6.20 Participatory monitoring and evaluation of conservation initiatives
See option 1.4.20, Volume 1
20a. Villagers assist in identifying staff training needs
Tanzania
The Tanga Coastal Zone Integrated Management Programme decided to address the training need for field workers by facilitating the villagers' active participation. The services of extension officers from various government departments, including Fisheries, Community Development, Forestry and Agriculture, were co-opted for the programme. Each district has a number of these officers stationed at various villages. To use them successfully it was recognized that they needed to be reoriented from their current duties and retrained. A training needs assessment was prepared by an expert team from the Department of Community Development. The assessment was completed by asking both villagers and government staff what the role of extension workers should be, and how effective they considered the present staff to be in fulfilling this role.
The team found that extension staff generally do not understand coastal fishing communities or hold them in high regard. They tend to be paternalistic when dealing with villagers. Often villagers are not even aware that there is an extension officer in their village. The extension staff generally receive little support or supervision in their work stations. Their role is not well defined and it is therefore difficult to carry out their work programmes.
The training programme now in place for the extension officers working in the Tanga Coastal Programme is designed to overcome some of these problems. Its overall aim is to have a set of extension officers who, through participatory processes, can assist local user groups to identify their own resource issues, formulate action plans and obtain input and technical advice from various sources, as needed.
From: Shurcliff et al., 1995.
20b. Lack of follow-up undermines community support
Pakistan
In 1993, in a village near Peshawar, a participatory evaluation exercise was conducted in connection with the Kabul River clean-up proposal. The proposal was carried out under the framework of the Sarhad Provincial Conservation Strategy. There has been no follow-up to the findings and recommendations made at the meeting. The village people are unlikely to participate in another planning process that is unconnected to any practical action or follow-up.
20c. University provides expertise for participatory evaluation
The Centre for Applied Social Sciences (CASS) is a member of the CAMPFIRE Collaborative Group (CCG). CCG is a national group of the stakeholders in the CAMPFIRE Programme that was set up to direct and review implementation of the programme at all levels. The specific mandate of CASS is to carry out applied monitoring and evaluation research of the CAMPFIRE Programme. To achieve this, CASS secured funding to employ researchers for specific aspects of the programme. The evaluation research has been invaluable in the development of the programme. In particular, CASS has contributed to developing appropriate local institutions for the management of wildlife resources, and a policy framework for the devolution of authority over wildlife to local communities. They also helped to establish a forum for debate among stakeholders in the programme, and to disseminate relevant information on the programme to interested parties. CASS research is participatory, involving local communities and other stakeholders in identifying issues to be probed, and in designing the study and the actual process itself.
Zimbabwe
See option 2.4.1, Volume 1
21a. A multi-use forest
Bolivia
In Chorojo (Cochabamba, Bolivia), the indigenous community owns a forest of Polylepis trees, locally named quenua. Food is grown in the forest, and animals graze there. Without specific management rules, the combination of these activities could easily destroy the forest. Yet the forest is in a reasonable condition due to the traditional management practices adopted by the local people. Agricultural plots are small and located in the spaces between the trees, so they co-exist in a sylvi-agricultural arrangement. Grazing is allowed only during certain periods of the year, especially after harvesting, when animals can eat stubble and grass growing near the trees. In addition, community authorities enforce clear rules on the cutting of trees: only people who are going to marry are allowed to cut trees, which are considered excellent for making charcoal and chicha (a maize-based beverage). These practices and rules need to be understood and incorporated into any local conservation initiative.
21b. Maintaining ecological balance in land-use
The Philippines
In a study of indigenous cooperative mechanisms and traditional land-use practices among several communities in the Philippines, the International Labour Office (ILO) found that the land-use management adopted by the Ifugaos (the indigenous people of the cordillera) has greatly helped maintain the ecological balance of their overall farming system. Sites for rain-fed agriculture (uma) are carefully selected to minimise the risk of erosion. Cropping for two to four years is followed by a fallow system of five to six years, when soil fertility is restored.
The community uses wood lots of second growth forest (muyung) to arrest soil erosion and preserve a sustainable supply of irrigation water to the adjoining fields (payoh). Coffee is planted in the muyung as an additional source of income. Fallen coffee leaves decay and help enrich soil fertility. During timber harvesting, the Ifugaos leave the smaller trees and seedlings for future tree crops. A variety of tree species is planted to enrich the system and to provide wood fuel and timber for house construction. Each tree that is felled is replaced by planting two or more trees. The planting of supplementary tree species is proof of the Ifugaos's desire to keep their forests and farming system sustainable and foster biodiversity.
