From Community Forest Management to Polycentric Governance: Assessing Evidence from the Bottom Up

Decentralization of governance is an emerging trend in many natural resource sectors in both developed and developing countries. Despite the normative agenda of community-based natural resource management for social and ecological outcomes, a shift to multilevel or polycentric theorizing is warranted. Polycentric governance recognizes the importance of cross-scale interactions, as well as the horizontal and vertical institutional linkages of authority, networks, and markets in which community institutions are embedded. Based on qualitative community forestry research in Revelstoke, British Columbia, Canada, this article explores the themes of livelihood and local economy, collaborative forest planning and participation, and environmental governance. Bottom-up empirical evidence suggests that viewing community forestry through a polycentric governance network is necessary for theorizing complex cross-scale dynamics. Incentivizing policies that encourage the development of polycentric systems for natural resource governance is important for maintaining local benefits, while increasing adaptive capacity to deal with complex social–ecological challenges.     

Promoting social justice and conserving montane forest environments: a case study of Nepal's community forestry programme

This paper analyses participatory forest policy and the ways it has influenced the relationships between people as it relates to the forest resource management. This case study was conducted in the middle hills of Nepal, and information was collected through direct observation, individual interviews, group discussion and secondary information analysis. It substantiates a few examples of how the community forestry programme can be used as a means to promote the participation of the women, the poor and dalit (untouchables) in forest resource management, as well as enhancing social justice and improving the forest resources in their locality. However, it also demonstrates that though the community forestry programme has a positive impact, it faces several constraints and challenges. The local Forest User Group is controlled by a few élites making the poor and disadvantaged vulnerable to further marginalization. The results of the case study strongly indicate that community forestry processes must address the political, economic and social needs of the forest users, and also provide a neutral platform on which the poor can present their cases.     

河西防护林体系的持续高效发展

祁连山水源涵养林和河西走廊防风固沙林的持续高效发展,必须通过社会林业和优化林业内部结构来实现。     

森林利用的冲突与调解途径理论探讨

森林价值的多样性和利用群体的多样性,是森林利用冲突的根源,也决定了森林利用的冲突形式。同一社会中,不同利益群体从各自的利益和兴趣出发,竞相利用有限的森林资源的各种价值,导致森林利用的冲突,冲突若不及时解决,将影响森林为人类社会持续提供价值。是伴随着森林管理的一种不可避免的现实,不论是哪一种管理方式都存在着这样或那样的冲突。解决的途径也不相同,包括技术途径、调解、仲裁和诉诸法律等。村社林业是相对于政府直接控制管理森林的另一类林业管理方式,村社林业的实践也需要解决冲突,建立和培养村社解决冲突的机制和能力是开展村社林业的一项重要任务。村社林业管理模式的成功需要建立冲突的调解和仲裁机制,透明、参与、合作和创造是建立这种机制并使这种机制发挥作用的基础。     

甘宁蒙陕退耕还林(草)中的适地适树问题

通过对退耕还林工程中适地适树问题的探讨,我们认为在退耕还林(草)工程实施过程中一定要坚持适地适树,适地适树是造林中的一项基本原则。在退耕还林和造林过程中应该遵循生物气候带原则,演替前期植物种与演替后期植物种搭配,浅根系植物与深根系植物合理配置。植物种的选择应该坚持立地条件与生物学特性和生态学特性相适应;与地带性特点相适应;与降水条件和土壤水分条件相适应,做到"林水平衡";与植物群落的演替特征相适应。     

Community Stories: Explaining Resistance to Street Tree-Planting Programs in Detroit,Michigan, USA

Non-profit organizations are key actors in urban and community forestry (UCF) initiatives, and sometimes city residents resist their efforts. Between 2011-2014, 24 percent of residents offered a street tree in Detroit, Michigan, USA submitted a “no-tree request.” Differing views on decision-making emerged as a main reason for resistance to tree planting. This study used interviews with city residents, and those within a non-profit organization, between 2014-2016 to understand reasons for conflict over decision-making between these groups. Heritage narratives, or selective representations of the city’s history and character, helped explain conflict over tree planting. Residents who wanted greater decision-making power in tree planting assumed they would be responsible for stewardship, reflecting their historical experiences within the city. The organization’s dominant heritage narrative emphasized that residents held misperceptions of trees based on negative past experiences, and required education on benefits of trees. Recommendations for integrating heritage narratives into UCF efforts are provided.     

