Browsing by Author "Colfer, Carol J. Pierce"

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Assessing 'Participation' in Forest Management: Workable Methods and Unworkable Assumptions
(1996) Colfer, Carol J. Pierce; Wadley, Reed L.
"This paper reports the results of a pre-test in West Kalimantan, Indonesia, of four methods designed to assess the level and nature of participation by local people in forest management quickly and easily. Two of the methods - the 'Iterative Continuum Method' (ICM) and the participatory card sorting method - were deemed helpful. One method, the communication network analysis, was discarded in its current form. The final method, the researcher guide on the functions of participation, was felt in need of revision. Although the hypothesised firnctions of participation are not wrong, in our opinion, they reflect a way of looking at forest management which, we concluded, needs rethinking. In our discussion of the change needed we make use of Jordan's concept of 'authoritative knowledge' and 'social' or 'cultural capital' (Berkes and Folke 1994; Ostrom 1994).We also suggest substituting 'rights and obligations to manage the forest co-operatively' for 'participation' in places like Danau Sentarum Wildlife Reserve (DSWR), where sustainable forest management is being assessed. Finally we conclude that, given the dynamism and complexity that characterise natural forests and their inhabitants, co-operation among all stakeholders in an ongoing dialogue is probably the only way that sustainable forest management can in fact occur.We urge researchers to continue the search for simple, inexpensive and reliable tools for assessing the issue we have called 'participation in forest management.'"
Assessing People's Perceptions of Forests in Danau Sentarum Wildlife Reserve
(1996) Colfer, Carol J. Pierce; Woelfel, Joseph; Wadley, Reed L.; Harwell, Emily
"Previous research identified three important issues of relevance to forest people's roles in sustainable forest management which we address here: the presence of a 'conservation ethic', a feeling of closeness to the forest, and a significant forest-culture link. In this paper we examine a method (the Galileo), recently pre-tested for this purpose in West Kalimantan, which we hope can help us to assess such issues quickly, reliably and in a quantitative manner amenable to use by would-be assessors of various educational and experiential levels. We describe the method, suggest improvements for future tests, and present some of our findings from West Kalimantan. We conclude with questions that emerged during our pre-test, and others that remain for subsequent research."
The BAG: Basic Assessment Guide for Human Well-Being
(1999) Colfer, Carol J. Pierce
"This ‘cookbook’ is intended for those wishing to assess the sustainability of a forest managed for commercial timber extraction. It recognises the probability that there are people living in and around that timber harvesting area, and that sustainable management will require attention to those people’s well-being. It also assumes the existence of separate assessment procedures for ecological and conventional forest management considerations."
Changing Gender Relationships and Forest Use: A Case Study from Komassi, Cameroon
(Resources for the Future, 2001) Brown, Katrina Myrvang; Lapuyade, Sandrine; Colfer, Carol J. Pierce; Byron, Yvonne
"Economic and environmental pressures affect access to and use of forest resources, and these dynamics affect men and women quite differently over time. Women are especially dependent on nontimber forest products (NTFPs), but the role of these products has changed markedly. All forest products harvested are now commercially traded in much of Cameroon, compared with only a decade ago, when few products had commercial value. Whereas men have been able to diversify their livelihood strategies, women have less room to maneuver and increasingly rely on diminishing forest resources. This situation has profound impacts on the way women and men perceive change as well as on the current and future management of forest resources."
Collective Action to Secure Property Rights for the Poor: A Case Study in Jambi Province, Indonesia
(2008) Komarudin, Heru; Siagian, Yuliana L.; Colfer, Carol J. Pierce
"This study presents an approach to analyzing decentralized forestry and natural resource management and land property rights issues, and catalyzing collective action among villages and district governments. It focuses on understanding the current policies governing local peoples access to property rights and decision making processes, and learning how collective action among community groups and interaction among stakeholders can enhance local peoples rights over lands, resources, and policy processes for development. The authors applied participatory action research in two villages, one each in the Bungo and Tanjabbar districts of Jambi province (Sumatra), Indonesia, to facilitate identification of priorities through phases of planning, action, monitoring, and reflecting. This study finds that action research may be an effective strategy for fostering collective action and maintaining the learning process that leads groups to be more organized and cohesive, and district government officials to be more receptive to stakeholders. A higher level of collective action and support may be needed to avoid elite capture more effectively."
