0180-C1

Participatory forest management based on landscape ecology concepts

J. Kallarackal, U.M. Chandrashekara, P.V. Nair, M. Chundamannil, V. Anitha, G. Mathew and K.K. Ramachandran ¹

Abstract

Deforestation and degradation of forests pose great threats to the conservation of a large number of endemic and endangered species and ecosystems. With a high density of population in most tropical countries, people sometimes depend heavily on forest resources for their sustenance, which makes conservation a challenging task. This paper describes an attempt to evolve a suitable model for rehabilitating two degraded forest sites - a tribal and a non-tribal site - using participatory forest management (PFM) based on landscape ecology concepts.

Landscape-level participatory management is a unique approach as it takes into account the physiographic, ecological and sociological characteristics of the land, resulting in a fusion of ecology and sociology.

The forest and the adjacent non-forest areas forming the entire landscape were located in Kerala, southwestern India. The topographical features, vegetation and fauna within the landscape were analysed to establish the linkages between different landscape units. Physical, biological and anthropogenic causes of degradation were identified. A stakeholder analysis was conducted to determine the number of people depending on the forests and their resource availability within the landscape. Based on these landscape-ecological details, the restoration of degraded forests and their sustainable management was attempted with people's participation. Awareness campaigns were quite effective at both the sites. While restoring the forest sites, stakeholder empowerment and aspirations were given high priority. Stakeholders were educated on the environmental benefits of the forests and trained to use the forests in a sustainable way. Alternative employment opportunities based on forest resources were explored with people's participation.

The PFM approach empowers the people and gives them the feeling that the forests belong to them. Only when the conservation needs coincide with the interests of the local communities, can forests be effectively protected. The success of forest conservation will depend on circumventing the many social and ecological problems faced during this process.

INTRODUCTION

Deforestation and degradation of forest ecosystems in the tropics have received much attention at local and global level due to their consequences as felt in the form of human poverty, loss of plant and animal genetic wealth, erosion of landscapes, silting of water courses, drought and flooding. Rehabilitation of degraded forests should be based to sustain the structure and functions of ecological systems cater to the basic needs of the people. Strategies to be adopted for forest management and rehabilitation should be ecologically and socio-economically sound. Therefore, ecological and participatory forest management approaches at a landscape level will be more suitable. This paper describes such an approach associated with a tribal and a non-tribal community in India.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Site details:

Two landscapes were selected for our study - Site I, a non-tribal location (Vellimuttom) with very high degradation of the forests; Site II, a relatively less disturbed forest (Vaniampuzha) with a tribal community living inside the forest. Both these sites form a part of the Nilambur Forest Division, Kerala in the south-western part of India (Fig 1.).

Fig. 1. Map of Kerala, in southern India showing the study location.

The Site I landscape selected for this study consisted of the following landscape units (Fig. 2): 41.7 ha natural forest, 54 ha teak plantation and 54 homegardens covering approximately 30 ha. The landscape is 110 m above m.s.l., with tropical monsoonal climate having annual average rainfall of over 3000 mm; temperature range is 15 to 35^oC.

Site II landscape (Fig.2) consisted of the following units: relatively undistur-bed and disturbed evergreen forests, semi-evergreen forest, moist deciduous forest, and highly degraded forests situated within 100 to 200 m radius from the tribal settlements. The rainfall was higher (approx. 4000 mm) than at site I.

Analysis of the landscape ecology

The forest unit at Site I landscape was divided into 25 m x 25 m numbered grids and vegetaion analysis was done categorizing trees, shrubs and herbs according to species and size classes. Leaf Area Index (LAI) measurements were made to quantify the canopy cover in the selected plot using the light interception method (LI-2000, LI-COR, Nebraska, USA).

Cropping and vegetation in the homesteads were recorded by physical verification.

At Site II landscape, three replicate plots (0.5 ha) for each ecosystem were marked and the vegetation analysis was done as at Site I.