Tribal laws protect the natural resources. Penalties against muyung violators are decided by a council of elders. The use of the forest is limited to the members of the community. The value of the forest is ingrained in the minds of the Ifugaos; hence they take from it no more than they need.
The Ifugaos system is an excellent example of communal management of land and resources. No local conservation initiative could afford to ignore it. Yet, many of its features are not at all apparent to the unaware observer.
Abridged from: ILO, 1995a.
21c. Protecting the ancestors clothes
Madagascar
During a study of the slash-and-burn rice cultivation known as tavy on the eastern coast of Madagascar, a particular traditional practice among the Betsimisaraka peasants was observed. Every household owned a plot that they farmed according to family needs. But there was also a large community area, access to which was decided by the customary chief (Tangalamena). This area is called sembotrano, which means "ancestor's clothes". The Betsimisaraka peasants believe that land represents their ancestors and that vegetation is their clothes. Clearing forest in the sembotrano area therefore means undressing the ancestors. This is why tavy in this area is practised only by permission of the chief.
When the community decides, by examining some fertility indicator plants, that tavy is practicable, the chief initiates a ritual to implore the ancestors' favour and blessing. A zebu is then killed and the chief declares that tavy can proceed for that season. The chief allocates portions of the land to every household for them to work during that season. After the harvest, another ritual ceremony is necessary to thank the ancestors. The land is subsequently closed to further use for six to ten years, depending on soil fertility. Anyone who infringes this rule is sanctioned by the entire community and must kill a zebu to be forgiven.
6.22 Participatory review of customary claims to land and natural resources
See option 2.4.2, Volume 1
22a. Mapping the watershed
Madagascar
The IMAMBA-IVAKAKA Project was initiated in 1990 as a pilot project to provide technical and methodological information for the protection of the agricultural area of Alaotra, the rice granary of Madagascar. To facilitate the Rural Spaces Management Programme, the project divided the area into basic units called Bassin Versant Elementaire (BVE). Each BVE includes low ground and hillside areas and comprises about 100 hectares.
A meeting at project headquarters to clarify land ownership boundaries brought together all the households that claimed possession over rice paddies within each BVE. A map of the general area, drawn from aerial photos, was shown to the farmers. All the farmers identified their own plots on this map. They then went to the fields together to confirm the boundaries they had drawn on the map. Once conflicts were sorted out, the boundaries were fixed and a common basic map was drawn up. The project prepared a fair copy of the map, to be kept by a representative of the farmer's group.
Today the map is used and updated whenever required. It has been used, for example, in processing land registration and in establishing the area of the project's management plan.
22b.Participatory mapping identifies ownership and resources
Bulgaria
As part of a participatory rural appraisal (PRA) exercise undertaken by WWF and the Bulgarian Society for the Conservation of the Rhodopi Mountains, a participatory mapping exercise was undertaken with the people in the village of Ostritza. People were asked to identify their land ownership and resource claims. The common areas identified as being used by the community included forests, water sources, pasture land (some three to four km from the village), and sources of fuel, edible mushrooms and strawberries.
People drew a map showing natural resources, roads, other important landmarks, a natural water source and village boundaries. The project team was careful not to ask leading questions and let the people drawing the map indicate the natural resources in a descriptive, open-ended manner. The people identified forest lands, pasture lands and home gardens in the village and on the slopes near the pasture, as well as areas where the forest had been degraded and denuded. The map can now be used as a basis for problem analysis and resource monitoring in the village.
Abridged from: Bodurov et al., 1995.
22c. Seeing the whole using aerial photos
Australia
The Landcare group in Kalannie, west Australia, began their planning by doing a reconnaissance survey of their district and buying aerial photographs (at a scale of 1:25,000); 98 percent of the local landowners bought their own aerial photograph. Details of the natural landscape, agricultural systems, land units and existing and potential land management problems were mapped and priorized for planning. Sites were identified and representative soil cores were sampled to provide detailed descriptions of soils. After these surveys, three workshops were held covering:
Abridged from Campbell and Siepen, 1994.
6.23 Review of national policies and laws affecting resource management
See option 2.4.3, Volume 1
23a. Give participation a chance!
India
An exercise is currently underway in India to review the various policies and laws relating to conservation and local people. In 1988, a new National Forest Policy advocated that, since forest-dwellers are dependent on forests for their livelihood:
their rights and concessions should be fully protected;
As part of the review it has become apparent that the acts governing natural resources, including the Forest Act of 1927 and the Wildlife (Protection) Act of 1972, have very little scope for people's participation in forest management; they primarily contain measures to regulate and restrict people's access to resources. This anomaly is being pointed out by many tribal movements and NGOs, and conservationists are arguing for greater sensitivity to local needs and for greater participation of local people in conservation initiatives. Proposals towards joint management of protected areas are finding increasing support within the country.
