Community
Communal Management
For sustainable development it is important to understand the impact that different management systems, communal, private, and state, have on both the utilization and conservation of forest resources and the welfare of local communities. Historically, substantial parts of the world's forest resources have been communally managed. To prevent their overuse, these resources were often subject to some form of effective local control. Now, nearly everywhere, both the resources and the communal management systems are facing increasing pressures as populations grow and the economic and political environment changes. While in some cases communal management systems have disappeared naturally as communities have developed other arrangements, in other cases local management systems have been legislated out of existence. Nevertheless, communal management is an important option for many communities and a potential strategy for forest conservation. The challenge is to enable both local people and the nation to obtain goods and services that improve livelihoods, without compromising long-term resource and development goals. The need to confront this challenge has become more urgent due to the surge of interest in decentralization. At the same time, changes in private and public ownership are being considered for vast areas of forest and new forms of joint management are emerging. In order to have a greater understanding of the possibilities offered by various tenure and management arrangements for forest lands, the Community Forestry Unit has been involved since the early 1990s in identifying under which conditions the communal management of forests at the local level can be a viable approach. It has become clear that these management systems entail intricate relationships between village groups and local institutions, between individuals and laws that govern the forest, and between governments and villagers. Work is now proceeding on the legal context for communal management, institutional arrangements for community forestry, conflict management and the impact of commercialization.
Recycling and What the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Suggests
- FAO suggests that if developing countries recycled more materials and residues they could provide for growth in consumption "without placing unnecessary stress on the forest resource."
What would also help:
- Improving equipment maintenance and training workers alone could increase processing efficiency for 50%
- Lowering waste and over-consumption by consumers would yield substantial benefits for forests and economies without sacrificing quality of life.
Recycling-following patterns like the United States’ programs
- 45% of paper and paperboard is now recovered and recycled in the US
- homeowners and municipalities participation
- a goal of 50% recovery by the year 2000
The U.S. paper industry is a leader in America's recycling effort. The industry met its voluntary goal of recovering for recycling 40% of all paper used in the U.S. two years ahead of schedule, and immediately raised the bar to recover 50% in 2000.
Thanks partly to industry's enormous investments in recycling capacity -- $10 billion planned by the end of the decade -- we are well on the way to achieving the 50% goal. Our recovery rate for 1995 was 44%, up from 41% in 1994. Already, Americans recover for reuse a third of all the paper recovered in the world. This volume, exceeding 40 million tons, enables U.S. papermakers to recycle enough paper each year to fill a 15-mile-long train of boxcars. This was accomplished voluntarily, without government regulation.
When our 50% goal is reached, twice as much paper will be recovered as landfilled, giving the U.S. a recovery rate unrivalled fiber to chemical wastes recovered in the manufacturing process. Today, pulp and paper mills recover about 98% of all chemicals used to produce pulp from wood chips. These wastes are burned for fuel or used in surprising new ways, e.g. as fertilizers for agriculture or as components in new chemical products such as ethanol.
We're also leading the way in wood recycling. We recently published, in cooperation with the U.S. Forest Service, the "National Wood Recycling Directory." It will help individuals, builders, demolition contractors and others avoid costly landfill fees and encourage a market for recycled wood product.
Forest, Trees & People Program
As its name suggests, the Forests, Trees and People Program (FTPP) focuses on the close links between forests, trees and the people who manage and use them. Launched in 1987 with the overall goal of strengthening local people's ability to manage and use natural resources, FTPP is a decentralized, international program, coordinated by FAO's Community Forestry Unit (CFU), with support from multi-donor trust fund.
What FTPP Does
FTPP works with institutions throughout the world to develop tools and methodologies that support the participatory process. These institutions promote the recognition and legalization of the rights of local people to have access to and control of their natural resources. Effective control and management of forest resources by local communities is explored, analyzed, documented and disseminated.
FTPP's main objectives are to:
develop tools, methods and approaches for participatory forestry strengthen the ability of local and national institutions to work in participatory share information and experiences on innovative methods and approaches.
How FTPP Works
FTPP supports a participatory approach that includes all stakeholders, from policy makers to local communities, and works to create an enabling environment where they can negotiate as equal partners and where equitable solutions can be developed. FTPP partner institutions include governmental and non-governmental organizations, community-based organizations, universities and training centers. National and regional facilitators of the program, based in key institutions, support a bottom-up approach in policy and project formulation and in locally-based natural resource management. New approaches, methods and topics are developed based on common interests. FTPP facilitators promote innovative approached and often look regionally and even internationally to develop their activities. FTPP has a large publications and information program, which includes the production of books, videos, slide sets, training materials and a newsletter. Publications and information materials are developed and distributed in each region and by FTPP's Global component. The FTP Newsletter is distributed to more than 10,000 members in 125 countries and is vital to the dissemination of information by the program. It is available from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences in Uppsala.