Fig. 2. Site I Vellimuttom (lower square) and Site II Vaniampuzha (upper square).

A study of the insect and animal diversity and their interaction with the wild and cultivated plants was carried out in representative plots, in both the landscapes.

The socio-economic analysis of the landscape focused to collect data by personal interviews, questionnaire survey, group meetings and checking of official land records were the methods used.

Action programmes were initiated at both the sites in consultation with the Forest Department who own the land. PRAs, interactive meetings and liaison activities aimed at establishing a strong relation between the Forest Department (Government) and the stakeholders were carried out.

RESULTS

Establishing linkages between units of the landscape

Site I landscape (Non-tribal site):

Table 1 shows the results of the vegetation analysis. Only four species recorded the importance value index (IVI) more than 10 and, their contribution to the total IVI of the area was 71.7 per cent. In the seedling populations, 73 tree species were represented, of which 57 species occurred in the mature phase.

The LAI values in the grids ranged between 0.81 and 3.5 for the entire area and distributed more or less randomly. This indicated that the disturbance to the forest was uniform from all the surrounding areas.

Fifty-four homesteads covering about 29.3 ha adjacent to the forest unit constituted the agricultural landscape unit of Site I. Size of these homesteads varied from 40 m² to 2.8 ha, with about half of the homesteads less than 0.2 ha. Out of 38 tree species recorded in homesteads, 16 species were observed in the forest landscape.

Table 1. Baseline information on tree community at Vellimuttom

However, species like Artocarpus heterophyllus, Mangifera indica, Psidium guajava, Tamarindus indica and Tectona grandis were totally absent in mature phase in the forest plot. In addition, Artocarpus hirsutus, Emblica officinalis and Macaranga peltata were represented poorly in the forest plot compared to homesteads. Absence of Artocarpus heterophyllus, Mangifera indica and Tectona grandis and poor representation of Artocarpus hirsutus, Emblica officinalis and Macaranga peltata in the forest plot could be attributed to factors such as arrest of recruitment due to grazing, fire damage, and removal at the pole stage.

Faunal diversity and interactions

Altogether 681 species of insects belonging to 13 orders and 67 families were collected from Site I. Of this, 499 species were from the degraded forest and 394 species from the agro-ecosystem. The values for species richness index in the degraded forest and agro-ecosystem were 6.02 and 4.98 respectively.

A field study of birds and mammals was carried out in the forest area of both the sites. The bird population in the study area was fairly rich with seventy-five species of birds identified, including migratory species, of which ten species were wetland birds. Site I had only small mammals including boar, rodents etc, whereas site II had elephants, deer, bison, bear etc. apart from the smaller mammals.

Socio-economic analysis

The farmers at Site I were immigrants from other parts of Kerala, settled during the last 50 years, doing fairly intense agriculture. Economic analysis reflected that dependence on forest was relatively less. The economy was basically agrarian in nature. Institutional selection felling , bamboo extraction, fire, collection of firewood and green manure, fodder, lack of forest regeneration, unsustainable harvesting techniques and grazing by cattle had contributed to the degradation process of the forest unit. The local people were not involved in the management of this forest nor included as a beneficiary in the harvesting of the produce. The primary stakeholders did get firewood, green manure and fodder from this patch, through an informal arrangement with the local forest managers. Sex ratio, an important indicator of women's status, provided a very positive picture. Owing to easy accessibility, the primary stakeholders at Site I were in the mainstream of life and their living standards too had improved considerably. High literacy level coupled with awareness of present day farming techniques, market situations and government assistance, they were in a better position to harvest sufficient returns from their land.

The criteria adopted for stakeholder selection were (a) Proximity/access to the forest, (b)Current users / beneficiaries and (c) The need to focus on finite number of households as there was only 42.30 hectares to be managed.

Site II Landscape (Tribal site)

Based on the vegetation analysis done on sample plots in three forest ecosystems within the same landscape, the following data have been summarised.