23b. Administrative procedures hinder conservation
Ethiopia
In 1991 the final report on the research-action phase of the ILO project concerned with women fuelwood carriers in Addis Ababa illustrated the impact that administrative procedures can have on conservation. A programme to restore and develop the forest resources around the city is being undermined by hundreds of women who are forced by economic circumstances to risk beatings and theft from the forest guards in order to chop wood from the trees for sale in the city. The project, meant to help develop alternative sources of income, found that the ability to help the women and thereby safeguard the forests was severely hampered by the city's legislative and administrative practices. Project staff found that even though legislation in Ethiopia gives full rights to any citizen to acquire land, the bureaucratic red tape involved is beyond the capacity of groups such as the Women Fuelwood Carriers (WFCs).
Acquiring land for future WFC activity was essential for the development of small-scale industries and businesses, and so, on behalf of the women, project staff applied to the government for land. After exhaustive justifications were presented and an initial positive response obtained, the actual procedure of acquiring the land was found to be "an endless and frustrating task". Over several months, project staff and women's group members spent days attempting to legally acquire the land. One year later, the project had not managed to obtain any of the required lots. The project team reported an urgent need to streamline procedures and to make them more transparent. They felt that delays and uncertainty caused by the existing administrative practices were the single biggest obstacle to a larger-scale shift of women from fuelwood carrying to other income-generating activities. Since 1994, the project has been able to establish much closer liaison with the government authorities; this has greatly facilitated the acquisition of land.
From: Haile, 1995.
23c.Sustainable use requires judicial recognition for communities
Niger
The ron-palm forests of Dallol Mauri represent the largest stand of this very valuable palm species remaining in Niger. There are 58 rural communities within or adjacent to the forests, the total population of which is about 42,000 people. Various groups make extensive use of the palm for different purposes, including animal fodder, drink, fuel, building materials and fishing utensils. Human pressure on the extraction and use of the palm resource is high and poses a serious risk to the sustainability of the stand. There is also considerable potential for local conflicts over the various uses for the palm.
Since 1979, the government of Niger has paid a great deal of attention to the conservation of the Dallol Mauri palm forests. With the support of Swiss bilateral aid, a land-use plan was developed and implemented from 1981 to 1991. The final assessment of the programme concluded that the technical conditions necessary for the conservation of the forest had been clearly identified and several stands of palms had been successfully reconstituted. The local communities had so far a very limited involvement in the programme, however, despite the ron-palm's crucial importance to their economy.
The current challenge — of which the governmental services for rural development, the district civil administration, the villages and chiefs, the Swiss aid agency and international support agencies such as IUCN are all aware — is to achieve a regime of sustainable extraction of various palm products through a clear and fair distribution of rights, priorities of access and responsibilities. This can be arranged by a variety of interventions, including planting stands on degraded areas and introducing new cultivars, but most of all by appropriate regulations within the scope of the national legislation, the Code Rural.
In this sense, it becomes problematic that community organizations (or even communities and villages) are not recognized by the code as legal entities. It is therefore difficult to involve them substantively in legal agreements on a sustainable use of the resources. This legislative vacuum in the regulation of access and use of resources between individual property and district administration has been identified as one of the first areas to tackle. Currently the code is being reviewed and proposals for its amendment are being made to the appropriate authorities.
Abridged from: IUCN Social Policy Group, 1995.
23d. Conservation legislation accommodates traditional practices
New Zealand
Half of New Zealand's remaining privately-held original forests are owned by the Maori, the country's indigenous people. Yet, until recently, none of the existing ownership laws accommodated Maori cultural practices, such as multiple land ownership, nor did they fully provide for the retention of tribal ownership and control (tino rangatiratanga). For many Maori, anxious to retain ownership over all remaining tribal land, the maintenance of tino rangatiratanga is an essential prerequisite to protecting natural resources.
Special legislation has recently been introduced to enable the Maori people to obtain conservation covenants for lands in multiple ownership without compromising Maori ownership and control. The scheme is known as Nga Whenua Ranui. Under this scheme the tino rangatiratanga of the owners is fully recognized and respected, as are traditional Maori uses of the forest. For example, covenants can provide for timber extraction for traditional purposes (such as wood carving and the construction of traditional buildings), for the gathering of medicinal plants and weaving materials and even for the hunting of certain animal species. The covenants can be made subject to renewal after a certain period (e.g., 25 years) so that tribes do not have to commit their descendents to binding land-use decisions and risk alienating subsequent generations from their land.
