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Fo r est - Sustaining Rural Communities around the Wor l d th r ough Holistic Agro- f o re s t r y

F. RANIL SENANAYAKE & BRUCE M. BEEHLER, Counterpart International, Washington, DC, USA

A B S T R A C T

y modelling human-managed agro - f o re s t upon the stru c t u re, function and B diversity and of native forests, local ru r a l communities can reduce degradation, conserv e water re s o u rces, increase family incomes and p rovide an array of subsistence products that taken together, will increase family incomes, foster i m p roved family nutrition and re s t o re native b i o d i v e r s i t y. The Forest Pro g r a m m e , based on the principles of Analogue Fore s t ry and Community-based Management, off e r s a p p ropriate, sustainable technologies that impro v e local rural environments and community well-being.

I N T R O D U C T I O N Natural forest lands around the world continue to mensional and biodiverse reality of forests is required Figure 1 disappear at the hand of humankind. In addition, to address the broader goals of the Convention on This pine plantation in among human-dominated landscapes, degraded environ - Biological Diversity. the uplands of Sri Lanka looks lush ments today greatly outnumber those that are sustainably Science reveals the forest as an ecosystem of trem e n - and green from a distance but managed. It is thus clear that the future well-being of dous complexity. The trees, while providing the essential supports little native , provides minimal economic the earth will depend on environmental restoration of framework of a forest, constitute only a fraction of its opportunity for local communities, degraded ecosystems on a large scale and development total biodiversity. By contrast, the forest contains a and is not beneficial to and of human-managed ecosystems that are environ m e n t a l l y huge array of organisms that form countless communities self-sustaining. with diverse forms and functions. The non-timber For many years, the world’s foresters have engaged biodiversity is what gives a forest most of its identity. in a debate that addressed only one aspect of a forest – Anyone who has walked through a well-tended its timber. This narrow view has allowed the massive tw e n t y - y e a r -old monoculture plantation of Pinus caribea economic discounting of all other forest values. Fores t s and observed its struc t u r e and uniformity is strongly res i s - have long been recognised as providing many environ - tant to call such a system a “forest”. Most of the mental and cultural benefits which have been ignored characteristics that define a forest are absent from that in national and international re s o u rce management tr ee . Conventional fores t r y and agricultural systems plans, resulting in a higher relative value being placed focus on the creation of of mainly exotic on wood, creating devastating effects world-wide. species. There are many long-term economic and Most of the dialogue on forests demonstrates this en v i r onmental costs of these conventional monoculture na r row vision. From the International Tropical Tim b e r systems, especially in rural communities in both devel- O rganisation to the Interg o v e rnmental Forum on oped and developing countries. F o rests, the focus has been the same: “Forests are The international response to the loss of natural wood”. The rate of extraction, management and trade fo r est ecosystems can be seen in the massive global invest- relations have dominated the discussion. Consequently, ment in traditional monoculture fore s t ry. A gre a t the counter-a r guments mounted by the environ m e n t a l majority of these revegetation programmes around the no n - g o v e r nmental community have followed this narrow world create of trees, not forests. We believe there focus – with forest being the main point of ar e better ways of addressing , and one of contention. A full vision that addresses the multidi- these remedies is Analogue Forestry.

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well as improved for wildlife and a range of native . Analogue Forests are thus ideal buff e r- z o n e systems, particularly appropriate to degraded agricul- tural land adjacent to protected forests. The measurable by - p r oducts of a mature Analogue Forest are as follows: • Productive gardens of permanent cash-; • Improved individual incomes from agricultural production; • Improved access to fuelwood and local building materials; • Reduced soil ; • Improved water and catchment management; • Heightened security and family health; • Reduced pressure on adjacent forestland; • Increased local biodiversity.

