COMMUNITY BASED FORESTRY AS ADAPTIVE MANAGEMENT TO CLIMATE CHANGE:

 

 An Assessment of the Role of Women and Their Access to Forest Resources – Case Study of Tunku and Kasila Community Forests.

Introduction

From the mid 1980s devolution and decentralization of natural resource management has become a popular policy among many developing countries. This change in policy is dictated by the recognition of the limits of government agencies in managing resources at the local level, which has resulted in massive degradation of natural resources due to climate change; consequently, disrupting local people’s livelihood systems. As a result, a consensus emerged that local communities should be involved in managing their resources. Hence, nearly every country in the world is currently experimenting with some form of community resource management by devolving some of their power to the community to use and manage the resources (Edmonds, 2002). ‘However, most current “decentralization” reforms are characterized by insufficient transfer of powers to local institutions, under tight central-government oversight’; consequently, they do not adequately redress many social inequalities, including the disenfranchisement of women and the exclusion of marginal groups’ (Ribot, 2002).

 

 Although the Gambia, where the proposed study area is located, has played a pioneering role in establishing community forestry in Africa in early 1990s (FAO 2005); the decentralization is limited to ‘transferring decision-making powers to various unaccountable local bodies [which] threaten local equity and the environment’ (Ribot, 2003).  The country has developed and implemented one of the most progressive institutional frameworks, including the permanent transfer of ownership of forest resources to communities(FAO 2011) , albeit in theory; as insufficient powers and benefits are devolved to motivate local actors to carry out new environmental management responsibilities (Ribot, 2003).

 

The dominant patriarchal gender relations in developing countries, like the Gambia, exclude women from the arena of decision making even at the community level thus hindering their effective participation in community forestry (Sarin, 1995).Studies in this area revealed that ‘despite the importance of forest to the welfare of community members and the prime responsibility of women for their care, many Community Based Forestry Management (CBFM) programs simply fail to include women as equal participants’ (Tole 2010). Agarwal described such exclusions within seemingly participatory institutions as “participatory exclusions” and argued that they ‘constitute more than a time-lag effect ….and can, in turn, unfavorably affect both equity and institutional efficiency’ (Agarwal, 2001).She observed that women’s limited participation in formal Community Forest Groups has wider adverse implications for distributional equity and institutional efficiency; because ‘participation has been viewed as a pathway towards improving good governance, promoting sustainable [resource] use and management, all while enhancing livelihoods benefits and opportunities’ (Coleman & Mwangi, 2013).

 

Although there are numerous models used for analyzing the nature and influence of institutions within Community Based Forestry Management (CBFM) programs there are fewer examples of how institutions inform the practice and outcomes of Community Based Forestry Management (CBFM) programs. This study will contribute in that direction by analyzing the different types of arrangements that mediate access to benefits from community forest resources/resource benefits by using Critical Institutionalism frame work. Defined as ‘rules of the game’ institutions can be elusive and difficult to identify and understand (Nunan, 2015). However,“there are many tools and approaches that have been developed to investigate the nature and roles of institutions in mediating people-environment relations”(Nunan, 2015). Critical Institutionalismassociated with Frances Cleaver (2012), isone such framework that has institutions at the heart of its analysis of how natural resources are governed, accessed and benefitted from.In accentuating the intricacy of institutions in natural resource settings, Critical Institutionalism proposes two areas of focus which complement other methodsof analysis of institutions in natural resource settings.The two areas of importance are “recognition of the role and influence of socially-embedded institutions beyond those designed for natural resource management…andhow such institutions interact and engage with other institutions through institutional bricolage”(Nunan, 2015).

The types of questions addressed by Critical Institutionalism are; how does governance function in an area and with what implications for different types of resource users? And how are bureaucratic and socially-embedded institutions drawn on in the governance of natural resources?

 

Objective of the Study

 

Although a huge amount of scholarly writing now exists on Community Based Forestry Management in sub-Saharan Africa examining both the success and failure of such initiatives, there is surprisingly little existing work on gender participation.The task of this study, therefore,is to fill in this gap by assessing the level of women’s participationin Community Forestry,using the Critical  by Agarwal, and its impact on their access to forest resources. Hence, the research intends to evaluate the success of Tunku and Kasila Community Forests with the underlying assumption that women’s effective participation would involve a shift from being absent or just nominal members to empowered participants who can sometimes influence decisions to their advantage.

 

The success of community forestry groups as agents of participative development is hinged on the effective participation of the marginalized members of the society; hence, some of the indicators of success are that the communities should be able to:

·         get their basic forest resource needs; that is, the different needs of both men and women;

·         develop self reliance with respect to forest resources;

·          provide forest resource needs of the poorest and the weakest of their members;

·         manifestgender parity  in  decision making.

