An Uneven Playing Field: Regulatory Barriers to Communities Making a Living from the Timber from Their Forests–Examples from Cambodia, Nepal and Vietnam

Forests

David Gritten¹  Martin Greijmans¹  Sophie R. Lewis¹  Tol Sokchea¹  Julian Atkinson¹  Tan Nguyen Quang¹  Bishnu Poudyal¹  Binod Chapagain¹  Lok Mani Sapkota¹  Bernhard Mohns¹  Naya Sharma Paudel²  Wil de Jong³  Pia Katila³  Glenn Galloway³ 

[1] RECOFTC-The Center for People and Forests, P.O. Box 1111, Kasetsart Post Office, 10903 Bangkok, Thailand; E-Mails:;Forest Action, Nakhu, Lalitpur, P.O. Box 12207, 44700 Kathmandu, Nepal; E-Mail:RECOFTC-The Center for People and Forests, P.O. Box 1111, Kasetsart Post Office, 10903 Bangkok, Thailand;

关键词: Community forestry;    commercialization;    forest regulations;    livelihoods;    sustainable forest management;   

DOI  :  10.3390/f6103433

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

Community forestry (CF) is widely viewed as the solution to many of the challenges facing forest management and governance in the Asia-Pacific region. However, it is often felt that CF is not delivering on its potential. This paper focuses on one possible limitation: the role of regulations in curbing communities’ ability to make a living from their timber resources. The work covers Cambodia, Nepal and Vietnam, using policy analyses, national level experts’ workshops, and focus group discussions in two CF sites in each country. The results highlight the fact that there are numerous, often prohibitive, regulations in place. One challenge is the regulations’ complexity, often requiring a level of capacity far beyond the ability of community members and local government staff. The paper puts forward various recommendations including simplifying regulations and making them more outcome-based, and facilitating key stakeholders, including government and community based organizations, working together on the design and piloting of forest monitoring based on mutually agreed forest management outcomes. The recommendations reflect the belief that for CF to succeed, communities must be allowed to make a meaningful living from their forests, a result of which would be increased investment in sustainable forest management.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2015 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.