The Nga Whenua Ranui scheme also provides for landowners to set up income-generating activities that will give them the economic independence to protect their forests from logging. Such activities include low-impact tourism, including guided walks through the forests and boat trips along the rivers.
A fund provides financial assistance to land-owners for land taxes, fencing and pest control; it also provides advice regarding protection mechanisms and future management. Applications for forest protection under the scheme and for the necessary financial assistance are assessed by a committee comprising four Maori and one Pakeha (non-Maori New Zealander), who is included for her ecological skills. The committee takes into consideration spiritual, cultural and ecological values when assessing the applications and then passes its recommendations to the Minister of Conservation for approval.
Abridged from Gould and Lees in Kemf, 1993.
6.24 Assessment of local uses of natural resources
See option 2.4.4, Volume 1
24a. Assess before banning!
India
At the Keoladeo Ghana (Bharatpur) National Park in western India — a semi-artificial wetland famous for its bird diversity — grazing by buffalo was abruptly stopped in 1982, based on the unsubstantiated perception that it was causing damage to the birds. Local graziers, unable to find adequate fodder outside the park, tried to force their way in, prompting a showdown with police in which seven villagers were killed.
A detailed ecological study later showed that the grazing actually helped to maintain the wetland character of the area, and that in the years following the ban on grazing, the habitat was changing into grassland. Such an assessment prior to the declaration of the area as a national park would have helped to avoid the conflict altogether.
Research is underway in the Biligiri Rangaswamy Temple Sanctuary in the southern hills of Karnataka to assess the ecological impacts of non-timber forest product collection by the Soliga people. Preliminary results suggest that there is little irreversible damage to biodiversity, that some of the traditional activities can be integrated with the conservation objectives of the area, and that the local people not only do not need to be moved out of the sanctuary, but can become an important part of its management.
24b. Trees, cattle and fines
Tanzania
In Babati, planting trees has become a way to assert and guard private tenure rights. Planted trees can be assigned a value as perennial crops which make them instrumental in defining compensation when land is reallocated or traded. Tree ownership is used as a substitute for land ownership, which Tanzanian law prohibits in accordance with the indigenous Babati culture. If farmers plant trees on a field they can regard the land as their property provided they can prove that the trees are theirs. If the trees are destroyed the farmers are entitled to compensation. If the government expropriates the land, it must pay compensation for the trees.
In the village of Mamire, stream bank erosion in the settlement area and gully erosion on the hill above are causing both farm and grazing lands to be lost. The Forest, Trees and People Project was engaged in land-use planning by bringing up land-use issues in village meetings and by offering support to local attempts to improve land-use and erosion control. Village leaders and council members, FTP staff, local government planners, and forestry and agricultural officers participated in a series of meetings and site visits. FTP proposed that grazing be prohibited, leaving the areas to recover by natural regeneration. The villagers simply suggested that trees be planted there. About 50 ha were set aside as a rehabilitation area; this included a gully area and an adjacent area of forest with overgrazed undergrowth. Trees were planted in the non-forested area, and in those places natural regeneration of grass and indigenous trees and shrubs resulted in rapid recovery. However, cattle were not successfully kept off the areas where there was no reforestation. The cattle continued to graze and the land degradation continued. The village government had correctly predicted that only an area planted with trees would be respected as "no- grazing". In fact, cattle can damage trees and the herders can be fined for the destruction. No trees means no risk of fines! Being aware of use patterns and implicit rules such as these is a great asset for a conservation initiative.
Abridged from: Johansson and Westman, 1992.
24c. Living in harmony with a World Heritage Site
Thailand
One of the few remaining refuges where the forest-dwelling Karen people have been able to maintain their traditional lifestyle is inside the Thung Yai Naresuan Sanctuary in Thailand. Within the sanctuary there are six villages, which are home to a population of 1,100 Karen people. Government officials from the Royal Forest Department, along with some conservationists and academics, have been in favour of removal of the villages to preserve the forest ecosystem. The relationship between the Karen people and most outsiders has been marked by mutual mistrust and misunderstanding. The debate for the resettlement of the Karen intensified when Thung Yai was declared a World Heritage Site.
Studies were undertaken to document and better understand the impacts of the Karen's cultural and subsistence practices on their environment. It was found that the Karen people have a resource management system which ensures that cultivation practices do not deplete the soils. The documentation of such environmentally sound practices counteracted the Thai government's perception that the Karen are destructive slash-and-burn agriculturalists. As a result of these findings, the Karen people have been allowed to remain in Thung Yai (for an update, see example 55b).