ANALOGUE FORESTRY Co u n t e r p a r t Interna t i o n a l ’ s Forest Garden Prog r a m m e Figure 2 The Analogue Fore s t ry system of enviro n m e n t a l l y employs an enterprise-based, site-stable Analogue Conventional planting of annual sustainable assists rural in devel- Fo re s t r y system to recover the natural health of human- cash-crops in hilly uplands of oping multi-species plots of both native and exotic impacted rural ecosystems. By restoring the landscape Sri Lanka causes significant soil cr op species that, over time, mature to approximate the erosion and often requires in and around rural communities, the Forest Garden s t ru c t u re, ecological functions and enviro n m e n t a l Pr ogramme helps to improve the living standards of rur a l chemical inputs to maintain integrity found in a natural forest. Using organic princi- productivity and to assist the capacity of local citizenry ples of production, so that biodiversity will not be to renew and sustain their communities in an environ - co m p r omised, Analogue Forests mature to produce a suite mentally sound manner. The Forest Garden Prog r a m m e of high-value , spices, herbs, and medicinal plants, constitutes an integrated, multisectoral approach to as well as fuelwood and timber. These Analogue Fores t s . Specifically, the Programme ar e a logical complement to annual subsistence p i n g , fosters the introduction of sustainable farming throu g h : with , corn, manioc, etc. being farmed in rich bottomland, and the Analogue Forests being created on • A network of seedling nurseries and community the erosion-prone hillsides. seedbanks - locally developed to provide a more Based on the home gardens of Southeast Asia, an diverse range of seedstock and seedlings of useful Analogue Forest is a tree-dominated farm plot vegetated species needed by rural farmers to expand subsistence with a mix of plant species (e.g. nutmeg, mango, and cash-crop gardens, woodlots, and local tre e ca s h e w , black pepper, coffee, ginger, tea, cardamom, rattan). shelter belts; These Analogue Forests include trees, vines, under- • A seeds-and-tools fund - providing the financial storey shrubs and herbs. The choice and placement of leverage to permit rural farmers to purchase the each species is determined by its contribution of specific materials necessary to improve their ecological and economic functions. Analogue Forests, and land management capabilities; with time, provide increased income for the as • Technical assistance and training - for the design, Figure 3 planting and maintenance of their Analogue Fores t s , A young Analogue Forest in woodlots, and buffer forests; Sri Lanka exhibits a range of crops, including tea, coconut, • Companion rural educational materials - locally banana and other cash and adapted educational materials that foster improv e d subsistence crops fa r ming, farm-based enterprise, community nutrition, family health and management of the local environ - ment; • C e rtification - which guarantees all products are p roduced using organic principles and that such p roducts come from systems that benefit ru r a l environments; • Marketing - extension officers, working in partner- ship with distributors of niche products, foster national, regional and international markets for the p roducts that are produced by Forest Gard e n e r s around the world.

C O M M U N I T Y-BASED ECOSYSTEM MANAGEMENT Under the Forest Garden Programme, Analogue Fores t r y is introduced to rural communities in partnership with an activity known as “Community-based Ecosystem Management” (CEM). This is an array of low-tech methodologies that help local communities better manage their land, water and other natural resources- through landscape planning, watershed conservation,

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, environmental education, and local nutrition and health education. The CEM appro a c h integrates parti c i p a t o r y landscape management with appro- priate indigenous systems of resource husbandry.