 

The interest of this study, therefore, is to analyze the performance of the Community Forest Management (CFM) program at the community level by:

 

Ø   Evaluating the present institutional organizational mechanism of the Community Forest Management and its balances of power among stakeholders with particular emphasis on gender parity.

 

Ø   Assessing the distribution of benefits and costs within the communities, in order to find out the people that actually benefits most from the Community Forests.

 

 

Ø  Appraising the administrative structures and procedures associated with decision making about resource allocation.

 

Based on this analysis, the study is expected to identify the key factors that determine effective community participation which is conducive for a sustainable successful resource management under Community Forestry.

 

Methodology

 An intensive Literature Review of relevant studies on Community Forest Management will be carried out. Secondary data will be collected from population census reports, Forestry Department records and other relevant sources of data. Primary data will be collected through participant observation, key informants and individual in-depth interviews, as well as focus group discussions.

 

 

 

 

Choosing the Sample

 

Since it is impossible to look at all the Community Forests in the Gambia due to time and financial constraints, Kuntu and Kasila Community Forests are identified for the study.  The decision to focus the study on these Community Forests is provoked by the fact that they are the largest community forests - both acreage and population size - in the West Coast Region where community forestry is considered to be most successful throughout the country.

 

 

Data Collection

 

The study will obtain information throughqualitative and quantitative data collection techniques involving:

 

o   Participant Observation – this entails making me familiar with the proceedings of the community forestry group meetings, resource mobilization and allocation; as well as making formal and informal contacts with the main actors.

 

o   Key Informant Interviews (KIIs) - this entails collecting valuable information from some members of the community who are particularly knowledgeable about such matters.

 

o   Individual In-depth Interviews – This entails using individual structured questionnaires for a small sample of the targeted group for gaining knowledge on attitudes and opinions about sensitive issues.

 

o   Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) with selected interest groups – This entails guiding conversations among groups of people by introducing a series of topics to provoke wide discussions to learn about the common concerns and opinions of the target group members.

Data Analysis

The underlying assumption of this thesis is that, successful community forestry groups should provide meaningful powers and sufficient resources for their marginalized members. Two ways in which the level of participation will be assessed in the study are: the results of participation in the form of predetermined targets, and the level at which the women participate in planning and implementation activities. Responses from the Key Informant and Individual In-depth interviews will be synthesized based on the main variables of the study objectives, and the Focus Group Discussion findings would also be used to reinforce the emerging trends and or findings.

 

Planning

The time plan for the proposed research will be guided by the program; the tentative schedule is tabulated below.

Tasks	Schedule (Months)
	1	2	3	4	5	6
Literature Review				x
Develop Data Collection Instruments			x
Conduct Field Work				x		x
Data Synthesis			x
Draft  Analysis of Qualitative Data		x
Analysis of Main Findings		x
Conclusions andImplications			x
Submission of Thesis	x

 

 

References

Agarwal, B., 2001. Participatory exclusions, community forestry and gender: an analysis and conceptual framework. World Development 29 (10), 1623–1648.

 

Coleman, E.A. & Mwangi, E (2013) Women’s participation in forest management: A   

       cross-country analysis, Global Environmental Change 23 (2013) 193-205.

 

Edmonds, E (2002), “Government-initiated community resource management and local resource
extraction from Nepal’s forest”, Journal of Development Economics, Vol. 68 pp. 89-115.

 

FAO, 2005: Empowering communities through forestry: Community-based Enterprise

development in the Gambia, by Almamy Dampha and Kanimang Camera, Working Paper

No.8 Rome.

 

FAO 2011. Socio-Economic Evaluation of Community-Based Forest Enterprise Development  

      using the Market Analysis and Development Approach in Community Forestry in the  

     Gambia,  by K.Camara.Forestry Policy and Institutions Working Paper No. 27. Rome.

 

GOTG; 1998: The Forest Bill of the Gambia - Forest Act and Regulations,Banjul

 

Ribot J (2002b) Democratic decentralization of natural resources: institutionalizing popular   

         participation. World Resources Institute, Washington, DC

 

Ribot J (2003) Democratic decentralization of natural resources: institutional choice  

        and discretionary power transfers in sub-Saharan Africa. Public Administration and  

        Development 23:53–65

 

Sarin M, 1995 Community forestry management: where are the women? The Hindu Survey of  

        the Environment 25: 27-9.

Tole, L (2010) Reforms from the Ground Up: A Review of Community-BasedForest

Management in Tropical Developing Countries, Environmental Management (2010)

45:1312–1331