Conflict Management Approaches under Unclear Boundaries of the Commons: Experiences from Danau Sentarum National Park, West Kalimantan
(2006) Yasmi, Yurdi; Yuliani, Linda; Indriatmoko, Yayan; Heri, Valentinus; Colfer, Carol J. Pierce
"Conflict in common pool resource management is ubiquitous. As a result, the call for conflict management has increased during the past decades. The 'ideal' goal in conflict management is to achieve positive changes and avoid unnecessary escalation to destructive levels. While it has been argued that the role of local institutions in conflict management is central, little is known about how these institutions could actually deal with conflict. In this paper, we highlight how local institutions respond to the various inter-settlement conflicts over the issue of unclear resource boundaries in Danau Sentarum National Park (DNSP). We discuss conflict management approaches taken by the Dayak and the Malay ethnic groups in response to forestry and fishery conflicts and consider their effectiveness. We also demonstrate how customary laws are used in conflict management. We identify gaps in these approaches and discuss several possible ways forward. We argue that enhancing communication and developing a mechanism of exchange among various ethnic groups will allow better understanding of different and often contradicting customary laws. We also propose a kind of co-management arrangement among stakeholders (e.g. park management, local people, governments and NGOs) to ensure the sustainability of the park and to constructively manage the ever increasing conflict among these stakeholders."
Criteria and Indicators for Sustainable Forest Management: New Findings from CIFOR's Forest Management Unit Level Research
(1998) Prabhu, Ravi; Colfer, Carol J. Pierce; Shepherd, Gill
"This paper traces the growing interest in the development of Criteria and Indicators for sustainable forest management since the declaration of the Forest Principles at the Rio Conference in 1992. Several processes are underway in different regions of the world to define sets of criteria and indicators that can be used to assess the social, economic and ecological sustainability of forest management. Some have focused more at national level, while others have emphasised information needs at the forest management unit level. In an attempt to produce a generic 'master set,' the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) has carried out several tests to compare the different sets of criteria and indicators currently in existence. At the forest level, ecological criteria have been found much easier to apply than social ones as the latter often require an in-depth understanding of areas beyond the immediate boundaries of the forest management unit. In addition to social issues, other areas that still need further work include biodiversity, the development of criteria and indicators for plantations, and a means of linking information from the local to the national level. In an attempt to help people in different areas adapt the generic hierarchy of criteria and indicators to their own conditions, CIFOR is developing a computer programme, CIMAT, which allows for the addition of local knowledge and an iterative development of locally-specific criteria and indicators. In spite of the work still needed, the importance of defining a comprehensive but practical set of criteria and indicators lies in the fact that such a measurable and comparable methodology would build public confidence on the issue of forest sustainability."
Decentralization: Issues, Lessons and Reflections (Manuscript Draft)
(Earthscan, 2005) Capistrano, Doris; Colfer, Carol J. Pierce
"Decentralization of forest governance has been defined and implemented in different ways in a variety of contexts around the world. It has had varying results and impacts both on forests and on different groups of stakeholders with interests in these resources. Although the details may vary, countries' experiences with decentralization include some remarkably similar patterns, particularly in the aspects that appear to contribute to the success of failure of decentralization efforts. "The International Workshop on Decentralization at Interlaken, Switzerland, in April 2004 featured and shared lessons from different countries' experience with decentralization of forest governance. This chapter distills some of the main issues and insights woven through the papers and captures important ideas highlighted during the various sessions of the workshop. It summarizes the patterns that have emerged and reviews how decentralization looks in practice, as opposed to in theory. The chapter also briefly reviews the implications of decentralization for forests and biodiversity conversation. Finally, the chapter notes common challenges and concludes with lessons and observations."
