KAMEL CHORFI, ENGREF, NANCY, CO-ORDINATOR ith participation of Jean–Guénolé CORNET, Gabriella ROESLE, ENGREF, Nancy Aybek NADYRBEKOV, SFS, Rahat MURZAKMATOVA, FRI & Ormon SULTANGAZIEV, AUB, Bishkek THE SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC CONTEXT FOR SUSTAINABLE MANAGEMENT OF JUNIPER FORESTS IN SOUTH KYRGYZSTAN: THE VIEW FROM THE LOCAL POPULATION September 2004 Kamel CHORFI, ENGREF, Nancy, Co-ordinator with participation of Jean–Guénolé CORNET, Gabriella ROESLE, ENGREF, Nancy Aybek NADYRBEKOV, SFS, Rahat MURZAKMATOVA, FRI & Ormon SULTANGAZIEV, AUB, Bishkek THE SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC CONTEXT FOR SUSTAINABLE MANAGEMENT OF JUNIPER FORESTS IN SOUTH KYRGYZSTAN: THE VIEW FROM THE LOCAL POPULATION September 2004 2 The Co-ordinator: Born in 1964, Kamel CHORFI has graduated in USSR with a “Master in forest engineering” from the Voronej Forest Technical Institute (VLTI). From 1990 to 2002, he successively acted as the head of the Forest Management Department in the Regional Office of Forest Development (ORDF) in Batna (Algeria), as Project Manager in the Hungary-Canadian wood processing entreprise PATELLA in Budapest (Hungary), as a scientific assistant in the Agro-Forest Management Society, SAFA-Aurès (Algeria), and as the head of technical department in the Agricultural Concessions Society (SCA) in Batna (Algeria). In 2003, Kamel CHORFI obtained a “Master in wood science” from the French Institute of Forestry, Agricultural and Environmental Engineering (ENGREF). He is currently scientific assistant of the JUMP project and doctoral applicant at the Laboratory of Forest Policy, ENGREF, Nancy, specialising on the social and economic aspects in forest management plans elaboration. Laboratoire de Politique Forestière de l’Ecole Nationale du Génie Rural, des Eaux et des Forêts (ENGREF) Nancy, France. Front cover: Village land use mapping with local population at Alai leshoze.(photo Nathalie Cornet-Willefert, 2004). JUMP, a project funded by the European Union and implemented by the French Institute of Forestry, Agricultural and Environmental Engineering (ENGREF). This document has been produced with the financial assistance of the European Union. The contents of this document are the sole responsibility of ENGREF and can under no circumstances be regarded as reflecting the position of the European Union. Printed in France - September 2004 3 CONTENTS Forewords………...…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………...5 Chapter 1: VILLAGE LAND USE PLANNING USING PARTICIPATORY RURAL APPRAISAL AS A TOOL FOR INVOLVING PEOPLE IN FOREST MANAGEMENT ISSUES ………………………………………………………………………………………..…..…………7 1.1 The Village Land Use Planning (VLUP)………………………………….……………………………………7 a) Need of new approaches to promote Sustainable Forest Management (SFM)………7 b) Village Land Use Planning principles………………………………..………………………………………………8 c) Village Land Use Planning process description………………………………………………………….…11 d) Development of management plans…………………………………………………………………………………18 e) Implementation and monitoring of management plans ……………………….…………………….. 22 1.2 Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA)………………………………………………………….………………... 23 a) Principles of Participatory Rural Appraisal …………………………………………………………..……… 23 b) Participatory Rural Appraisal tools ……………………………………………………………………….……….. 23 1.3 The VLUP process as implemented in Juniper forests in S.Kyrgyzstan……….……26 a) Time table of concrete action ……………………………………………………………………………………………26 b) Work organisation ….………………………………………………………………………………………………….…………27 Chapter 2: THE RULES OF ACCESS TO NATURAL RESOURCES AND SOCIAL ORGANISATION ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 31 2.1 Local administration inherited from the USSR system …………………………………………. 31 a) Local administrative pattern ….…………………………………………………………………..………….…………… 31 b) Mining conflicts between local administrations …………………………………………………..………. 32 2.2 Partial lands privatisation …..……………………………………………………………………………………….…… 33 a) Former land repartition .………………………………………………………………………….………………………….... 33 b) Agricultural land privatisation ……………………………………………………………..………………………..…...34 c) No change of status for forests and pastures …………..………………………………………………………36 2.3 Severe control of the forest fund …..………………………………………………………………………….…….36 a) Legal access to forest resources………………………………………………………………………………….………36 b) Forbidden access to forest resources ………………………………………………………………………………...38 c) The case of irrigated lands on the forest fund ……………………………………………………..………….38 4 2.4 Access to administrative fund mainly limited by natural factors …………………………38 a) Agricultural lands allocation ……………………………………………………………………………………………...38 b) Pastures and forests located on administrative fund ..………………………………………..…………39 2.5 The social organisation .……………………………………………………………………………………………….