is a need for more inclusive and diverse regulations. Furthermore, for the effective conservation and management of mangroves, conflicting laws and responsibilities between government departments should be harmonized.

The emergence of female forest guardians in Aceh, Indonesia

The emergence of female forest guardians in Aceh, Indonesia

ANALYSIS OF THE FORMATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE FOREST PROTECTION INSTITUTE IN RUSSIA

Illegal logging is a global problem that cannot be addressed unambiguously and in all cases. Given that criminal acts about wood are not a new type of violation, but, having appeared long before the current century, remain one of the most common negative social phenomena, the author analyzed the process of formation and development of forest protection in Russia. The first conservation certificates, «green» forests, as well as the restrictions on forest management introduced by Peter I, caused by the need to form a new model of state defense, were the basis for the formation of legal protection of forests. At the same time, the author notes that the established regimes were interconnected and interdependent from a number of legal factors, the key of which was the form of ownership of the territory in which the trees grew. The study contains an analysis of the transformation of the institution of «forest guardians,» the rights, obligations and requirements for employees, the number of units, as well as their social security. The content of the article is divided into several blocks, which is due to the political system that prevailed at a certain time in the development of society: feudal grand-ducal power, the Russian state, the Russian Empire, the RSFSR, the Russian Federation. A brief analysis of law enforcement and judicial practice, a study of regulatory documents, coupled with reporting and archival documents based on the results of the activities of forest protection units, made it possible to conclude that it was impossible to exercise control over forest resources without the formation of specialized units, the functioning of which may be temporary.

A garden experiment revisited: inter‐generational change in environmental perception and management of theMayaLowlands,Guatemala

This study reports ethnographic and experimental analyses of inter‐generational changes in nativeItza'Maya and immigrant Ladino populations ofGuatemala's Petén rainforest concerning understanding of ecological relationships between plants, animals, and humans, and the perceived role of forest spirits in sustaining these relationships. We find dramatic changes in understanding ecological relationships and the perceived role of forest spirits.Itza'Maya conceptions of forest spirits (arux) are now more often confounded with Ladino spirits (duendes), withItza' spirits no longer reliably serving as forest guardians. These changes correlate with a shift in personal values regarding the forest, away from concern with ecologically central trees and towards monetary incentives. More generally, we describe how economic, demographic, and social changes relate to the loss of a system of beliefs and behaviours that once promoted sustainable agro‐forestry practices. These changes coincide with open access to common pool resources.

Thailand. Forest guardians, forest destroyers: The Politics of environmental knowledge in northern Thailand By Tim Forsysth and Andrew Walker Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2008. Pp. 303. Photos, Tables, Notes, Bibliography, Index.

Thailand. Forest guardians, forest destroyers: The Politics of environmental knowledge in northern Thailand By Tim Forsysth and Andrew Walker Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2008. Pp. 303. Photos, Tables, Notes, Bibliography, Index. - Volume 40 Issue 1

Review: Forest Guardians, Forest Destroyers: The Politics of Environmental Knowledge in Northern Thailand by Tim Forsyth and Andrew Walker

