| Local Adaptations to Climate Change Impact: Community Forest Management Trends in Southeast Asia |
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| Wednesday, 27 January 2010 | |
Pedro Walpole
Local initiatives in forest management are often not factored in national programs that appear encumbered by a need to fit a generic national strategy. But the range of community contexts in forest areas needs to be understood and integrated for national strategies to be effective and responsive. And in the global reality of climate change and the diversity by which the impact will be felt in different countries, these local realities are all the more crucial in defining the country response to the impact of climate change.
There is growing interest in exploring ways to link the formal forestry sector to informal and emerging initiatives of rural communities. This is a challenging task as the forestry sector in Southeast Asia, as in many parts of the world, continues to be characterized by a technocratic, hierarchical, and bureaucratic orientation to management, and the need to retain control and authority. The informal forest cultures of the region, by contrast, emphasize a socio-cultural orientation and a multiplicity of use.
In the face of rapid deforestation, and the resulting loss of biodiversity, torrential downstream floods, and water shortages, Southeast Asian governments, city dwellers, and rural communities have grown increasingly concerned over the deteriorating state of their forests and watersheds. Recognizing the role communities can play in the future of forest management in Southeast Asia, there has been a growing movement in the region to formulate laws, policies and programs to formally involve rural people in forest stewardship. In the last couple of years, the critical role of forests in climate change discussions and negotiations is not disputed. And underlying this need to ensure the forest cover requirements is the critical role of communities in forest management and the adaptations needed in coping with the impact of climate change. Both the forests and the marginal communities in many of these areas need attention and support, beyond the carbon offsetting, trading, and computations that appear to dominate the rounds of international discussions taking place. In 2006, Asia Forest Network and Community Forestry International published Communities and Forest Stewardship: Regional Transitions in Southeast Asia. Accompanying this publication are five books that focus on how these stewardship and management transitions are taking place and the programs, policies, and laws that both support and constrain. From the flood forests and fishing villages around Tonle Sap Lake, Cambodia, to communities transforming forestlands in Java, Indonesia, to communities and watershed governance in the Visayas, Philippines, to communities for watershed protection in Mae Khan, Thailand, and the return of limestone forests in Northeastern Vietnam -- the diversity of experiences is shared through these publications. Three years ago, these marginal communities presented the shifts and adaptations in forest and resource management they are already doing as they cope with their daily survival needs, resource fragility and access, livelihood instability, tenure rights, and conflict resolution. They have been adapting to the impact of climate change in their areas, even before climate change became a buzzword. There are lessons to be learned from these communities as we define the response to climate change and the support that must be provided. |
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| Last Updated ( Monday, 19 December 2011 ) |