Louise E. Buck

Using scenarios to make decisions about the future : anticipatory learning for the adaptive co-management of community forests

Current trends to improve the adaptiveness of community forest management focus on monitoring past actions and emphasize internal dynamics. We show how scenario methods can be used to (1) enable managers to better understand landscape and larger scale forces for change and to work with stakeholders at these levels and (2) improve adaptiveness not only by responding to changes, but also by anticipating them. We review methods related to scenario analysis and discuss how they can be adapted to community management settings to improve the responsiveness and the collaboration among stakeholders. The review is used to identify the key elements of scenario methods that CIFOR will test among communities in Bulungan Regency, East Kalimantan, Indonesia and two villages in the buffer zone of Ranomafana National Park, Madagascar.

Agroforestry in sustainable agricultural systems.

Foreword, P. Sanchez Trees in Managed Landscapes: Factors in Farmer Decision Making, J.E.M. Arnold and P. A Dewees Ethnobotanical Perspectives of Agroforestry, D.M. Bates Contemporary Uses of Tree Tenure, J. Bruce and L. Fortmann Pest Management in Energy- and Labor-Intensive Agroforestry Systems, M.E. Dix, B.Bishaw, S.W. Workman, M.R. Barnhart, N.B. Klopfenstein, and A.M. Dix The Science and Practice of Black Walnut Agroforestry in Missouri (U.S.A.): A Temperate Zone Assessment, H.E. Garrett and L.S. Harper Sustainable Mulch-Based Cropping Systems with Trees, D.C.L. Kass, H.D. Thurston, and K. Schlather Domestication of Tropical Trees: From Biology to Economics and Policy, R.R.B. Leakey and T.P. Tomich Agro-Forests: Incorporating a Forest Vision in Agroforestry, G. Michon and H. de Foresta Asexual Propagation of Multipurpose and Fruit Trees Used in Agroforestry, K.W. Mudge and E.B. Brennan Nutrient Cycling in Tropical Agroforestry Systems: Myths and Science, P.K.R. Nair, R.J. Buresh, D.N. Mugendi, and C.R. Latt Animals and Agroforestry in the Tropics, A.N. Pell Economic and Environmental Benefits of Agroforestry in Food and Fuelwood Production, D. Pimentel and A. Wightman Water Management with Hedgerow Agroforestry Systems, S.J. Riha and B.D. McIntyre Confronting Complexity, Dealing with Difference: Social Context, Content, and Practice in Agroforestry, D. Rocheleau Silvopastoralism: Competition and Facilitation Between Trees, Livestock, and Improved Grass-Clover Pastures on Temperate Rainfed Lands, S.H. Sharrow A Utilitarian Approach to the Incorporation of Local Knowledge in Agroforestry Research and Extension, F.L. Sinclair and D.H. Walker Managing Ground Cover Heterogeneity in Coffee (Coffee arabica L.) Under Managed Tree Shade: From Replicated Plots to Farmer Practice, C. Staver

The Value of Forests to World Food Security

We assembled information on the contribution and value of forests to world food security. An assessment was made of the role of forests and non-timber products in the food system of developing countries. We estimated that upwards of 300 million people annually earn part or all of their livelihood and food from forests. A total of about

Biological diversity : balancing interests through adaptive collaborative management

90 billion in non-timber products are harvested each year. Forests also help to protect land, water, and biological resources, and they play an important role in maintaining the productivity of agricultural and environmental systems.

