People and Forests Politics, Science, and the Environment Peter M. Haas, Sheila Jasanoff, and Gene Rochlin, editors Shadows in the Forest: Japan and the Politics of Timber in Southeast Asia, Peter Dauvergne Views from the Alps: Regional Perspectives on Climate Change, Peter Cebon, Urs Dahinden, Huw Davies, Dieter M. Imboden, and Carlo C. Jaeger, editors People and Forests: Communities, Institutions, and Governance, Clark C. Gibson, Margaret A. McKean, and Elinor Ostrom, editors People and Forests Communities, Institutions, and Governance edited by Clark C. Gibson, Margaret A. McKean, and Elinor Ostrom The MIT Press Cambridge, Massachusetts London, England 2000 Massachusetts Institute of Technology All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means (including photocopying, recording, or infor- mation storage and retrieval) without permission in writing from the publisher. Chapter 5, ‘‘Optimal Foraging, Institutions, and Forest Change: A Case from Nepal,’’ by Charles M. Schweik, is reprinted with permission from Kluwer Aca- demic Publishers, forthcoming in Environmental Monitoring & Assessment 63/ 64 (2000). This book was set in Sabon by Achorn Graphic Services, Inc., and printed and bound in the United States of America. Printed on recycled paper. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data People and forests : communities, institutions, and governance / edited by Clark C. Gibson, Margaret A. McKean, and Elinor Ostrom. p. cm.—(Politics, science, and the environment) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-262-07201-7 (hc.: alk. paper)—ISBN 0-262-57137-4 (pbk.: alk. paper) 1. Forest management—Social aspects. 2. Forestry and community. I. Gibson, Clark C., 1961– II. McKean, Margaret A. III. Ostrom, Elinor. IV. Series. SD387.S55 P46 2000 333.75—dc21 99-043446 To Marilyn Hoskins, who inspired our work by her dedication to improv- ing the lives of villagers living in and near forests while encouraging rigor- ous policy-related research, and to the members of the communities around the world who made our work possible by welcoming us into their homes and forests. This page intentionally left blank Contents Tables ix Figures xi Series Foreword xiii Preface xv Contributors xxi Acronyms and Abbreviations xxiii 1 Explaining Deforestation: The Role of Local Institutions 1 Clark C. Gibson, Margaret A. McKean, and Elinor Ostrom 2 Common Property: What Is It, What Is It Good for, and What Makes It Work? 27 Margaret A. McKean 3 Small Is Beautiful, but Is Larger Better? Forest-Management Institu- tions in the Kumaon Himalaya, India 57 Arun Agrawal 4 Successful Forest Management: The Importance of Security of Tenure and Rule Enforcement in Ugandan Forests 87 Abwoli Y. Banana and William Gombya-Ssembajjwe 5 Optimal Foraging, Institutions, and Forest Change: A Case from Nepal 99 Charles M. Schweik 6 A Lack of Institutional Demand: Why a Strong Local Community in Western Ecuador Fails to Protect Its Forest 135 Clark C. Gibson and C. Dustin Becker viii Contents 7 Indigenous Forest Management in the Bolivian Amazon: Lessons from the Yuracare´ People 163 C. Dustin Becker and Rosario Leo´ n 8 Population and Forest Dynamics in the Hills of Nepal: Institutional Remedies by Rural Communities 193 George Varughese 9 Forests, People, and Governance: Some Initial Theoretical Lessons 227 Clark C. Gibson, Elinor Ostrom, and Margaret A. McKean Appendix: International Forestry Resources and Institutions Research Strategy 243 Elinor Ostrom and Mary Beth Wertime Index 269 Tables 2.1 Type of good, by physical characteristics 2.2 Stock and flow attributes of property-rights regimes 3.1 Changes in the Van Panchayat Act between 1931 and 1976 3.2 Basic statistics on the Dhauladevi and Lohaghat forest councils 3.3 Institutional information on the Dhauladevi and Lohaghat forest councils 3.4 Vegetation data for the investigated sites 4.1 Number of sample plots with evidence of illegal consumptive dis- turbance 4.2 Summary of data collected for trees in plot samples of the pilot- study forests 5.1 Characteristics of the communities in the region 5.2 Three imbedded models, variable operationalization, and expected relationships 5.3 Chi-square test of the index of dispersion of Shorea robusta trees in the Kaswang forest 5.4 Negative binomial coefficients for three foraging models (depen- dent-variable is number of Shorea robusta trees in forest plots) 5.5 Pairwise correlation coefficients for Model 3 parameters 6.1 Tree-size classes in tropical primary forests versus Loma Alta’s sec- ondary forest 6.2 Diversity and density of trees (DBH Ͼ 10 cm) in Loma Alta’s fog forest, Ecuador x Tables 7.1 Predicted variation in forest condition at Rio Chapare sites in re- sponse to social and ecological factors 7.2 Framework of Yuracare´ forest institutions 7.3 Tree basal area, density, and diversity at Rio Chapare sites 7.4 Estimates of trees haϪ1 of commercial and noncommercial timber species on the Rio Chapare, Bolivia 7.5 Biomass profiles 8.1 Descriptive statistics for 18 sites 8.2 Preliminary comparisons of population growth with forest