Review: Forest Guardians, Forest Destroyers: The Politics of Environmental Knowledge in Northern Thailand By Tim Forsyth and Andrew Walker Reviewed by Matthew J. Forss Forsyth, Tim and Walker, Andrew. Forest Guardians, Forest Destroyers: The Politics of Environmental Knowledge in Northern Thailand. Seattle, WA: University of Washington Press, 2008. 302 pp. ISBN: 978- 0-295-98822-1. US$25.00, paper. Printed on 90 percent recycled acid free paper from at least 50 percent post-consumer waste. Tim Forsyth and Andrew Walker’s lifetime of working in northern Thailand certainly provides a more than cursory examination of the political ecology of the region. This book does not, “…suggest that environmental problems do not exist or that environmental policy is unnecessary” (p. 3). However, the chapters contain, “…a deeper political analysis of how and why---and with whose influence--- environmental problems are defined the way they are” (p. 3). Essentially, Forsyth and Walker incorporate well-defined arguments of environmental topics related to water supply, forest protection, biodiversity, agricultural mismanagement, ethnic conflict, and policymaking. The aforementioned topics are also heavily cross-referenced with nearly 400 sources used throughout the book. An important aspect of environmental politics revolves around narratives. Environmental narratives are, “…simplified explanations of environmental cause and effect that emerge in contexts where environmental knowledge and social order are mutually dependent” (p. 17). Yet, Forsyth and Walker are cautious to point out, “…environmental narratives frequently impose meanings that are acceptable to their creators or users, but which may contain unwelcome implications for other social actors and high levels of simplification of complex and uncertain physical processes” (p. 17). Moreover, “…narrative framing is evident in the common tendency for environmental debate to bifurcate into two positions: that upland farmers are either forest destroyers or forest guardians” (p. 19). The crux of the issue depends on an overly-simplified view of environmental crises, rather than a realistic understanding of the role of forests in upland ecosystems. Throughout the chapters, Forsyth and Walker raise questions and answer them by providing comparative and original research. The multifarious nature of environmental politics provides a complex picture of past, present, and future narratives. Another strength of the book is the identification of the interconnectedness of the spatial and temporal distribution of the ethnic groups of the upland (pa) and lowland (muang) regions of northern Thailand. The Hmong, Mien, Akha, Lahu, and Lisu ethnic groups tend to favor the top 1,000 meters of the uplands, while the Karen and Lua groups inhabit the middle uplands, and the Northern Thai inhabit regions close to sea level to approximately 1,300 meters. This is essentially a study of ethnoecology, but one that warrants attention in order to understand the wider implications of environmental politics. The reasons for specific ethnic group locality and elevation are multifactoral and complex. For instance, certain groups inhabit specific elevations based on historical or cultural traditions, agricultural endeavors, meteorological conditions, political laws, and other interrelated conditions discussed by Forsyth and Walker. What is the solution to environmental management in northern Thailand? Forsyth and Walker recognize the difficulty in reforming state bureaucracies on resource and land use. In fact, “…reforming state bureaucracies to overcome decades of organizational heritage is a profound challenge, requiring careful campaigning, engagement with elements within organizations that are self-critical, and taking opportunities to create alternative knowledge networks” (p. 246). This book, despite its depth, serves as an introduction to the wider role of political ecology in northern Thailand, “…until widespread reform of government agencies can be achieved, challenging underlying narratives that add legitimacy to their policies and regulatory interventions” (p. 246). Many of the studies are accompanied by numerous black-and-white photographs, tables, diagrams, and charts to allow for an easy-to-read analysis of the material. In addition, nine pages of chapter notes are included. Overall, the inclusivity of the content to northern Thailand is beneficial for researchers of the

Karen cultural capital and the political economy of symbolic power

For the Karen of northern Thailand, constructing the image of Karen as forest guardians and conservationists has produced an instrument of struggle against the official hegemonic discourse. This image construction is the accumulation of cultural capital and its transformation into symbolic power. The Karen cultural producers promote this strategy by investing their local knowledge and cultural resources into political action and alliances that reinforce their identification as ‘children of the forest’, in their own eyes and in the eyes of others. Through image construction, the largely negative identities embodied in ‘Karen’ and their communities—as denigrated ‘hill‐tribes’, forest‐destroyers and illiterate peasants—are transformed into a single social and political category defined as the ‘indigenous’ forest managers.

Forest Guardians v. United States Forest Service: All Cattle, No Wildlife - Balanced Use of Range Land

Forest Guardians v. United States Forest Service: All Cattle, No Wildlife - Balanced Use of Range Land

Environmental services as a strategy for sustainable development in rural Amazonia

Rural Amazonians, especially Indians, extractivists and other forest dwellers, desperately need something that they can sell. Sale of material commodities taken from the rainforest is the focus of most attempts to encourage ‘sustainable development’ for these populations, but the mother lode waiting to be tapped is not a material commodity, but rather the forest's environmental services. Converting services like biodiversity maintenance, carbon storage and water cycling into monetary flows that can support a population of forest guardians requires crossing a series of hurdles. Reliable quantification of the magnitude of services being offered is a first necessity. How to convert forest environmental services into an income stream, and how to convert this stream into a foundation for sustainable development in rural Amazonia is a great challenge. Effort should be focused on tapping environmental services as a long-term strategy for maintaining both rainforest and its population. In addition to progressing toward long-term goals, immediate measures are needed to support the population and to avoid further loss of forest.