Risking Change: Experimenting With Local Forest Management Committees in Jamaica

Abstract

"This paper presents the results of research by the Caribbean Natural Resources Institute and the Jamaica Forestry Department (FD) on one component of Jamaica’s new approach: the establishment of two Local Forest Management Committees (LFMCs) to involve stakeholders in managing forest reserves. Eighteen months after their establishment, the LFMCs have become a channel of communication between the FD and local stakeholders that is valued by both. They have contributed to the Department’s watershed management plan; suggested ways in which forest management can be improved through collaboration with stakeholders; identified opportunities for increasing the contribution of forest reserves to local development; and translated some of these into small but ambitious projects. They are also having some influence on national policy and the institutional culture of the FD."