Social Forestry, Livelihoods and Climate Change

• Income from natural forests & other natural areas ~28% of total household income, nearly as much as crops.

• Men generated at least as much income from forests as women do.

• Forests were less important as “safety nets” in response to shocks and as gap fillers between seasonal harvests than previously believed.

• State forests generated more income than private or community forests.

• While the poorest farmers are often blamed for deforestation, they played only a modest role in forest clearing.

Recent findings on forests and livelihoods (PEN)

Smallholders do not only “use” and “rely on” forests they also “manage” and “create” forests and forest resources

Smallholder-managed LandscapesShifting cultivation in Laos

Managing forests for food production

Most forests are rich in “natural” resources but they are also rich because local groups have enriched forests through their knowledge and practice.

THINKING beyond the canopy

Village of TaeSanggau, Kalimantan Barat

SWIDDEN FALLOWADAT LAND

TEMBAWANG

Different forests, Different access rights, Different

communities

Tembawang: Lineage group rights Tanah adat: Village rights Swidden-fallows: Household rights

And they are all changing

• They are not “managed enough” or “formally enough” for development

• They are “too managed” for conservation

• These systems are dynamic.

• This is particularly unfortunate because management also frequently creates rights to forests.

But these practices largely fall “between the cracks”

• Migration

• Urbanization

• Impact of remittances

• Impacts of Climate Change: Adaptation and Mitigation

• How can these systems respond to these and other new challenges?

Changing Communities (and Landscapes):

Challenges to Community Forestry

Time for revising previously held assumptions over forests role in providing livelihoods and deeper

understanding of local context and drivers of change

In particular, with introduction of REDD+ need to ensure equitable outcomes Institutional implications: need for more in-depth

analysis of what is existing already (e.g. what kind of practices and legal frameworks)

Livelihood implications: need to understand how REDD+ will contribute or constrain livelihood strategies

Involvement in CC? Mitigation efforts