……39 a) Local stakeholders analysis ……………………………………………………………………………….………………..39 b) Identification of interest groups .………………………………………………………………………………………..40 c) Social organisation at local level .………………………………………………………………………………………42 Chapter 3: THE USE OF LAND AND FOREST RESOURCES AT VILLAGE LEVEL…………..43 3.1 Local dependence on naturel resources …………………………………………………………………….…43 a) Land use: farming versus livestock raising ..…………………………………………………………..……...43 b) Wood products use: firewood and timber .…………………………………………………………………….45 c) Other goods and services from forests ……………………………………………………….……………………49 3.2 Establishment of villages profiles .………………………………………………………..………………………..49 a) Highest villages (type 1) ………………………………………………………………………….………………………….50 b) Medium villages (type 2) ….………………………………………………… ……………………………………………..50 c) Lowest villages (type 3) …………………………………………………………………………..…………………………..51 Chapter 4: DIRECTIONS FOR A SUSTAINABLE MANAGEMENT INVOLVING LOCAL PEOPLE ……………………………………………………………………………………………………….…………..….53 4.1 Logic to cope with current issues …………………………………………………………………………………..53 a) Need of cheap energy .………………………………………………………………………………………………………….53 b) Need of wood for construction …………………………………………………………………………….…………..54 c) Need of any sources of goods and incomes ..………………………………………………………………….54 d) Patent inequity of power .…………………………………………………………………………………….………………55 e) Curb on rural development ..……………………………………………………………………………………………..…55 4.2 Tracks for possible improvement ……………………………………………………………………………………56 4.3 Concrete hypothesis for development at village level ……………………………………..………...59 a) General improvement of the current use of Juniper firewood ……………………………..……59 b) Management hypothesis for each village type ..………………………………………………….………….72 Conclusion ………………………..………………………………………………………………………………………………………….75 Bibliography………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….76 Annexes……………………….……………………………………………………………………………………………………….…..….…77 5 FOREWORDS In a permanent search for sustainability, forestry activities cannot be conducted separately from the needs expressed by the stakeholders. This is why forest management is to be based on a sincere and complete association of local people to forestry interventions with the aim of getting foresters and local population both realise that the participation of everybody is absolutely needed for a successful action. In the case of the Juniper forests in South Kyrgyzstan, where poor economic conditions (lack of energy resources and unemployment) force local people to use the natural resources in an irrational and excessive way, there is an urgent need to find out adapted measures to stop the depletion and promote sustainability. The association of local users to the proposed solutions is urgently required. This is why one of the main objectives of the European Union JUMP project through the introduction of Integrated Management Plans, is to take into consideration the human pressure on forest, the local needs, the present socio-economic conditions and the expectations at village level, the local users being considered as final beneficiaries. The methodology developed through the European Union JUMP project for this purpose is the Village Land Use Planning (VLUP), already experimented in other countries with similar conditions. It consists in participatory procedures that aim at finding commonly accepted solutions among foresters and villagers, taking into consideration not only the forest itself, but also the activities which are carried out at the level of the whole local society. A compromise indeed has to be established between the ecological need to ensure the sustainability of the ecosystem, the economic requirements from the Forestry Department to guarantee the viability of forest management, and the social demands from the local users. These integrated management plans are intended to provide goods and services to local people without decreasing the potential of the resource for the future generations. For such a purpose, the involvement of local population is absolutely needed in the technical, economic and social actions to be carried out. Such management plans established in a participatory way alone will ensure the sustainability of the resource for the benefit of the future generations. Prof. Gérard BUTTOUD ENGREF, Nancy, France 6 7 CHAPTER 1 VILLAGE LAND USE PLANNING USING PARTICIPATORY RURAL APPRAISAL AS A TOOL FOR INVOLVING PEOPLE IN FOREST MANAGEMENT ISSUES 1.1 The Village Land Use Planning (VLUP) a) Need of new approaches to promote Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) In many developing countries all over the world, economy weaknesses and social dissension have resulted in an irrational use of the natural resources. Forests may represent one of the main concerns in this regard, since they are at the mean time