BALANCING SUBSISTENCE VERSUS MARKET PRODUC- T I O N Most poor rural communities today are forced into conventional production systems that both limit economic potential and have strong negative health and nutritional impacts. These production systems are dependent on high levels of and fertilisers. Low-cost alterna t i v e systems are currently available. The Forest Gard e n system encourages rural farmers to balance subsis- tence and cash-cropping in ways that rationally res p o n d to market forces. The Forest Garden Programme stres s e s that subsistence needs must be addressed first and fo r emost, but also encourages low-input methodologies and diversification of crops. In this system, cash-crop pr oduction is based on crop diversification on individual re q u i res close co-ordination both with exporters of farm plots balanced against economies of scale at the the product and the commercial wholesalers of the Figure 4 Creating Analogue Forests village level, which are in turn fostered by co-operative pr oduct in the buyer countries. These issues remain barri e r s requires productive nurseries of marketing. For example, in a conventional system, all to successfully placing FGPs on shelves of health food seedlings. This nursery in the villagers produce carrots that ripen simultaneously, stores and supermarkets in the developed world. uplands of Cebu Island, cr eating overproduction, low market prices and consid- Philippines includes a range of erable wastage (from unsold produce that spoils). By COMMUNITY FORESTRY treecrops (a native forest tree contrast, the Forest Garden system encourages the An Analogue Forest matures to resemble a forest and species is being examined in the s t a g g e red production of 20-30 diff e rent crops in a yet is also a farm plot. Most rural communities in the foreground) village, with co-operatives marketing the high-value developing world need Analogue Forests, but also c rops (e.g. coffee, cardamom) through impro v e d req u i r e a system of fores t r y for re- g r eening large tracts pr ocessing, better grading, and sale at locations where of degraded and devegetated land that may not be demand is high. This more sophisticated system benefits ap p r opriate for Analogue Fores t r y. We suggest that an the farmers through higher ret u r ns, but also req u i r es grea t e r im p o r tant complementary activity to Analogue Fores t r y planning, more infrastruc t u r e, and village-level cred i t . is Community Fore s t ry. Whereas Analogue Fore s t ry Thus there is greater need for start-up assistance by outside plots are small, located on the more fertile upland agencies. sites, and are individually managed, community fores t r y is an appropriate for less fertile land, commu- FOREST GARDEN PRODUCT CERT I F I C ATION AND nity common land, and large tracts of under-utilised ‘waste’ M A R K E T I N G land. Instead of national forest departments devel- The Forest Garden Programme includes a cert i f i c a- oping industrial pine or eucalyptus monocultures on this tion/marketing component that encourages improved land, it is more appropriate for governments to encourage pr oduction and processing, creation of economies of scale, communities to design, plant, and manage for commu- value addition to certified products, and access to nity benefit, multi-species forest plantations that mix native tr ee species with environmentally appropriate exotic timber niche markets. Certified Forest Garden teas, coffees and Figure 5 sy r ups are being sold in health food stores in Europe and species. These can be designed to produce timber, Locally organised mapping and Australia today, though only on a trial basis. The goal fuelwood, and to encourage restoration of wildlife land-use planning are key com- of certification is two-fold. First, it guarantees that . These, too, can form important buffers ponents of a successful Forest fa r mers are using safer production methods that do not protecting remnant tracts of native old growth forest. Garden Programme Using Community Ecosystem Management, village ha r m the community’s environment or the farmer or farm planning groups can plan the strategic placement of workers (through reduced use of toxic chemicals). Second, it guarantees that buyers of a certified prod u c t will be receiving a pure product, free of toxic chemicals, and of better quality. Buyers of certified products pay more for their product, but do so with the knowledge that they are getting a better product and that they are making a contribution to the improvement of the global en v i r onment. Finally, the forest who prod u c e Fo r est Garden Products (FGPs) receive a better ret u r n from sale the of their product. Although the concept of certified FGPs is attractive, the process of making such a system work under real world conditions is a challenge. The two greatest hurd l e s ar e, first, market recognition, which usually req u i r es adver- tisement campaigns (beyond the means of most non-prof i t g roups), and, second, larger scales of pro d u c t i o n (because of the complexity of developing Analogue F o rests, volumes are usually small in the first few years). Lastly, marketing the products internationally

