PEOPLES' INSTITUTIONS for FOREST and FUELWOOD DEVELOPMENT a Report on Participatory Fuelwood Evaluations in India and Thailand
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PEOPLES' INSTITUTIONS FOR FOREST AND FUELWOOD DEVELOPMENT A Report on Participatory Fuelwood Evaluations in India and Thailand by Richard Morse Charit Tingsabadh Napoleon Vergara Varun Vidyarthi et al. A Project Conducted by East-West Center Appropriate Technology Reawuce Systems Institute Development Association East-West Center Chulaiongkorn University Environment and Policy Institute Social Research Institute PEOPLES' INSTITUTIONS FOR FOREST AND FUELWOOD DEVELOPMENT A REPORT ON PARTICIPATORY FUELWOOD EVALUATIONS IN I2DIA AND THAILAND Richard Morse Charit Tingsabadh Napoleon Vergara Varun Vidyarthi Principal Authors Sushil C. Agrawalf Marcia Gowen, Neera Kool, Supan Koon-Ya, B. N. Mishra, Kobkul Phutaraporn, G. K. Shukla, Kamlesh Chandra Tripathi Contributing Authors East-West Center Resource Systems Institute East-West Center Environment and Policy Institute Chulalongkorn University Social Research Institute Appropriate Technology Development Association March 1987 CONTENTS PREFACE PART I PARTICIPATORY EVALUATION OF FUELWOOD PROGRAMS: SYNOPSES AND WORKSHOP RECONMENDATIONS Audience and Authors ......................... .... .... 3 Objectives and Impetus for Participatory Evaluations... 5 Village Forest InstiLutions in a North India Hill Regi on ............................................... 7 Village Fuelwood Development and Farm Forestry in a Rainfed Thailand Plateau........................ 11 Central Evaluation Findings ............................ 16 Summary of Recommendations for Policy and Action....... 21 PART II PARTICIPATORY FUELWOOD DEVELOPMENT 'ISSUES IN A HILL AREA OF NORTHERR INDIA Chapter 1. INTRODUCTION TO THE DESIGN AND SCOPE OF PARTICIPATORY EVALUATION OF FUELWOOD PROGRAMS Varun Vidyarthi ....................................... 27 Chapter 2. WOOD AND NON-WOOD FOREST RESOURCE POSITION AND CONSUMPTON PATTERN IN ALMORA DISTRICT G. K. Shukla ........................................... 39 Chapter 3. THE ROLE OF COMMERCIAL AND INFORMAL WOOD MARKETING SYSTEMS IN UTTAR PRADESH HILLS Sushil C. Agrawal .................................... 53 Chapter 4. LAND, PEOPLE, AND FORESTRY IN THE STUDY VILLAGES B. N. Mishra ....................................... .. 75 Chapter 5. VILLAGE ASSESSMENTS OF FUELWOOD SCARCITY AND ALTERNATIVES Neera Koo! ........................................... 91 PART II (continued) Chapter 6. LOCAL INSTITUTIONS INVOLVED IN FOREST MANAGEMENt: PANCHAYAT CASE STUDIES Kamlesh Chandra Tripathi .............................. 107 Chapter 7. PARTICIPATORY DEVELOPMENT ISSUES AND POLICY PERSPECTIVES Varun Vidyarthi ...................................... 137 APPENDIXES ................ ............. 169 PART III FUELWOOD DEVELOPMENT IN A RAINFED RICE-GRCIING AREA SISAKET PROVINCE, TAILAND Charit Tingsabadh Supan Koon-Ya Kobkul Phutaraporn Chapter 1. INTRODUCTION ............................... 189 Chapter 2. DESCRIPTION OF STUDY VILLAGES .............. 207 Chapter 3. FUELWOOD AND THE VILLAGE COMMUNITY ......... 227 Chapter 4. EXPERIENCE OF TREE PLANTING ................ 241 Chapter 5. IMPACT OF TREE PLANTING .................... 257 Chapter 6. IMPLICATIONS OF THE STUDY .................. 263 APPENDIXES ................................. 273 PART IV DEVELOPING POPULAR INSTITUTIONS AND POLICIES FOR FUELWOOD DEVELOPMENT Some Unifying Propositions ............................. 299 Trust, Law, and Popular Institutions ................... 302 Strengthening Local Capabilities ....................... 305 Marketing Systems and Fuelwood Plantation Success ...... 309 Role of Participatory Evaluation and Action Research... 312 REFERENCES ..................... ........... 315 iv PREFACE In urgent efforts to improve the welfare of rural citizens, governments often attempt to save time by planning development programs with a minimum of consultation with the intended beneficiaries. One serious drawback to this mode of program formulation is that the problems identified by experts working in urban environments often do not coincide with the high priority problems as perceived by rural populations. This flaw in problem identification and needs assessment carries over to the implementation and eventual evaluation of such programs and projects. Using yardsticks that are not relevant to needs of the rural poor, external evaluators may arrive at conclusions that indicate program success, whereas an evaluation carried out from the viewpoint of the local people would indicate otherwise. Social forestry programs designed to alleviate extreme local shortages of forest resources--.for fuelwood, farm construction materials, fodder, green manure, food, or combinations of these needs--are often similar to other development programs in