Evergreen forests - These forest patches were relatively undisturbed. Regeneration was satisfactory.

Semi-evergreen forests - Due to a large-scale disturbance, about 60-70 years ago, and subsequent recovery, the forests seemed to have become semi-evergreen forests from an evergreen state. Regeneration of tree species was found satisfactory.

Moist deciduous forests - Regeneration of tree species was satisfactory. However, they were the most disturbed by firewood and NTFP collection.

The LAI at Site II ranged from 1.74 to 3.50.

Forests and land use pattern around tribal settlements

When relatively undisturbed forests and forests near the tribal settlements were compared, the density of trees was more near the tribal settlement, but basal area was similar. This suggests the scarcity of higher girth classes near the tribal settlements. Few numbers of larger trees may be an indication of intensive cutting of poles and small trees a few years ago. In addition, occurrence of Clerodendrum infortunatum, Ziziphus spp. and Bombax ceiba near the tribal settlement suggests that forest were still experiencing other types of perturbations. Dominance of indicator species such as Ziziphus sps. and Clerodendrum infortunatum in the seedling community in forest near tribal settlements also confirmed that these plots were being disturbed by the people at the time of observation.

Socio-economic studies

The Site II forestland, once owned by the landlords, had the Paniyans (forest dwelling tribal community) residing in three separate colonies inside the forest. There were 58 households, together using about 8.0 ha area around the settlement for cultivation. They have been living by the forest by means of collecting the different forest produce. Even though they were collecting the valuable forest products, they being a vulnerable section were exploited socially and economically by other sections of the society.

Owing to low levels of education, majority of the population at Site II were dependent on the forest for their sustenance. On the other hand, inaccessibility and backwardness of the region and the low buying capacity thwarted them from venturing out in search of alternate sources. People, therefore, were living in abject poverty and deprivation. Sex ratio, an important indicator of women's status, also provided a very depressing picture.

Action Programme

The major action programmes at Site I were oriented towards forming the Forest Protection Council and also rehabilitating the degraded forests. The major problem in the FPC formation was the political polarisation of the stakeholders, delaying the processes. There was good response from all sections of the community for afforestation by planting seedlings.

At Site II, the action programme was more oriented towards conducting training and workshops towards giving environmental awareness and empowering the FPC. Training was given in microplan preparation also.

DISCUSSION

Landscape level participatory approach to rehabilitate the degraded forest is a unique approach in this paper. Land becomes landscape when it is described or seen in terms of its physiographic and environmental characteristics. Landscape varies according to these characteristics and according to the historical impact of man on it. (Michael Laurie, 1975).

At Site I we have looked at a forest area, which is partially degraded. It is important to study the causes of degradation - physical or anthropogenic. In this process we have identified the different landscape and established their functional linkages with one another. From this technical approach we have evolved a management strategy for the sustainable management of this forest area.

Within and between every community there exists social issues / problems (Kothari et al. 1997). The social analysis at Site I has highlighted a highly tense political atmosphere, whereas at Site II a number of problems like, large family, alcoholism, poverty, illiteracy, decreasing availability of forest produce, poor health, etc. were the major issues. Both the situations have prevented optimum utilisation of resources.

Fuel utilisation was an important indicator of peoples' dependence on forest. As evident from Fig.3, 60 per cent of the local stakeholders depended exclusively on forest for meeting their fuelwood requirements.

Living within the forest, the primary stakeholders of Site II naturally retained their traditional means of living by the forest. Further, due to lack of tenure security and inaccessibility to outside sources they could not produce their own food. Thus, there was almost total dependence on forest for food and household crafts.

NTFP collection formed the dominant source of income for the Paniyans. A small part of the collected produce was retained by them for their own needs while the rest was given either to the marketing society or sold to private traders. However, the seasonality of the different products collected and the declining resources due to unscientific methods of collection, did not ensure them a regular income year round.

Participatory forest management - an alternative?

