Transition to Participatory Forest Management in an Era of Globalization Challenges and Opportunities

Abstract

"Environmental degradation affecting the livelihoods of millions of poor has been a major concern the world over. Several national governments, especially in developing countries, have responded to this situation by decentralizing natural resource governance to promote local people's participation in resource management. New and innovative strategies such as joint forest management, community-based management, and participatory management have increasingly come into place in several countries, often with the active support of international agencies and donors.

"In an era of globalization, however, there appears to be a challenge to the viability of such approaches that rely heavily on community management - especially where the immediate benefit to local people is small - and where the public good value is significant. It stands to reason that local people need to benefit in some way if they are to manage common pool resources to meet the broader societal goal of environmental improvement. The current global market dynamics and associated pressures are bringing about fundamental changes in community characteristics, societal values, and livelihoods that greatly influence local people's need, ability, vision, and willingness to work collectively for common property management. Very few studies have however analyzed the dynamics of implementing participatory resource management policies under these circumstances.

"This study analyses the incentives for local people for their involvement in restoring degraded state forests based on an in-depth analysis of Joint Forest Management program in Tamil Nadu, India. This paper also documents the limited scope of on-site forest product benefits to support local community needs and interests, and explores the prospects of revitalizing the program through compensating forest fringe communities for providing environmental services. Elaborating on these challenges and opportunities, the paper discusses the need for developing appropriate institutional mechanisms to integrate conservation and development efforts for the participatory management initiatives to succeed and sustain."