Forests and Human Health: Assessing the Evidence
(2006) Colfer, Carol J. Pierce; Sheil, Douglas; Kishi, Misa
"This study has two central concerns: the state of human health in forests, and the causal links between forests and human health. Within this framework, we consider four issues related to tropical forests and human health. First, we discuss forest foods, emphasizing the forest as a food-producing habitat, human dependence on forest foods, the nutritional contributions of such foods, and nutrition-related problems that affect forest peoples. Our second topic is disease and other health problems. In addition to the major problems--HIV/AIDS, malaria, Ebola and mercury poisoning, we address some 20 other tropical diseases and health problems related to forests. The third topic is medicinal products. We review the biophysical properties of medicinal species and consider related indigenous knowledge, human uses of medicinal forest products, the serious threats to forest sustainability, and the roles of traditional healers, with a discussion of the benefits of forest medicines and conflicts over their distribution. Our fourth and final topic is the cultural interpretations of human health found among forest peoples, including holistic world views that impinge on health and indigenous knowledge. The Occasional Paper concludes with some observations about the current state of our knowledge, its utility and shortcomings, and our suggestions for future research."
Forests, Women and Health: Opportunities and Challenges for Conservation
(2011) Wan, Meilinda; Colfer, Carol J. Pierce; Powell, Bronwyn
"Health issues of forest women in developing countries merit more serious attention. This paper reviews existing literature on the interface of women, health and forests to highlight conservation opportunities and challenges. Most women in forests are collectors and users of forest species. However, existing conservation efforts, deforestation, poor health services and household responsibilities can intensify health and safety concerns for forest dependent women. Women are likely to bear the strenuous burden of carrying fuelwood (and other forest products) long distances and inhaling smoke while cooking. The burden of unintended childbearing, diseases and cultural issues can compound their health problems. To improve local livelihoods and environments, some organisations have initiated activities that integrate conservation and human health objectives, including family planning. This article provides project examples, where the involvement of women has been identified as a key component in effectively meeting both conservation and development goals."
The Grab Bag: Supplementary Methods for Assessing Human Well-Being
(1999) Colfer, Carol J. Pierce
"In The BAG, we outline five steps: 1. Identification of relevant stakeholders; 2. Assessment of security of intergenerational access to resources; 3. Assessment of rights and obligations to manage forests cooperatively; 4. Assessment of the health of forests, forest actors and cultures; and 5. An abbreviated scoring method."
Guidelines for Developing, Testing and Selecting Criteria and Indicators for Sustainable Forest Management
(1999) Prabhu, Ravi; Colfer, Carol J. Pierce; Dudley, Richard G.
"The principal aim of C&I field testing is to identify C&I that are objective, cost-effective and relevant to the sustainable management of forests. The focus of the testing procedure should be to identify the smallest number of C&I needed to reliably assess forest management in a cost effective manner."
Inter-generational Access to Resources: Developing Criteria and Indicators
(1997) Colfer, Carol J. Pierce; Wadley, Reed L.; Harwell, Emily; Prabhu, Ravi
"This paper makes use of data from a methodological pre-test conducted in and around Danau Sentarum Wildlife Reserve in West Kalimantan, Indonesia. Its purpose was to contribute to the development of principles, criteria and indicators for sustainable forest management (SFM). The particular topic investigated here is inter-generational access to resources, an issue widely deemed important--and very difficult to assess--in sustainable forest management. The methods pre-tested are described, and earlier versions of the principles, criteria and indicators are re-evaluated, re-ordered and scored in a dual attempt: 1)to develop simple, inexpensive and reliable assessment methods; and 2)to contribute to our understanding of the causal links between inter-generational access to resources and sustainable forest management."
Politics of Decentralization: Introduction (Manuscript Draft)
(Earthscan, 2005) Blaser, Jurgen; Kuchli, Christian; Colfer, Carol J. Pierce; Capistrano, Doris
"Decentralization processes are taking place in more than 60 countries worldwide. These processes vary by sector, by the discretionary powers transferred to lower levels of governance, by the design and implementation of fiscal and other financial aspects and by degree of social responsibility. These processes are of central importance in political and economic change in all sectors of the economy, including the forest sector. "A few years ago, forestry decentralization was a nonissue for many countries. In the proposals for action of the Intergovernmental Panel on Forests (IPF, 1995-1997) and the Intergovernmental Forum on Forests (IFF, 1997-2000), decentralization is not explicitly mentioned, and it is only indirectly present in the recommendations on participation. Decentralization has become a theme in forestry only since substantial political changes have taken place in many countries. As a matter of fact, governance - of which decentralization is one of the most visible elements today - is a crucial issue in sustainable forest management. It is the quality of governance that may ultimately determine the fate of forest resources in all their aspects - economic, social and ecological."
