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Biodiversity and Local Perceptions |
10.2. Recommendations
The following recommendations are based on the results of our survey, and are
taking into account the different objectives of the project. More specifically, these
recommendations concern potential follow-up in Khe Tran and the possibility
of more closely involving the local population in conservation management and
other land use planning. Government and other development agencies may use
them to analyse the role of local stakeholders in forest management.
10.2.1. Community forestry and forest management
• Community forestry should be considered an interesting option for involving
local people in reserve management by involving them in more sustainable
activities.
• More, and longer-term, targeted studies of the different categories of land
cover would help to gain more comprehensive information on the forest
conditions in and near Khe Tran and on the local knowledge and priorities
concerning forest conservation and management. This would necessitate
closer involvement in the daily life of the Pahy, the possibility to stay for
longer periods in the villages and authorization to travel to less accessible
forests located farther from the village in the core zone of the reserve.
10.2.2. Land tenure
• Land tenure remains a sensitive issue, even if initiatives are undertaken by
the government to recognize the rights of local communities on their land.
Especially concerning plantations, land tenure should be secured so that the
local community does not have to rely only on limited contracts to exploit
these lands.
10.2.3. Conservation
• Involvement in management. Local people should be more directly involved
in conservation area management. At the moment, they only have to follow
the rules designed by government and conservation agencies, and they are not
allowed to perform any extractive activity in forest proximate to or within the
nature reserve. Local people represent a human resource that can be useful
for the reserve (in the fight against poachers and illegal loggers, for example).
The local interest clearly was direct participation in reserve administration
activities, through jobs.
• Involvement in negotiations. We recommend that information on threatened
species be given to villagers to raise the awareness of conservation needs. The
specific uses of especially threatened species should be discussed in order to
give people the option of choosing other species for these uses.
• Zonation in the reserve. Traditionally a part of the reserve has belonged to the
local community, and villagers should not be kept away from their territory