RAP PUBLICATION 2005/02 Asia–Pacific Forestry Commission IN SEARCH OF EXCELLENCE: Exemplary forest management in Asia and the Pacific Edited by Patrick B. Durst, Chris Brown, Henrylito D. Tacio and Miyuki Ishikawa FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS REGIONAL OFFICE FOR ASIA AND THE PACIFIC REGIONAL COMMUNITY FORESTRY TRAINING CENTER FOR ASIA AND THE PACIFIC Bangkok, 2005 The designations employed and the presentation of material in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion on the part of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations or the Regional Community Forestry Training Center concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. Applications for such permission, with a statement of the purpose and extent of the reproduction, should be addressed to the Senior Forestry Officer, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, 39 Phra Atit Road, Bangkok, Thailand. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) leads international efforts to defeat hunger by helping countries improve agriculture, forestry and fisheries practices and ensuring good nutrition for all. FAO is also a leading source of knowledge and information on agriculture, forestry and fisheries, and acts as a neutral forum where all nations meet as equals to negotiate agreements and debate policy. FAO’s mission in forestry is to enhance human well-being through support to member countries in the sustainable management of the world's trees and forests. The Regional Community Forestry Training Center for Asia and the Pacific (RECOFTC) supports community forestry development and the empowerment of local people in managing forests in Asia and the Pacific. Its efforts are aimed at promoting sustainable forest management and providing for the needs of the more than one billion rural people in the region who depend on forest resources for their livelihoods. Since its establishment in 1987, RECOFTC has trained more than 2 500 forest managers and development specialists in all aspects of local forest management, social development and livelihood improvement. RECOFTC conducts adaptive research and extension, and provides on-the-ground support to community forestry practitioners throughout the region. Cover photos: Front cover montage: photos submitted by case study authors and M. Kashio Back cover: Forestry Tasmania For copies of the publication, write to: Patrick B. Durst Senior Forestry Officer FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific 39 Phra Atit Road, Bangkok 10200, Thailand Tel: (66-2) 697 4000 Fax: (66-2) 697 4445 Email: [email protected] © FAO 2005 ISBN 974-7946-68-8 FOREWORD The pursuit of excellence is at the heart of all worthwhile human endeavour. We try to do better than we did yesterday, and attempt to outperform others. Or we may simply work for the pride and satisfaction of a job well done. With so many people striving for excellence, how is it that forestry and foresters alike attract so much negative publicity? Literally hundreds of books and thousands of news items tell the story of deforestation and the failure to manage forests sustainably. It is, therefore, no surprise that the public perception of forestry is one dominated by mismanagement, avarice, irresponsibility and arrogance. The contradiction, however, is that the professional foresters one meets will tell you that they joined the profession not for a love of money, or the sound of chainsaws, but for an appreciation and enjoyment of forests and trees. In search of excellence deviates from the path that most authors have taken. Instead of dwelling on the failures and the negative, it celebrates the “good” and the many positive management efforts in the Asia–Pacific region. It highlights the many people who are striving for excellence in forest management and seeks to encourage others to emulate these positive efforts. Collectively, the story of forestry that emerges may be more about endeavour and ingenuity than greed, indifference and incompetence. This publication reflects the outcome of an ambitious initiative of the Asia–Pacific Forestry Commission (APFC), entitled In search of excellence: exemplary forest management in Asia and the Pacific. The initiative was coordinated by the FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific (FAO/RAP) and the Regional Community Forestry Training Center for Asia and the Pacific (RECOFTC). It has set out to make a difference by drawing our eyes from the negative to the positive. It has also significantly advanced understanding of the common elements of what constitutes good forest management and what can be generally regarded as “well managed” and a job well done. The publication highlights a diversity of management approaches that have proven particularly innovative and successful in meeting challenges. Thus, it reaches out to foresters, policy-makers, planners and anyone interested in the future of forestry in Asia and the Pacific. This publication also marks a significant step forward in FAO’s and RECOFTC’s efforts to bring its forestry literature closer to general readers who are less familiar with the technical aspects of forest management, but no less concerned about the fate of the region’s forests, natural resources and rural people. He Changchui Yam Malla Assistant Director-General and Executive Director Regional Representative for Asia and the Pacific Regional Community Forestry Food and Agriculture Organization Training Center of the United Nations for Asia and the Pacific iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This publication is the result of the outstanding efforts of numerous individuals and organizations involved in the In search of excellence initiative over the past three years. FAO and RECOFTC express sincere appreciation to all the organizations and individuals who contributed to the success of the initiative. Our gratitude goes far beyond the list provided here and includes those people who nominated forests, participated in national workshops, involved themselves in e-mail discussions or helped to publicize the initiative. It also includes forest managers who allowed their forests to be nominated, and those who later assisted in the drafting of case studies by giving their time freely to show authors around the forests and, along with various other stakeholders, participated in interviews. The In search of excellence initiative, an activity sanctioned by the Asia–Pacific Forestry Commission, was implemented under the supervision of Patrick Durst (FAO), Somsak Sukwong and Yam Malla (RECOFTC). The following individuals played key roles in coordinating various aspects of the initiative: Patrick Durst, Chris Brown (Consultant), Karen Edwards (RECOFTC), Michael Victor (RECOFTC), Cor Veer (RECOFTC), Steve Rhee (Consultant), Henrylito Tacio (Editing Consultant) and Miyuki Ishikawa (FAO). Valuable support was provided by various groups of individuals in each stage of the initiative. Initial preparatory work before and during the nomination phase was facilitated by Patrick Durst, Mette Løyche Wilkie (FAO) and Chris Brown. Ernesto Guiang (Consultant) led in publicizing the initiative and ensuring wide distribution of information and nomination forms, with assistance from Thomas Enters (FAO), Michael Victor and Tan Lay Cheng (Consultant). Special thanks are due to David Kaimowitz (CIFOR) who publicized the initiative through the POLEX list of contacts. National nominating workshops were conducted in several countries. Particular thanks are due to Sushil Saigal (India), Ir. Agung Nugraha and Ali Arsyad (Indonesia), Surin Onprom (Thailand), Paul Lane (New Zealand), Ernesto Guiang (Philippines), Christian Sloth (FAO Viet Nam) and Pham Hoai Duc (Viet Nam), who coordinated workshops and national nomination processes, and to Winrock International, which provided support for the India national workshop. Steve Rhee did excellent work in the initial screening of nominations and drafting paragraph summaries for all the nominated forests. Steve also took the lead in identifying and contacting case study authors. Thanks are due to the many people who suggested names, or otherwise assisted in identifying appropriate authors. v Two expert panels reviewed the nominations and selected forests for in-depth Jim Carle, Doug Williamson, Froylan Castañeda, Kailash Govil, C.T.S. Nair, Dominique Reeb, Oudara Souvannavong, Paul Vantomme and Adrian Whiteman, and an Asia–Pacific-based Technical Working Group comprising Karen Edwards, Brian Belcher (CIFOR), Cherukat Chandrasekharan (Consultant), Ernesto Guiang, Nigel Sizer (The Nature Conservancy), John Tay (Innoprise Corporation), Tang Hon Tat (FAO), Patrick Durst, Chris Brown and Thomas Enters. Special thanks are due to Henrylito Tacio who undertook the task of coordinating the drafting of the case studies, including helping to provide thematic direction for the case studies and completing initial editing. Chris Brown and Patrick Durst took the lead in technical editing of the case studies, with assistance from Murugesu Pushparajah (Consultant) and Miyuki Ishikawa. Thomas Enters’ contributions to editing, refining and substantially improving the overview chapters