Abridged from: Hulse and Thongmak in Kemf, 1993.
24d. Comprehensive survey of local uses past, present and future
Tanzania
The Tanga Coastal Zone Conservation and Development Programme, being implemented by the Tanga Regional Council with assistance from IUCN, aims to establish integrated management of the region's coastal natural resources. As part of the planning phase, a comprehensive resource-use survey was undertaken using a variety of methods including semi-structured and focus-group interviews, mapping and transect exercises. From these processes, data was collected on past and current use patterns, the resources being used, their location and the quantities being collected.
Transect diagrams undertaken with community representatives identified the location of natural resources, and places where people farmed and carried out other resource-use activities. Fishermen participated in the mapping of their fishing areas, noting those areas that were good for finding particular kinds of fish. Interviews provided supplementary information on resource uses, such as where the women collected firewood and water.
Focus-groups of elderly people and fishermen discussed the traditional tenure and management systems that once operated in the area, changes in access to different resources, and the factors contributing to the breakdown of traditional systems. Focus-groups of major users of resource (fisheries, mangroves and forests) discussed current knowledge, attitudes and practices, their perception of the sustainability of the present use of resources and the impacts of different enterprises on the environment.
Representatives of different stakeholders were selected for semi-structured interviews which covered, among other matters, methods of resource harvesting, rates of consumption and waste disposal, perceived impacts on the environment, conflicts and cooperation with other resource users and potential for further expansion of resource exploitation.
As part of the assessment, key informants identified ways by which villagers could monitor changes and progress towards a more sustainable use of resources, both in the short and long term.
Abridged from: Shurcliff et al., 1995.
24e. A community game to identify forest resources
Papua New Guinea (PNG)
The "Non-Timber Forest Product Game" was developed by WWF's South Pacific Programme as a method of undertaking a rapid inventory of forest plants and uses. In one village alone on the north coast of PNG, 76 plants with over 114 uses were identified in the space of two hours using the game. Groups of ten or more villagers are formed, including a mix of knowledgeable adults and children. The groups are asked to walk into an area of forest and find as many useful plants as possible. They are also asked to break off a number of leaves as well as fruit and flowers, if these are available, to assist in identification. When the players return, each person lays their plants individually on a cleared area of ground. Duplicates are placed on top of each other. The person with the most plants is judged the winner. The group then works through the line of plants calling out the names and the uses or other desired characteristics and these are recorded.
In PNG this game has been employed for a number of purposes, in addition to compiling an inventory of plants and uses. Communities have adopted it to remind their children of the many uses of the forest. It has also provided a means to work with outsiders in identifying possible forest products for cash generation.
24f. Bamboo harvesting in a national reserve
Uganda
The Mount Elgon Conservation and Development Project is being implemented in Mount Elgon National Forest Park by Uganda's Department of Environmental Protection, with assistance from IUCN. The project was initiated in 1987 with the aims of ensuring biodiversity conservation and safeguarding the water sources associated with the forest, while meeting the needs of the surrounding communities. In the first years, the natural resources took precedence, as the project sought to regain control over the reserve which had suffered from high levels of agricultural encroachment. The area was heavily patrolled and those visiting the forest were subjected to harassment (sometimes violent) from the forest guards. Recently, however, there has been recognition from all involved parties that the original strategy was ineffective. In the future the project will focus on addressing the issues of sustainable use and management of the resources.
Although it was appreciated that bamboo (which is located within the reserve) is one of the most important resources to the communities neighbouring the park, virtually no information was available regarding the extent and impacts of its utilization. An extensive study on bamboo utilization was therefore commissioned as the first component of a local resource use assessment. Participatory studies in several villages were conducted over a period of three months in 1993. The study clearly showed that bamboo is probably the most important resource to the people neighbouring the forest. The most common uses are consumption (shoots) and house and granary construction, basketry and crop-staking (stems). It was also found that bamboo shoots are a most appreciated traditional dish, essential for circumcision ceremonies and weddings.
The study made clear that, with the exception of a few plots which had been particularly heavily harvested, the areas from which bamboo was collected (approximately half of the total bamboo area) were well within the sustainable yield estimates and were more than able to supply the adjacent communities with their bamboo needs. In fact, the results suggested that the current levels of harvesting may be beneficial to the bamboo groves.
The study also found that both the degree and the nature of utilization varied considerably between villages. In light of this fact, it recommended that a high degree of flexibility should be built into the management plan and that strategies be included in the plan to avoid localized over-exploitation.
Abridged from Scott, 1994.
| <<< BACK | CONTENTS | NEXT >>> |