From the experience gained from trying to facilitate the PFM activities at two forest sites, the following problems have been identified and their possible solutions are given in the subsequent paragraphs.

Stakeholder identification: It is essential to identify who should have the primary role in decision-making and benefit-sharing, especially in a situation described as at Site I.

Social differences and stratification: There are gender, wealth and religious inequalities at both the sites. Only when these are fully understood, can PFM be successful

Tenure/rights to natural resources: Absence of tenure translates itself to lack of any stake in conservation and lack of the authority to exclude outsiders from exploiting it.

Forest-related conflicts: Conflicts occur both at the micro and macro levels, that is, among and/or between local communities and others like government, private organization, etc.

Community awareness: Most of the primary stakeholders living next to Site I or inside Site II are not aware of the terms of the laws as to their rights and responsibilities to forest conservation.

Erosion of local indigenous knowledge (LIK): The knowledge and practices of primary stakeholders have been largely ignored because many alternate products are available.

Costs and benefits: One of the vital aspects of participation is that the benefits gained from conserving a resource go directly to the primary stakeholders, thus, creating a vital link between local populations and local benefits.

Institutional arrangements: Unclear institutional arrangements end up confusing the resource-dependent primary stakeholders.

Policy and legal framework: Although research has shown the importance of people's participation in sustainable resource management, the policies have so far been against involving people.

Political and economic environment: Virtually all major political parties are tied in to the negative developmental model, notwithstanding the assertions of sustainable development.

Some practical solutions to effective PFM

Workable location /site specific PFM design: What is essential for successful PFM is to come up with a workable and location specific design of PFM, focusing on the primary stakeholders, their needs and aspirations.

Integrating research into PFM: PFM seeks to eliminate the conflicts between forest managers and the primary stakeholders by establishing FPC for mutually beneficial co-operative activities.

Conflict management needs to build into the institutional setup: Given that a conflict cannot operate outside social context, along with the conservation objectives, sustainable livelihood issues are also addressed.

Responsive or participatory management?

It is essential to adopt an integrated landscape-livelihood approach to PA management. In a landscape there are several units which have inter-linkages and interactions within and also with those across the landscape. Human interactions with the landscape are also very important. Changes in landscape due to physical or climatic factors are slow and beyond the control of local managers. However, changes due to management decisions and human interactions are quicker and there is a need to manage such changes in a way that does not compromise the long-term sustainability of the resource base and the options available.

In the foregone landscape ecological and socio-economic assessment and the contentious issues facing PFM at Sites I and II, it is evident that any management and rehabilitation strategy/programme of degraded forests should focus to sustain the basic structure and functions of ecological systems and at the same time cater to the basic needs of the people. In this context, strategies to be adopted for forest management and rehabilitation (degraded forests) should be ecologically and socio-economically sound. Only when the needs of the local community coincide with the preservation need, can forests be effectively protected (Anitha and Muraleedharan, 2002).

Bibliography

Anitha, V. and Muraleedharan, P.K. 2002. Study of social and economic dependencies of local communities on Protected Areas: A case of Peechi-Vazhani and Chimmoni Wildlife Sanctuaries. Kerala Forest Research Institute Research Report No. 240, Kerala Forest Research Institute, Peechi, Thirssur.

Kothari, A., Vania, F., Das, P., Christopher, K., and Jha, S (eds.). 1997. Building bridges for conservation: Towards joint management of protected areas in India. Indian Institute of Public Administration, New Delhi.

Laurie, M. 1975. An introduction to Landscape Architecture. American Elsevier Publishing Co., New York.

¹ Kerala Forest Research Institute, Peechi 680653, Kerala, India.
Telephone: +91-487-2699037; Fax: +91-487-2699249
J. Kallarackal: [email protected]
U.M. Chandrashekara: [email protected]
P.V. Nair: [email protected]
M.Chundamannil: [email protected]
V. Anitha: [email protected]
G. Mathew: [email protected]
K.K. Ramachandran: [email protected]
Website: www.kfri.org