Local Forest Resources Research Articles

Examining the optimum extration rate of extracting thinned woods in the Nasunogahara area(<SPECIAL ISSUE>Effective and efficient utilization of local forest resources)

Examining the optimum extration rate of extracting thinned woods in the Nasunogahara area(<SPECIAL ISSUE>Effective and efficient utilization of local forest resources)

森林を守り続けるために（特集 地域資源をどう活かすか-若手からの発信-(2)）

森林を守り続けるために（特集 地域資源をどう活かすか-若手からの発信-(2)）

新潟県糸魚川市における路網整備の現状と課題（特集 地域資源をどう活かすか-若手からの発信-(2)）

新潟県糸魚川市における路網整備の現状と課題（特集 地域資源をどう活かすか-若手からの発信-(2)）

森林管理は適切な土地管理から（特集 地域資源をどう活かすか-若手からの発信-(2)）

森林管理は適切な土地管理から（特集 地域資源をどう活かすか-若手からの発信-(2)）

Effect of anthropogenic disturbance on plant species diversity in oak forests in Nepal, Central Himalaya

Biodiversity changes caused by anthropogenic disturbance through foliage removal (lopping) were studied in Quercus semecarpifolia Sm. (oak) dominated forests in Nepal. We studied the locations of Phulchoki (Kathmandu Valley) and Ghorepani (Annapurna Region). Alpha (α) diversity, gamma (γ) diversity and different estimates of beta (β) diversity of vascular plant species were estimated in six disturbance classes characterized on the basis of lopping intensity. The effects of different levels of anthropogenic pressure on the diversity measures were analyzed by examining how β-diversity corresponds with the pattern of α-diversity. Alpha (α)- and γ-diversities show a unimodal response to disturbance gradient, but β-diversities do not follow a consistent pattern. However, the linear relationships between beta diversities (βSD and βA) and the disturbance gradient indicate that all kinds of plant species diversity measures increase up to the level where forest disturbance is intermediate. Hence, we suggest the adoption of prescribed forest utilization systems as a management policy. Such a policy has two advantages: on the one hand, it contributes to sustainable livelihoods of the people depending on local forest resources, and on the other hand, it contributes to conservation of plant species diversity.

The forgotten resource: Community perspectives on conservation and well - being in Zahamena National Park, Madagascar

This research examines local perceptions of social well - being in two forest - dependent communities near Zahamena National Park (ZNP), Madagascar. Key informant interviews were conducted to observe how local context, including community and ecological factors, influenced perceptions of social well - being. Overall, residents expressed a broad sense of decreased wellbeing as local forest resource access changed following the creation of ZNP. While one community was more dependent on forest and non - timber forest products for their livelihood, both communities believed lack of access to the park and its resources negatively affected local social well - being. Further, both communities felt ZNP provided few benefits to local residents. In addition, informants alluded to a sense of distrust of conservation managers and believed their needs and concerns were neither heard nor addressed by current conservation programs. Such data confirm people living in rural communities adjacent to protected areas have limited impact on conservation policies and initiatives on the island. Implications of this research suggest a reassessment of institutional conservation policy and practices to reflect locally held social traditions and community beliefs about conservation.

Wood energy production, sustainable farming livelihood and multifunctionality in Finland

Climate change and the projected depletion of fossil energy resources pose multiple global challenges. Innovative technologies offer interesting possibilities to achieve more sustainable outcomes in the energy production sector. Local, decentralized alternatives have the potential to sustain livelihoods in rural areas. One example of such a venture has emerged around heating businesses in rural Finland, and is referred to as heat entrepreneurship. Heat entrepreneurship entails a system where a local forest owner, usually a farmer, provides heat to a small community or local building, such as a school. Heat is produced using local forest resources that would otherwise be unutilized. The purpose of this study is to examine heat entrepreneurship as a potential sustainable alternative for energy production and its multifunctionality. The data was collected by interviewing 15 heat entrepreneurs in the area of Central Finland. The study demonstrates how multifunctional farming-related energy production can provide more sustainable livelihoods for farmers by increasing social, economic and environmental sustainability. This is achieved by diversifying farmers' economic options, enhancing rural areas economically, increasing farmers' social networks and well-being and, to some extent, by boosting local environmental capital. However, the study also points to differences among the farmers and sustainability trade-offs, suggesting for the need to better acknowledge the local perceptions in policy-making.