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Analogue Forests, plots of staple crops, Community Fores t s , Noble, I.R., Dirzo, R. 1997. Forests as human-dominated and remnant native forest in ways to benefit both the ecosystems. Science 277: 522-525. community and the . Po ff e n b e rg e r , M., McGean, B. 1993. Communities and f o rest management in East Kalimantan: pathway to THE FUTURE OF COMMUNITY-BASED AGRICULT U R E en v i r onmental . Research Network Report AND FORESTRY 3, Center for Southeast Asian Studies, University of Using Analogue Fores t r y, the Forest Garden Prog r a m m e California. Berkeley, California. 65 pp. contributes to ref o r estation while establishing sustain- Sanchez, P., Denning, G., Izac, A.-M., Scott, B. 1999. able farming practices. Future rural communities will Delivering on the promise of agro f o re s t ry. CGIAR boast fewer hectares of cleared and tilled land and News (Sept. 1999): 3-4. mo r e forest cover, through the creation of Analogue Fores t s Senanayake, F.R., Jack, J. 1998. Analogue Fores t r y: an and community-managed forests. Multi-species fruit introduction. Monash Publications in Geography and o rc h a rds, woodlots, Analogue Forests, and home En v i r onmental Science. No. 49, pp. 1-145. Melbourne , ga r dens will be integrated in a gree n e r , lusher, richer rur a l Victoria, Australia. landscape. The principle of integrating various land uses will guide farmers in planning their production systems. Shah, M., Strong, M. 1999. Food in the 21st Century: Mo n o c u l t u r e fores t r y will be a thing of the past, and the from science to sustainable agriculture. community benefits from forested land will be greatly enhanced (sustainable extraction of fuelwood, timber, A B O U T T H E A U T H O R S nontimber forest products, medicinals, and game) Dr. Senanayake is a systems ecologist under the enlightened supervision of community who received his Ph.D. from the councils. Subsistence production of rice, maize and roo t c r ops will be accomplished through greener practices, University of California, Davis, and reduced use of toxic chemicals, and will follow more has studied the of rural agri- polycultural principles. Local of land, culture in South and Southeast Asia, forest and waters will be the norm and not the excep- Australia and Latin America over the tion. last 12 years. He currently serves as How the tens of thousands of poor rural communi- Scientific and Technical Dire c t o r, ties of the world will get to this more enlightened state Forest Garden Programme, Counterpart International, based in remains one of the central challenges of development in the next millennium. We believe a first step will be Colombo, Sri Lanka. He served as a Senior Research Scientist of the decentralisation of government departments that the Environmental Management Unit, Monash University oversee agriculture and forests. A second step will be (Australia) and also was the founder of the NeoSynthesis the devolution of tenure over rural agricultural and fores t Research Centre, Sri Lanka. He has been a committee member of lands to the community. A third step will be greater invest- the Consultative Group in Agricultural Research since 1995. He ment in NGO-led community development initiatives developed the Analogue Forestry system described in this paper that focus on land use and land-and-water- m a n a g e- and has published widely in the technical literature. ment. A fourth and final step will be the introduction of complex and and fores t r y systems Dr. Beehler is a tropical ecologist with that are based on multi-cropping and integrated land use, a focus on Asia and the Pacific. He cur- such as Analogue Forestry. We believe this is a viable pathway for the developing world, and that it will rently serves as Vice President for become the system of choice in a greener and less Environment and Natural Resources, regimented agriculture system for the developed world. C o u n t e r p a rt Intern a t i o n a l , Washington, DC. Prior to this appoint- B I B L I O G R A P H Y ment, he has held research and man- D a i l y, G.C. 1995. Restoring value to the world's agement positions at the Smithsonian degraded lands. Science 269: 350-354. Institution, Wildlife Conserv a t i o n Dobson, A.P., Bradshaw, A.D., Baker, A.J.M. 1997. S o c i e t y, Conservation Intern a t i o n a l , Hopes for the future: restoration ecology and conserva t i o n and the U.S. Department of State. He has published five books biology. Science 277: 515-522. and a range of technical papers. IC R A F . Undated. Agrof o r ests: examples from Indonesia. I n t e rnational Centre for Research in Agro f o re s t ry, I F Y O U H AV E A N Y E N Q U I R I E S R E G A R D I N G T H E Bogor, Indonesia. 16 pages. C O N T E N T O F T H I S A RT I C L E, P L E A S E C O N TA C T: Lynch, O.J., Talbott, K. 1995. Balancing acts: commu- Bruce Beehler nity-based forest management and national law in Asia and the Pacific. World Resources Institute, Was h i n g t o n , Counterpart International D.C. 188 pp. 1200 18th Street Ma r graf, J., Millan, P. 1996. Rainforestation farming: a NW Suite 1100 f a rmer's guide to biodiversity management for the Washington DC 20036 Philippines. Visayas State College of Agriculture, Baybay, USA Leyte, Philippines. 36 pp. Tel: +1 (202) 721 1532 Matson, P.A., Parton, W.J., Power, A.G., Swift, M.J. 1997. E-mail: [email protected] Agricultural intensification and ecosystem properties. Science 277: 504-509.

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