Local control of forest resources holds opportunities and challenges

Hope for a reversal in rampant deforestation and the gripping poverty that millions of people suffer from in developing countries as a result of resource mismanagement must lie in participation of local communities, says David Kaimowitz, Director General of the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) based in Bogor, Indonesia.

Policymakers recognize a global trend toward local participation, a shifting of decision-making and management authority away from central governments to local governments and communities. Through this so-called decentralization of forest resource management, central governments are looking for ways to reduce costs and yet improve efficiency. At the same time, local communities are demanding, and increasingly getting, greater control of resources and a greater share of benefits from those resources.

"Decentralization is taking place. The challenge for government policymakers and local communities is to manage the trend to build on the positive parts, the idea of communities getting involved in their own issues, and reduce the negative parts," said Dr Kaimowitz in an interview with New Agriculturist at the international Workshop on Decentralization, Federal Systems in Forestry, and National Forest Programs held in Interlaken, Switzerland, 27-30 April 2004.

"It used to be that only national governments got involved in forestry issues. What we are finding is that local governments, town councils, districts, municipalities, mayors and state and provincial governments are now getting much more involved. This is both an opportunity, because it means a lot of people at different levels are more concerned about forests than they used to be, but there is also the possibility of conflicts. What we need to find are ways to come to an agreement about how we want to use our forests, and decentralisation, this whole process, can help us find those ways," Dr Kaimowitz said.

Finding a balance
"We have to find a balance between production and conservation, between feeding people and taking care of nature. We can't just turn everything over to local governments and say, 'Do what you can, we wish you well.' Yet, we have to give local governments a greater role than they've had in the past," said Dr Kaimowitz in summing up the consensus from the four-day meeting that attracted 170 participants from 50 countries.

The need for training for local governments and communities was also cited several times at the workshop as being critical if the decentralization process is to be managed successfully. If a town government or a village government or a district government has never worked on forestry issues before, they are going to need training. They are going to need to understand the forestry laws, how to plant trees, how to get involved in land use planning. But on the other hand, they already bring to the process a lot more contact with the local people and a lot more sensitivity for the local reality.

Indonesia provides an example of where in recent years district governments have taken guidance from communities before issuing logging permits. A number of communities have benefited financially from these logging ventures, as have the district governments through taxes on logging and other forestry activities, which in turn has allowed them to offer new services to communities. On the downside, forests have been poorly logged, even destroyed.

"There are many different visions of what a forest should be used for," said Dr Kaimowitz. "Some people want to protect them and leave them natural so that it's good for nature and the animals. Other people want to use them, to cut down trees and grow food on them. Other people want to mine in the forests, and other people want to log them and use them for timber. The key is striking a balance between these competing visions." Evidence of the progress of those visions will be featured in the next edition of New Agriculturist.

The workshop on decentralization in forestry was launched by Switzerland and Indonesia and conducted by CIFOR and Intercooperation, in partnership with the United Nations Forum on Forests.