Sustainable Forest Management at the Local Scale: A Comparative Analysis of Community Forests and Domestic Forests in Cameroon

In Cameroon, community forests are frequently presented as a relevant option to increase the welfare of rural populations and simultaneously improve local governance and forest resources conservation. But apart from community forests, rural livelihoods also depend on forest areas, designated as ‘domestic forests’ in this article, where local users enjoy informal customary rights. The specific contributions of community and domestic forests to the evolution of the prevailing socio-ecological system are assessed through a diachronic study of a village which is located in southern Cameroon. The Sustainable Livelihoods Framework is used to compare the progress of this social-ecological system between January 2008 and December 2009. The overall evolution of livelihoods was found to be positive during that period. In this case study, domestic forests and community forests are based on complementary models, which are often observed in southern Cameroon. Domestic forests constitute the basis of socio-economic development, while community forests might offer opportunities for a local-level carbon sequestration payment mechanism.

Suitability of Local Resource Management Practices Based on Supernatural Enforcement Mechanisms in the Local Social-cultural Context

Environmental anthropological studies on natural resource management have widely demonstrated and thematized local resource management practices based on the interactions between local people and supernatural agencies and their role in maintaining natural resources. In Indonesia, even though the legal status of local people's right to the forest and forest resources is still weak, the recent transition toward decentralization presents a growing opportunity for local people to collaborate with outsiders such as governmental agencies and environmental nongovernmental organizations in natural resource management. In such situations, in-depth understanding of the value of local resource management practices is needed to promote self-directed and effective resource management. Here, we focus on local forest resource management and its suitability in the local social- cultural context in central Seram, east Indonesia. Local resource management appears to be embedded in the wider social-cultural context of the local communities. However, few intensive case studies in Indonesia have addressed the relationship between the Indigenous resource management practices closely related to a people's belief in supernatural agents and the social-cultural context. We illustrate how the well-structured use of forest resources is established and maintained through these interactions. We then investigate how local resource management practices relate to the social-cultural and natural resources context of an upland community in central Seram and discuss the possible future applications for achieving conservation.

Transboundary Biodiversity Management: Institutions, Local Stakeholders, and Protected Areas: A Case Study From Mt. Elgon, Uganda and Kenya

Transboundary protected area governance is on the rise in Africa. There is still a scarcity of well-documented success stories on how to design and deliver institutionally consistent transboundary outcomes concerning biodiversity and sustainable livelihoods. This article focuses on institutional challenges of such governance at the local stakeholder level on Mt. Elgon in Uganda and Kenya. A stakeholder analysis was conducted in border communities to analyze institutional frameworks of different protected area regimes coordinating local people's forest resources access, focusing on rights, returns, relationships, and responsibilities at the local stakeholder level. On the basis of the analyses we find that institutional complexities constrain an ideal of joint transboundary protected area management regime with a joint approach to local livelihood improvements. If institutional complexities lead to a lower priority on other concerns than biodiversity conservation in transboundary protected area programs in Africa, there may be an erosion of future support for such programs.

Ethnobotanical profile of some plant resources in Malam Jabba valley of Swat, Pakistan

A study on the economically important plants was carried during summer 2007 in various parts of Malam Jabba valley, Swat. The principal aim of the study was to prepare an enthnobotanical inventory of the plant resources of the area, as well as to evaluate the conservation status of important medicinal and aromatic plants (MAPs). The study documented 90 species of ethnobotanical importance, out of these 71 spp used as medicinal plants, 20 spp fodder plant, 10 spp vegetables,14 spp wild fruit, 18 spp fuel wood, 9 spp furniture and agricultural tools, 9 spp thatching, fencing and hedges, 4 spp honey bee, 2 spp evil eyes, 2 spp religious and 3 spp as poison. The current study suggests improvement in the ill effects of resources misuse especially of MAPs. This type of study may help in better understanding of local forest resources and potential MAPs. Key words: Malam Jabba valley, medicinal and aromatic plants recourses, conservation, market study, traditional uses.