Principles, Criteria and Indicators: Applying Ockham's Razor to the People-Forestry Link
(1995) Colfer, Carol J. Pierce; Prabhu, Ravi; Wollenberg, Eva
"This concept paper addresses those elements in the people-forest interface which we perceive as critical to sustainable forest management, based on our own training and experience, as well as two field tests of the conceptual framework (in Kalimantan and Cote d'Ivoire). Initially, we define our use of important terms, like sustainability, well being/needs, and people; and make clear some of our assumptions. We briefly allude to four pertinent conceptual and policy issues, including the role of people in relation to the forest; the significance of maintaining cultural diversity; the relationships among cultural integrity, culture change, and stakeholder participation; and finally, policy issues pertaining to land use, population, and people's participation. The body of the paper discusses two principles, each with three associated criteria. An appendix lists principles, criteria, indicators and verifiers found useful in our field tests. We conclude briefly by describing future research plans, focused on refining our definitions of stakeholders, testing the importance of intergenerational access to resources and people's participation in sustainable forest management, and testing the applicability of such criteria and indicators for community forestry contexts."
Scoring and Analysis Guide for Assessing Human Well-Being.
(1999) Salim, Agus; Colfer, Carol J. Pierce; McDougall, Cynthia
"The ability to assess human well-being has been increasingly recognised as an important element in assessing sustainable forest management around the world in recent years. The ten tools in CIFOR’s C&I Toolbox include a generic set of principles, criteria and indicators, and related methods. These are designed to help people make assessments of management in particular production forests where people live and work in and around the forest. The assessments include aspects relating to management, the environment and human well-being. Potential assessors might be project managers, certifiers, donors, government agencies, researchers, NGOs, and communities."
The 'Social Life' of Conservation: Lessons from Danau Sentarum
(2010) Wadley, Reed L.; Colfer, Carol J. Pierce; Dennis, Rona; Aglionby, Julia
"This article focuses on a team’s collaborative conservation experience, beginning in 1991 in Danau Sentarum National Park in West Kalimantan, Indonesia. The experience of three teams is recounted as they worked collaboratively with local Malay and Iban communities to manage the flooded and lowland tropical forest area. Relations between conservation workers and communities are discussed, and social capital among conservation workers is highlighted as another centrally important feature in conservation success. Subsequent involvement of the network of concerned researchers is also described. Central points of the article are 1) that conservation practices are socially embedded, and 2) that a “best practices” approach is inadequate when personal characteristics, experiences, and networks have such long lasting impacts on conservation itself."
Who Counts Most in Sustainable Forest Management?
(1995) Colfer, Carol J. Pierce
"This paper proposes a method for identifying and defining the most significant actors in sustainable forest management. A rationale for the importance of differentiating among various forest stakeholders is first provided. Significant stakeholders identified in forest management units in Kalimantan, Cote d'Ivoire, and the USA. are described. These descriptions are followed by a discussion of six important dimensions along which groups of people vary in their relations with the forest (proximity, pre-existing rights, dependency, indigenous knowledge, culture/forest integration, and power deficits). Finally, a simple scoring technique is proposed and demonstrated for the three contexts described earlier."
Who Counts Most? Assessing Human Well-Being in Sustainable Forest Management.
(1999) Colfer, Carol J. Pierce; Prabhu, Ravi; Gunter, Mario; McDougall, Cynthia; Miyasaka Porro, Noemi; Porro, Roberto
"In this paper, we present a tool, the ‘Who Counts Matrix’, for differentiating ‘forest actors’, or people whose well-being and forest management are intimately intertwined, from other stakeholders. We argue for focusing formal attention on forest actors in efforts to develop sustainable forest management. We suggest seven dimensions by which forest actors can be differentiated from other stakeholders, and a simple scoring technique for use by formal managers in determining whose well-being must form an integral part of sustainable forest management in a given locale. Building on the work carried out by the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) on criteria and indicators, we present three illustrative sets of stakeholders, from Indonesia, Côte d’Ivoire and the United States, and Who Counts Matrices from seven trials, in an appendix."