GIS技术支持下的龙川江流域退耕还林规划方法

利用GIS技术,结合退耕还林的基本原则,通过空间分析的研究方法,对土地利用、坡度、河流、居民点等数据库进行处理,对云南省龙川江流域进行科学、定量的退耕还林规划,解决退耕还林的耕地在哪儿、如何退,以及退耕还林时序等一系列技术难题,实现规划自动化。这将为政府决策提供翔实、高可信度的数据,也可为县级退耕还林规划做示范。     

Legal Geographies of Catastrophe: Forests,Fires, and Property in Colonial Algeria

Forest fires in Algeria in the 1850s and 1860s suggest a link between environmentally induced catastrophes and the geographies of property and territory in the colony. In eastern Algeria, these fires helped fuel a discussion over the security and reliability of European settlers’ property rights and of the colonial state's ability to guarantee them. Following a brief analysis of forestry policy in France and Algeria, this paper analyzes some of the correspondence and official reports that emerged in the wake of major conflagrations. By the early 1860s, settlers and private forestry companies were calling the colonial state's credibility into question and demanding far‐reaching changes to the property law and land‐use regimes in place in the colony. Eventually, colonial authorities moved to help cement settlers’ property claims, eliminating enclaves and imposing new rules on “native” Algerians’ rights to use the forest. This essay concludes by suggesting that the process of making property private, in Algeria and elsewhere, is informed by perceptions of risk and by the modes of awareness inspired by environmentally induced catastrophic events.     

Forest cover change and land tenure change in Mexico’s avocado region: Is community forestry related to reduced deforestation for high value crops?

Forest cover change in highland pine-oak forests of Michoacan, Mexico is due to a process of conversion of natural forests to avocado orchards. Privately-owned avocado orchards are found on land that was common forest before the 1992 Reform of the Mexican Constitution. We ask how forest cover change was facilitated by policy changes that affected land tenure rules and existing community forestry programs. We use a comparative case study of four communities, an analysis of forest cover change, and interviews and household surveys. Results show that 33.1% of forest cover was lost over a 16-year-period across the region. However, two forestry case study communities lost 7.2% and 15.1% of forest cover, while two adjacent non-forestry communities lost 86.5% and 92.4%, respectively. Interview data show that the Reform of Article 27 combined with the 1992 Forestry Law led to collapse of local governance, illegal division of common forests, and illegal logging in the two non-forestry communities.     

关于宁、蒙、陕农牧交错带重点地区退耕还林(草)工程实施情况与建议

阐述了农牧交错带生态环境退化和恶化的原因,除了气候条件等自然因素外,主要是由于人类过度开垦、放牧、采挖等一系列不合理经济活动破坏生态环境引起的。目前正在实施的退耕还林(草)工程正是针对这一地区生态退化和恶化而采取的加强生态保护和建设的重大举措。工程实施两年多以来,进展顺利,已取得了重要成就,局部地区生态有了明显改善。并且,根据该区自然特点,灾害状况,以及恢复这一地区生态屏障的作用,提出有关该区的经营方向,扩大退耕还林(草),退牧还草的一些建议。     

海南岛森林资源的特点及林业可持续发展对策

分析了海南岛森林资源的特点,指出林业生产存在的主要问题。根据其特点,构建森林资源可持续经营管理的基本模式,并对海南林业可持续发展提出相应的对策。     

阿拉善盟梭梭苁蓉开发利用成为地区重点产业化建设工程

通过20世纪50年代、80年代及2002年阿拉善地区梭梭林资源对比说明,梭梭林呈现严重退化发展趋势。原因在于长期超载过牧及人类不合理开发利用和气候干旱等原因。肉苁蓉也在随之退化消失,针对这种情况,各级党政部门将梭梭林保护及肉苁蓉培育开发利用作为全盟产业化重点工程,采取退牧还林、围栏封育、人工种植、依法保护管理、加大技术推广和科研开发等措施,建立阿拉善乃至西部地区最大的产业基地,添补国际市场对肉苁蓉的需求。     

Forest conversion, conservation and forestry in Cross River State, Nigeria

This paper presents new data on the rate and patterns of loss of tropical moist forest cover to agriculture in Cross River State, Nigeria. Data from sequential aerial photographs and field surveys are used to derive an estimate of forest loss of 0.6 per cent per year. This rate is relatively modest, yet current conservation and forestry policy in the area is based on assumptions of rapid conversion of forest. The implications of these findings for debates about conservation and policy are discussed.     

省级"数字林业"系统模型研究

根据数字林业的基本思想,分析了我国林业信息化建设的基础与存在问题,探讨了省级"数字林业"建设的原则.从软、硬件的选择、系统的架构、系统的主要功能入手,提出一个典型的省级"数字林业"系统模型及其建设内容与目标.最后还就数字林业信息系统的关键技术进行了讨论.     

Contribution of Community Forestry in Poverty Reduction: Case Study of Multiple Community Forests of Bajhang District,Nepal

