WORLD RESOURCES INSTITUTE INSTITUTIONS AND GOVERNANCE PROGRAM CONFERENCE ON DECENTRALIZATION AND THE ENVIRONMENT BELLAGIO, ITALY 18-22 FEBRUARY , 2002 Decentralization and Accountability in Forest Management: A trend and its policies on “Natural Forest Protection” and “Upland Conversion” XU JIANCHU Center for Biodiversity and Indigenous Knowledge E-mail: [email protected] WORLD RESOURCES INSTITUTE 10 G STREET, NE WASHINGTON, DC 20002 WWW.WRI.ORG www.wri.org Decentralization and Accountability in Forest Management: A trend and its policies on “Natural Forest Protection” and “Upland Conversion” Xu Jianchu Content 1. Introduction...........................................................................................................................................................2 1.1 Social Challenges .................................................................................................. 2 1.2 Forestry in livelihood and environmental services...................................................... 2 2. Research Site, Objectives and Methods...........................................................................................................4 2.1 Research site: Yunnan............................................................................................. 4 2.2 Research objectives ............................................................................................... 8 2.3 Methods ............................................................................................................... 8 3. Actors in forestry policy and conservation......................................................................................................8 3.1 Governmental (Formal) Institutions ......................................................................... 8 3.2 Informal Institutions .............................................................................................. 9 3.3 Distinct Local Institution Features ........................................................................... 9 3.4 Village Committees, Democratization and Decentralization......................................... 9 4. Policies in forestry and conservation: an overall decentralization...............................................................9 4.1 The state’s role in forest management: exclusion and inclusion ......................... 10 4.2 Relevant polices in forestry and conservation ................................................. 10 5. Emerging forestry policies ................................................................................................................................12 5.1 Logging ban or natural forest protection ................................................................. 12 5.2 Upland Conversion .............................................................................................. 13 5. Decentralization or centralization....................................................................................................................14 5.1.1 Strengths .................................................................................................. 14 5.1.2 Constraints................................................................................................ 14 5.1.3 Potentials .................................................................................................. 15 6. Field impacts .......................................................................................................................................................15 7. Cross-cutting issues ...........................................................................................................................................18 8. Summary of observations and recommendations.........................................................................................20 References Cited:....................................................................................................................................................20 1 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 Social Challenges China has a population of 1.3 billion living in an area of 9.6 million km2; 16.55% of China is forestland (of which about 10% is natural forest). China’s changes have been rapid and dramatic in the past two decades, population growth and rapid development, which resulted in large-scale deforestation, conversion to agricultural land, and over-harvesting of forest products, therefore further impacted in environment. Those changes are also illustrated by a sustained high economic growth rate, millions of people lifted out of poverty, decentralization of decision making process, a nascent democratic process, especially in rural China, and the increasing awareness of and attention to environment and sustainability from all walks of life. The most fundamental change is the leaders’ vision and decision to transform the economy from command and control to market. Policies and legislation to promote such a change and sustainability have been developed and tested nationwide. Many of the experiments have achieved success, which in turn helps reshape the development path the country is going to embark on. One particular example is the rural economic reform. Initiated two decades ago, the reform started with handing the farmland from communes to individual households. The success of this policy has convinced the leaders that political reform is crucial to building up a society that is ecologically and socio-economically sustainable. Government now realizes that there is a necessity to re- strengthen the grassroots or village organizations for participatory decision-making and collective action on natural resource management and deeper rural reform. And this process shall be applied extensively in the country. The rapid economic growth and dramatic social changes have also generated great impacts on the natural resources and livelihood of indigenous communities, particularly in upland watershed areas. Yunnan, the most diverse province in terms of ethnic minorities and biological resources, makes a good showcase to examine the policies, practices and the corresponding impacts. Over the last few decades, the province has witnessed nearly 50 percent decrease of its forest cover, a wide range of grassland degradation due to overgrazing, and higher frequency of natural disasters. Wide-spread soil and water erosion, high mountains and steep slopes, poor agricultural infrastructure, and inconvenient transport systems against a backdrop of population growth have all contributed to the poverty and deterioration of natural resources in the province. 1.2 Forestry in livelihood and environmental services The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment Project (2001) defines Ecosystem Services to be the conditions and processes supported by biodiversity through which ecosystems sustain and fulfil human life, including through the provision of goods. Services fall into three basic categories: i. Provisioning (e.g. Food, Water, Fibre, Fuel, Other biological products) ii. Supporting (e.g., Biodiversity, Pollination, Waste treatment, Nutrient cycling) iii. Cultural (e.g., Cultural, Aesthetic, Social relations) Forests play an important role in the rural economy of Yunnan Province and have the potential based on best practices in policy making to enhance the environment, Yunnan’s rich biodiversity, and the livelihoods of Yunnan’s “peripheral peoples” (poor, women & minorities). Many indigenous people in Yunnan are benefiting from the new economic opportunities created by expanding markets and infrastructure development, but often at the 2 cost of depletion of forestland, forest products and other natural resources such as soil and water. Forest-based livelihood: 1. Shifting cultivation: In Yunnan, the shifting cultivation is commonly found in the southwest along the borders with Myanmar, Laos and Vietnam, where belongs to humid tropical and sub-tropical areas with fast forest regeneration. A total of 2 million shifting cultivators still practice different types of swidden agriculture for their subsistence even income generation. 2. Rural energy and construction: fuelwood collection is considered a main cause of forest resource depletion, by estimate a total of 12m3 fuelwood per year needed for a highland family, 7 m3 fuelwood for midland family, 3m3for the lowland in Yunnan. With improvement of economic standard, the construction of new houses also contributes to forest depletion, a new traditional Tibetan house in Northwest Yunnan consumes 120 m3 of good timber. Table: Pattern of Wood Consumption in Rural Yunnan (cubic metres/per capita/year) Item High Mountains Middle Mountains Low Mountains Low Mountains with forest cover with forest cover with forest cover with low forest cover Agriculture 0.02241 0.03821 0.00621 0.03328 Construction 0.27531 0.18954 0.21132 0.12121 Furniture 0.02570 0.01257 0.00508 0.02900 Fuel 1.21740 1.075257 0.52263 0.48004 Utilities 0.16601 0.27504 0.04158 0.01864 TOTAL 1.70665 1.59133 0.78682 0.68217 Family size 5.06 5.5 5.7 5.3 Total wood/Family 8.864 8.74 4.48 3.62 Total fuel/family 6.21 5.91 2.98 2.54 Source Prof Han Yufeng (Li 1993) 3. Fodder and litter collection: many indigenous people largely rely on forest biomass for fodders of livestock and litters of organic fertilizers. For instance, a Tibetan family, mainly women, collects about 20 ton per year of oak leaves for livestock bedding. 4. NTFPs for marketing and subsistence: there are thousands of plant species traditionally collected by indigenous people for their own consumption