Modeling choice of fuelwood source among rural households in Malawi: A multinomial probit analysis

This paper addresses two questions: what determines household's choice of fuelwood source and, what are the environmental consequences of fuelwood collection choices? We address these questions by estimating the multinomial probit model using survey data for households surrounding Chimaliro and Liwonde forest reserves in Malawi. After controlling for heterogeneity among households, we find strong substitution opportunities across fuelwood collection sources. Attributes of the fuelwood sources (size and species composition) and distance to the sources are the most important determinants of fuelwood choice. Further results show that customary managed forests generate environmental benefits by reducing pressure on both plantation forests and forest reserves. These findings support the need to strengthen community-based institutions to manage local forest resources.

Collective Action for Sustainable Forestry

The article examines the efforts for collective action of ten village communities in the state of Orissa to manage their local forest resources from an institutional perspective. It explores the differential levels of success in the collective action efforts of these communities, and the role of local level community institution therein, for ensuring sustainable resource use and management. The article concludes that only presence or absence of the institution is not always sufficient for sustainable resource management outcomes, despite being a necessary condition for it. The existing institution must be a robust one with strong rules for resource appropriation and good monitoring system. Institutional arrangements for sustainable resource management at the community level must be understood as a dynamic process, which involve a continuous interaction among the community members and the designed institution. The institution formulates the rules and expects the community members to comply such rules. The rule formation should necessarily be backed by a strong and efficient monitoring system to ensure that rules are complied, and accordingly the institution can accord positive incentive in the form of rewards to those who show conformity to rules and negative incentive through punishment to those who violate them. The institutional arrangements without such a strong monitoring system fail to restrict free-ride and hence, could not establish a well-defined property right regime over the resource, which is very much essential for ensuring successful collective action.

Trends of forest inventory data in Alabama, USA, during the last seven decades

Summary Long-term time series of forest inventory information at a local scale could provide information about trends in local forest resource changes and be useful for testing some hypotheses about forestry development. Based on forest inventory data and related human population information in Alabama’s 67 counties for the past seven decades, the trend of forest resource change (e.g. area and resource composition) for Alabama was characterized as well as the complicated relationship between human population and commercial forest land at county level. These results indicate that (1) only two counties had increased human population and decreased commercial forest area, (2) commercial forest coverage increased in counties with a relatively poor economy and (3) counties with more commercial forest coverage had fewer roads. Therefore, long-term forest inventory information and other related data could uncover emergent trends of changing Alabama forest resources and may be helpful for local forest resource management and development.

Reed community restoration projects with citizen participation: an example of the practical use of Satoyama landscape resources in Shiga Prefecture, Japan

Today, Japan strives to preserve some of its rural Satoyama landscapes in a sustainable way in order to ensure the survival of some well-functioning rural ecosystems in the face of continuing urbanization on the one hand and the neglect of such landscapes on the other. In the Lake Biwa watershed area in Shiga Prefecture, Satoyama landscapes comprise woodlands, grasslands, dry and wet fields, residential areas, and the lakeshore. The area today faces two major challenges: first, how to use local natural resources in a sustainable way to avoid further neglect or destruction of Satoyama landscapes; and second, how to reorganize the management of Satoyama forest and lakeshore resources. The results of our investigation showed how solutions to the above issues were found in the context of lakeshore projects aimed at restoring reed (Phragmites communis) communities, which are important component of the Lake Biwa Satoyama landscape. Since 2002, four such projects have been successfully undertaken through the efficient use of local forest resources, mainly wood and bamboo, in wave dissipation structures and jetties which facilitate the expansion of reed communities. Management was reorganized and now consists of stakeholders which include the original Satoyama management communities, governmental bodies, resident and nonresident citizens, and nongovernmental and nonprofit organizations. The projects are a unique attempt to revive Satoyama watershed landscapes, and may serve as models in other watershed areas.