In Nepal, nearly half of the total land is covered by forest, which holds a potentially important position in promoting rural livelihoods and in alleviating rural poverty. The rural landscape that encompasses an agrarian economy, a fragile ecology, and a complex and differentiated society is changing rapidly in Nepal today. Although poverty alleviation has been one of the top priorities for national development since 1976, poverty still remains widespread, persistent and it is also an acute problem in Nepal, where people are in a state of deprivation with regard to incomes, clothing, housing, healthcare, education, sanitary facilities and human rights. Thus, Nepal is considered as one of the poorest countries in South-Asia, with 25.2% people living below the poverty line. The objective of this study was to assess changes in poverty of forest users brought on by the community forestry program, in order to analyze the level of participation in community forestry management activities. For this study, Bajhang district was chosen as the study site, which is one of the poorest and most remote districts in the country of Nepal. Different Participatory Rural Appraisal methods such as face-to face interviews, focus group discussions and key informants’ interviews including secondary data were used to gather information. The findings showed that the forest users’ participation in meetings, discussion and other activities, like community forestry management or silvicultural operation related to community forestry, was high. The assessment found that 42.3%, 32.6% and 25.1% of respondents strongly agreed, agreed and were neutral, respectively, towards the idea that poverty reduction from community forests had occurred. The results showed almost all the respondents were depended upon agriculture and/or forest resources for their livelihoods. Different ecosystem services such as ethnomedicines, aesthetic value and ecotourism, control of soil erosion/land-slides, water recharge and soil fertility have increased due to the decomposition of leaf litter. This was apparent from the formulation of community forests. Poverty in rural areas of the country is still higher than in urban areas and the incidence of poverty is the highest in the Far western Province where this research was conducted, Therefore, the government, policy makers and other stakeholders should work hand-in-hand to effectively reduce the poverty that persists in Nepal.     

邵阳市森林资源特征及林业可持续发展对策

阐述了邵阳市林业生产条件, 分析了邵阳市森林资源特征、林业生产的地位及现存问题, 并对邵阳市林业可持续发展提出了相应的建议。文中重点探讨了林业分类经营问题, 提出了在建设商品林的同时必须注重生态公益林的建设。     

State forestry and spatial scale in the development discourses of post-colonial Tanzania: 1961–1971

At independence, Tanzanian foresters believed that state-led forestry could provide a lasting contribution to the development aspirations of the newly independent country. Yet they were gradually marginalized within Julius Nyerere's project of socio-economic transformation. By exploring the spatial dimensions of competing land use discourses of the time, I hope to offer an interpretation as to how and why forestry's marginalization happened. I argue that at least some of this marginalization was the result of differences inherent in the scale of focus between forestry and the larger, contemporaneous socio-economic and political discourses dominant in the period. At independence, Nyerere positioned development efforts more squarely within the national political institutions of the state and for the nation, writ whole. With its professional and discursive ties to an international forestry order and its spatial biases, Tanzanian foresters were poorly placed to respond or adapt to changes in the political discourse and in the economic conditions of resource extraction. In short, they were unable to adjust to changes in the scale of development praxis in Tanzania. I conclude by suggesting two points. First, that the history of land use and natural resource management choices in post-colonial Tanzania can be better understood through a historical-geographical, or spatialized, theoretical framework. Second, that current historical-geographical theory could be fine tuned through reflection on its utility in describing and explaining land use politics in post-colonial developing contexts.     

敦煌莫高窟窟前林带防护效应的风洞实验

洞窟环境包括窟内的温度、湿度、光照、气流等环境因素的适宜程度,对保护洞窟内的壁画和彩塑是十分重要的。洞窟环境不仅因洞窟所处的位置、大小、型制、有无窟门及窟门形式等而异,而且与窟外整个大环境密切相关。不同风况对洞窟内的气流交换起着重要的作用,也是造成石窟壁画彩塑风沙尘粒沉积、崖面风蚀的主要原因。通过风洞模拟实验,从窟前流场、洞窟环流、崖角形状及其受力等几个方面研究了窟前林带的防护效应和崖角防风蚀机理。结果表明：从控制洞窟水汽因素来讲,窟前以通风结构林带最佳,疏透结构林带次之,紧密结构林带欠佳。控制窟前林带灌溉强度,建立多次、少量的窟前林带灌溉制度,同时,在偏东风条件下尽量减少对窟前林带的灌溉,是控制林带生长和底层洞窟侧渗的重要一环。考虑到促进洞窟自然通风的需求,采用一定疏透度的窟门和采取必要的强迫通风,能够较大改善洞窟的自然通风和环境适宜状况。     

THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF FOREST POLICY IN MEXICO AND CHILE

Widespread agreement exists on the broad outlines of the concept of sustainable development for developing countries. This calls for a development model capable of meeting basic needs without depleting natural resources at a rate that robs future generations of their use. In this regard, citizen participation is also considered key to legitimise such policy choices. However, there is considerable disagreement over the substance and meaning of the major components of the concept and the relationship between them. This paper argues that positions in policy disputes over the sustainable development of the forest cluster in two distinct approaches: market‐friendly initiatives and grassroots development. Since market economies prevail almost everywhere, the question that is posed concerns the conditions under which the grassroots development approach is included as a significant complement to market‐friendly initiatives. This is a political question, requiring an examination of actors, interests and power resources. The paper thus applies a political economy framework to a paired comparison of Mexico, where grassroots development approaches (community forestry) had notable successes, and Chile, where market‐friendly forest policy crowded out alternatives.     

河南黄河下游林业发展潜力与对策

从河南黄河下游自然和社会经济情况入手,在深入分析林业综合开发的土地、树种、湿地资源潜力以及木材、经济林产品和森林旅游需求的基础上,提出了河南黄河下游林业发展对策;对林业综合开发的投资和效益进行了初步探讨。