terms of lack of local participation in needs assessment, project planning and negotiation, actual implementation, and monitoring. Thus it is frequently the case that impressive physical evidence of action, such as established fuelwood plantations, becomes the sole gauge of achievement of project goals, without taking into account whether such plantations satisfy urgent community needs. v This research project on "Participatory Evaluation of Fuelwood Programs" in selected regions of India and Thailand represents a profound departure from traditional evaluation approaches. Instead of engaging "experts" who are external to the rural settings, farm families and other village residents are involved as evaluators themselves. Their particular vantage points are points of departure for judgments about the ability of fuelwood projects to attain village goals. It is highly instructive to find that their conclusions often differ widely, sometimes being diametrically opposite, from those of the usual external evaluation teams, as this study clearly reveals. From this experience, it would seem appropriate for development planners to modify their approach so that futurL problem identification, planning, implementation, and evaluation are participatory in nature. Methods for strengthening and adapting existing local institutions for this purpose are identified. The findings also indicate the necessity of modifying current policies and laws on land use in light of the influence of tenurial arrangements, as reported by farmers and other community members, on their decisions and behavior relative to soil, water, and forest conservatioa and management. The study was made possible by a research grant to the East-West Center Resource Systems Institute and Environment and Policy Institute from the El. S. Agency for International Development. The evaluations were designed and conducted through the initiatives and active collaboration of the Appropriate Technology Development Association in Lucknow, vi India, and the Chulalongkorn University Social Research Institute in Bangkok, Thailand. Richard Morse Varun Vidyarthi Napoleon Vergara Charit Tingsabadh vii PART I PARTICIPATORY EVALUATION OF FUELWOOD PROGRAMS: SYNOPSES AND WORKSHOP RECOMMENDATIONS We report here our findings from engaging with village residents in selected areas of India and Thailand in evaluating the conditions for success in planning and implementing fuelwood development programs. The report is in four parts. First, in Part I, we explain the context and objectives of these applied policy studies and their participatory style. Synopses of the India and Thailand cases aze then given. Central policy lessons from both country studies follow. Part I concludes with the recommendations of the international workshop that reviewed the evaluation experiences. The approaches to participatory evaluation by the India and Thailand research teams and their detailed findings are presented in Part II and Part III, with implications for policy and action in the respective regions. In Part IV, we review common issues revealed in the country studies and elaborate the central policy lessons and recommendations based on specific aspects of the village evaluati ons. Audience and Authors "The forest is a life-giving entity--the most important resource in the village." A forest committee member in Silpar 3 4 village, north India, gave us this assessment of forest resources in the course of discussions on village residents' priorities in allocation and use of land. He appeared to have values and goals in common with the Vice-President of India, R. Venkataraman, who at about the same time was calling for "a massive afforestation drive on a war footing through a p_ople's movement" (The Hindustan Times, Oct. 17). Yet not all the village residents whom we met--or even a majority--put such high priority on forestry or fuelwood. Water, more food production, fodder, income through sale of forest products, and more equitable access to and sharing of employment were more frequently voiced priorities. Mr. Venkataraman recognized these concerns in proceeding to address the complex array of policy, social, biophysical, legal, and economic factors that inhibit achievement of afforestation goals. On these inhibiting factors, and on factors in successful local organization for forest and fuelwood development, we have heard the anxieties and assessments of many farm families, landless workers, and other village residents. In a sense, our report's most basic task is to present these assessments in a manner that will facilitate better communication between local citizens, on the one hand, and development planners, legislators, foresters and other resource managers, on the other. These parties share in common a need for the creation of policies and procedures to promote flexible interplay among the