Gussing's quiet revolution

IT was literally the end of the road the little Austrian village of Gussing, population 4,000, situated up against the rusted barbed wire separating Hungary from Austria the 'Iron Curtain'. In 1988, Gussing was one of the most economically depressed regions of Austria, with no through-transportation and no job base. As much as 70 per cent of its workforce had to commute out of the area to find jobs. Young people were emigrating to the metropolitan centres of Vienna or Graz. Economically, the community was almost entirely dependent upon imported energy for transportation, heating, and electrical needs, while local forest resources, comprising 45 per cent of the region, went largely unused. Today, just 20 years later, Gussing stands as a model of energy self-sufficiency for Austria, Europe and the world. This is the story of that remarkable transformation. A rags-torelative riches tale of adaptation and evolution overcoming economic hardships to the benefit of the little town of Gussing and its surrounding communities, bringing jobs and new prosperity a true Cinderella tale of great importance for the modern world as we contemplate civilisation after the age of oil and fossil fuels. Gussing produces more energy than the town consumes. It has gone from completely energy-dependent to an independent power producer in just ten years.

WHICH ROLE FOR THE NON FARM-SECTOR IN A FORESTED LANDSCAPE? LESSONS FROM KRUI, INDONESIA

ABSTRACT This article explores two interrelated premises. The first is that the non-farm sector is of increasing importance to rural household. The second is that non-farm growth reduces the pressure on natural resources. The article reports on an analysis of income trends in three villages in the Krui area, Sumatra, Indonesia, by comparing household survey data from 1995 and 2004. Between these two years, neither the farm sector nor the non-farm sector showed sustained growth. Although the contribution of remittances to local incomes remained marginal, migration of unemployed and unmarried youngsters to urban areas has a positive effect on per capita incomes in the Krui area by decreasing the household size. With regard to the second premise the analysis shows that increased engagement in local non-farm activities does not automatically result in smaller landholdings. Increased engagement in ex-situ non-farm activities, however, helps to reduce pressure on local forest resources.

Social-ecological Resilience of a Nuosu Community-linked Watershed, Southwest Sichuan, China

Farmers of the Nuosu Yi ethnic group in the Upper Baiwu watershed report reductions in the availability of local forest resources. A team of interdisciplinary scientists worked in partnership with this community to assess the type and extent of social-ecological change in the watershed and to identify key drivers of those changes. Here, we combine a framework for institutional analysis with resilience concepts to assess system dynamics and interactions among resource users, resources, and institutions over the past century. The current state of this system reflects a legacy of past responses to institutional disturbances initiated at the larger, national system scale. Beginning with the Communist Revolution in 1957 and continuing through the next two decades, centralized forest regulations imposed a mismatch between the scale of management and the scale of the ecological processes being managed. A newly implemented forest property rights policy is shifting greater control over the management of forest resources to individuals in rural communities. Collective forest users will be allowed to manage commodity forests for profit through the transfer of long-term leases to private contractors. Villagers are seeking guidance on how to develop sustainable and resilient forest management practices under the new policy, a responsibility returned to them after half a century and with less abundant and fewer natural resources, a larger and aggregated population, and greater influence from external forces. We assess the watershed’s current state in light of the past and identify future opportunities to strengthen local institutions for governance of forest resources.

Partners in Forest Conservation: ”Willingess-to-Work” (WTW) to Protect Local Forest Resources in Calakmul, Campeche, México

En años recientes ha habido un incremento en el número de estudios de valuación contingente en los países en vías de desarrollo. Muchos de estos estudios se han realizado para valuar el acceso al agua limpia, pero hasta la fecha hay pocas aplicaciones a los recursos de los bosques tropicales. Dado que éstos cubren únicamente el siete por ciento de la superficie terrestre, no obstante lo cual se estima que contienen hasta la mitad de la biota del mundo, existe una clara necesidad de generar más información relativa al valor de los bosques tropicales. Una consideración importante en la protección de los bosques tropicales es la participación local. Este artículo emplea una aplicación del método de valuación contingente por elección discreta, para estimar la disposición de los campesinos del sureste de México a participar en los esfuerzos a favor de la conservación del bosque. Los resultados sugieren que los campesinos están dispuestos a trabajar poco menos de tres días al mes a fin de preservar un área de bosque comunitario.

第2報告 森からの新ビジネス(地域発 これからの森林管理・森林政策,2006年度北日本林業経済研究会シンポジウム)

第2報告 森からの新ビジネス(地域発 これからの森林管理・森林政策,2006年度北日本林業経済研究会シンポジウム)