Community Markets for Conservation (COMACO) links biodiversity conservation with sustainable improvements in livelihoods and food production

Foreword, Norman Uphoff Introduction: The Challenge of Adaptive Collaborative Management, John Schelhas, Louise E. Buck, and Charles C. Geisler I. Foundations of Adaptive Collaborative Management Kai N. Lee, Appraising Adaptive Management, Jeffrey A. McNeely, Roles for Civil Society in Protected Area Management: A Global Perspective on Current Trends in Collaborative Management Sarah Christiansen and Eric Dinerstein, Ecodevelopment Perspectives in Conservation: Recent Lessons and Future Directions Jeffrey A. Sayer, Learning and Adaptation for Forest Conservation Robert J. Fisher, Experience, Challenges, and Prospects for Collaborative Management of Protected Areas: An International Perspective II. Institutions and Policies Charles G. Geisler , Adapting Land Reform to Protected Area Management in the Dominican Republic Richard Cahoon, Property in Wild Biota and Adaptive Collaborative Management Neils Roling and Janice Jiggins, Agents in Adaptive Collaborative Management: The Logic of Collective Cognition Jon Anderson, On the Edge of Chaos: Crafting Adaptive Collaborative Management for Biological Diversity Conservation in a Pluralistic World Ronald J. Herring, Authority and Scale in Political Ecology: Some Cautions on Localism, Maria Paz (Ipat) G. Luna, Tenure and Community Management of Protected Areas in the Philippines: Policy Change and Implementation Challenges III. Modeling Protected Area-Human Activity Systems Andy White, Hans Gregersen, Allen Lundgren, and Glenn Smucker, Making Public Protected Area Systems Effective: An Operational Framework John Schelhas, Ecoregional Management in Southern Costa Rica: Finding a Role for Adaptive Collaborative Management Jenny Ericson, Eckart Boege, and Mark S. Freudenberger, Population Dynamics, Migration, and the Future of the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve Carol J. Pierce Colfer, Toward Social Criteria and Indicators for Protected Areas: One Cut on Adaptive Co-management Nick Salafsky and Richard Margoluis, Overview of a Systematic Approach to Designing, Managing, and Monitoring Conservation and Development Projects Eva Wollenberg, David Edmunds, and Louise E. Buck, Anticipating Change: Scenarios as a Tool for Increasing Adaptivity in Multi-stakeholder Settings IV. Case Studies: Applications of Adaptive Collaborative Management Approaches Arlyne Johnson, Paul Igag, Robert Bino, and Paul Hakahu, Community-based Conservation Area Management in Papua, New Guinea: Adapting to Changing Policy and Practice Carlos Guindon, Celia Harvey, and Guillermo Vargas, Integrating Biological Research and Land Use Practices in Monteverde, Costa Rica, Richard Ford and William McConnell, Linking GIS and Participation to Manage Natural Resources in Madagascar Paul Cowles, Haingolalao Rasolonirinarimanana, and Vololoniaina Rasoarimanana, Innovative Learning in a Participatory Ecoregion-based Planning Process: The Case of AGERAS in Tulear, Madagascar, Maria Cristina S. Guerrero and Eufemia Felisa Pinto, Reclaiming Ancestral Domains in Palawan, Phillipines: A Context for Adaptive Collaborative Management

Agroforestry practice and policy in the United States of America

In the Luangwa Valley, Zambia, persistent poverty and hunger present linked challenges to rural development and biodiversity conservation. Both household coping strategies and larger-scale economic development efforts have caused severe natural resource degradation that limits future economic opportunities and endangers ecosystem services. A model based on a business infrastructure has been developed to promote and maintain sustainable agricultural and natural resource management practices, leading to direct and indirect conservation outcomes. The Community Markets for Conservation (COMACO) model operates primarily with communities surrounding national parks, strengthening conservation benefits produced by these protected areas. COMACO first identifies the least food-secure households and trains them in sustainable agricultural practices that minimize threats to natural resources while meeting household needs. In addition, COMACO identifies people responsible for severe natural resource depletion and trains them to generate alternative income sources. In an effort to maintain compliance with these practices, COMACO provides extension support and access to high-value markets that would otherwise be inaccessible to participants. Because the model is continually evolving via adaptive management, success or failure of the model as a whole is difficult to quantify at this early stage. We therefore test specific hypotheses and present data documenting the stabilization of previously declining wildlife populations; the meeting of thresholds of productivity that give COMACO access to stable, high-value markets and progress toward economic self-sufficiency; and the adoption of sustainable agricultural practices by participants and other community members. Together, these findings describe a unique, business-oriented model for poverty alleviation, food production, and biodiversity conservation.