condi- tion 8.3 Association of population growth with forest condition 8.4 Preliminary comparisons of forest condition with collective activity 8.5 Association of level of collective activity with forest condition 8.6 Cases selected for discussion 8.7 Some institutional characteristics of select cases A.1 Data-collection forms and information collected Figures 1.1 The IAD framework relating multiple factors affecting local eco- systems 3.1 Forests in the hill subsistence economy 5.1 Map of the study-site location within Nepal 5.2 Map of the study area in East Chitwan, Nepal 5.3 Expected patterns in a ‘‘sustained-forest’’ scenario 5.4 Expected patterns as a result of open access and optimal foraging 5.5 Patterns produced as a result of optimal foraging combined with geographic institutional influences 5.6 Mean diameter at breast height for preferred forest-product species 5.7 Mean height for preferred forest-product species 5.8 Absolute density (species per hectare) of important product species 5.9 Absolute frequency of important tree species 5.10 Dominance of important tree species 5.11 Importance values for preferred tree species in the forests of Shak- tikhor study area 6.1 Map of Western Ecuador 6.2 Map of the Loma Alta comuna and its Bosque Protector 7.1 Location of Yuracare´ territory, settlements, and forests on the Rio Chapare, Bolivia 7.2 Social and ecological factors that influence forest condition xii Figures 7.3 Proportion of different natural resources with Yuracare´ and Span- ish names 7.4 People-forest relationship map made by Yuracare´ living in Mi- siones 7.5 Comparison of size classes (diameter at breast height) of trees in forest stands on the Rio Chapare and on Rio Manu 7.6 Linear regression of mean diameter at breast height on regenera- tion 8.1 Eighteen locations in districts visited for International Forestry Re- sources and Institutions studies in Nepal Series Foreword As our understanding of environmental threats deepens and broadens, it is increasingly clear that many environmental issues cannot be simply understood, analyzed, or acted on. The multifaceted relationships be- tween human beings, social and political institutions, and the physical environment in which they are situated extend across disciplinary as well as geopolitical confines and cannot be analyzed or resolved in isolation. The purpose of this series is to address the increasingly complex ques- tions of how societies come to understand, confront, and cope with both the sources and manifestations of present and potential environmental threats. Works in the series may focus on matters political, scientific, tech- nical, social, or economic. What they share is attention to the intertwined roles of politics, science, and technology in the recognition, framing, anal- ysis, and management of environmentally related contemporary issues, and a manifest relevance to the increasingly difficult problems of identi- fying and forging environmentally sound public policy. Peter M. Haas Sheila Jasanoff Gene Rochlin This page intentionally left blank Preface The road we took to write this book has been somewhat long and in- volved. It actually started with a long-term study of irrigation institutions by the Workshop in Political Theory and Policy Analysis. Marilyn Hos- kins, former head of the Forests, Trees, and People Programme at the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), had heard about the Workshop’s database on irrigation institutions. This database allowed us to understand how various kinds of governance arrangements affected the performance of irrigation systems (see Shui-Yan Tang, Insti- tutions and Collective Action: Self-Governance in Irrigation, San Fran- cisco: ICS Press, 1992; Wai Fung Lam, Governing Irrigation Systems in Nepal: Institutions, Infrastructure, and Collective Action, Oakland, CA: ICS Press, 1998). She inquired whether we might be willing to undertake a similar effort to study various types of forests that were governed by local communities, by national and regional governments, and by private individuals. In 1992, she sent a group of scholars including James Thom- son, Gabriel Campbell, Arun Agrawal, Margaret McKean, Rajendra Shrestha, and Jean-Marc Boffa to Bloomington to explore the possibility of establishing a research program to study forest resources and institu- tions throughout the world. Mary Beth Wertime, George Varughese, Paul Turner, Sharon Huckfeldt, and Elinor Ostrom represented the Blooming- ton team as we began to think through the implications of doing system- atic research in the complex world of forests. Other valuable participants were Paul Benjamin, Ganesh Shivakoti, Minoti Chakravarty-Kaul, David Green, and Vincent Ostrom. The challenge was both engaging and daunt- ing. Our fascination with the questions that we have been addressing xvi Preface has not wavered even though the challenges have, at times, been almost overwhelming. It took several years just to design and pretest the set of instruments that are at the core of the International Forestry Resources and Institu- tions (IFRI) method.