The political economy of forest entitlements: Can community based forest management reduce vulnerability at the forest margin?
Publikation: Bidrag til tidsskrift › Tidsskriftartikel › Forskning › fagfællebedømt
This paper investigates how Community Based Forest Management (CBFM), when overlaid on pre-existing economic and social structures, affects rural vulnerability. Drawing on the environment entitlements and endowments framework, we analyzed the case of Ngare Ndare forest in North-Central Kenya through interviews, focus group discussions, map analyses, archival records and a semi-structured household survey covering 120 households across six villages. The findings illustrate how socio-economic differentiation is embedded in the historical political economy of allocation, alienation and dispossession of land and forest, which are key endowments that distinguish people in the study area. Rather than reducing it, CBFM increases vulnerability of disadvantaged groups, through two mechanisms: i) taxing access to livelihood-enhancing forest products by the state agency, and ii) elite capture of local level institutions which serve to mediate forest access. Vulnerability can be addressed by reducing revenue extracted for forest activities such as firewood collection and grazing, ensuring democratic representation in local level forest institutions, and reducing structural inequalities in access to land and forest.
| Originalsprog | Engelsk |
|---|---|
| Tidsskrift | Forest Policy and Economics |
| Vol/bind | 58 |
| Sider (fra-til) | 37-46 |
| Antal sider | 10 |
| ISSN | 1389-9341 |
| DOI | |
| Status | Udgivet - 2015 |
Bibliografisk note
Funding Information:
Ngare Ndare forest was gazetted during colonial rule in 1932. This marked the beginning of state management which lasted for over 70 years. Since independence in 1963, the forest, like many other gazetted forests in Kenya, was largely managed by the state, through the Forest Department (FD) which upon passing of the new Act in 2005, was modified to become the Kenya Forest Service (KFS). During this era of state management, communities had no role in forest management, and access was regulated by KFS, through access fees and other regulatory measures. With increased human settlement in the 1970s and 1980s, forest encroachment and illegal logging of cedar trees commenced (NNFT, 2008). As a result, in the 1990s and early 2000s, ranch owners intervened to control forest use. For instance, with respect to wildlife management, an electric fence around the forest was erected with financial assistance from ranchers, supported by the British army. The fence restricted communities from accessing the forest, except through designated gates. Despite the fence, illegal encroachment persisted, and the settlers had to devise other ways of regulating access and preserving wildlife areas, such as CBFM.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2014 Elsevier B.V.
ID: 280631090