Agroforestry policy issues and research directions in the US and less developed countries: insights and challenges from recent experience

Abstract Agroforestry practices and the policies influencing development and adoption within the United States are reviewed. Agroforestry is defined as ‘intensive land-management systems that optimize the benefits from biological interactions created when trees and/or shrubs are deliberately combined with crops and/or livestock’. The five agroforestry systems identified as having importance in the US are tree-agronomic crop systems (alley cropping and intercropping), riparian vegetative buffer strip systems, tree-animal systems (silvopasturing), forest/speciality crop systems (forest farming) and windbreak systems (shelterbelts). A lack of federal policy relating specifically to agroforestry exists. If agroforestry is to achieve its full potential in the United States, adequate financial, institutional and technical support for its development must be provided.

Measuring the effectiveness of landscape approaches to conservation and development

Efforts to improve the performance of agroforestry systems, and to expand the land area and number of people able to benefit from this integrative approach to agriculture and natural resource management, are constrained throughout the world by non-supportive land use policies. A growing sense of urgency that policy change is needed to enable agroforestry to flourish has contributed during the past two years to an unprecedented level of agroforestry policy assessment and planning activity.In the US, agroforestry has emerged from academia, where it has incubated since the mid-1980s, into the professional resource management arena. A multi-organizational agroforestry evaluation process has driven national policy and program formation to the forefront of the agenda of the agroforestry community, as it seeks to influence the 1995 Farm Bill. Internationally, the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research and collaborators fostered a sequence of policy issue identification activities as a basis for setting strategic research priorities for forestry and agroforestry.Following a brief review of forces driving agroforestry development in industrialized and less developed countries, the paper highlights recent policy assessment initiatives in each sphere. Observations on the issues driving and the priorities emerging from these processes are offered, to lend perspective to the critical challenges facing the agroforestry policy research community. An explanation for pervasive constraints and inconsistencies in policy effectiveness is then explored, from which a promising approach to research intervention is forwarded.It is argued that social scientists might influence agroforestry policy most favorably at this critical juncture, as perceptions of inter-dependence increase among different stakeholders in the policy system, by employing interventionist, actor-oriented perspectives and participatory methods to facilitate policy innovation and evaluation. The approach is consistent with participatory technology design processes that earlier helped to establish agroforestry as a prototype for sustainable development.

Governance and social learning in the management of Non-Wood Forest Products in community forests in Cameroon

Landscape approaches attempt to achieve balance amongst multiple goals over long time periods and to adapt to changing conditions. We review project reports and the literature on integrated landscape approaches, and found a lack of documented studies of their long-term effectiveness. The combination of multiple and potentially changing goals presents problems for the conventional measures of impact. We propose more critical use of theories of change and measures of process and progress to complement the conventional impact assessments. Theories of change make the links between project deliverables, outputs, outcomes, and impacts explicit, and allow a full exploration of the landscape context. Landscape approaches are long-term engagements, but short-term process metrics are needed to confirm that progress is being made in negotiation of goals, meaningful stakeholder engagement, existence of connections to policy processes, and effectiveness of governance. Long-term impact metrics are needed to assess progress on achieving landscapes that deliver multiple societal benefits, including conservation, production, and livelihood benefits. Generic criteria for process are proposed, but impact metrics will be highly situation specific and must be derived from an effective process and a credible theory of change.

Landscape Approaches to Achieving Food Production, Natural Resource Conservation, and the Millennium Development Goals

Research examined how partnerships of state and civil society could function to manage commercially valuable non-wood forest products in Community Forests in Cameroon. Results indicate an effective governance arrangement should include the Ministry of Environment and Forests and the Community Forest management committee, and also increase the involvement of women. An adaptive collaborative management approach could bring together stakeholders to learn collectively how to manage resources sustainably. Partnerships with non-governmental organisations and research organisations would enhance the process leading to an improved governance system. Future Scenarios, was found to be an effective tool for facilitation of social learning with stakeholders.