People, Power and Timber: Politics of Resource use in Community-Based Forest Management

Abstract

"Political powers emanating from the state continue to drive the management of forest stands in the Philippines. This paper examines how centralized state political power is exercised through devolved or 'centered' powers at the policy, program and project level in forest management in the southern Philippines. We investigate how centralized political power emanates through networks to affect the success of local timber utilization through community-based forest management (CBFM) in Mindanao Island. By examining the shift from centralized to devolved forest management, results suggest that centralized power continues to be exercised as a form of local control through CBFM. The conclusion asserts that, in certain conditions, local communities can use their political capacities to effectively negotiate, or even resist centralized state control over 'their own' timber resources."