Adaptive collaborative management of community forests in Asia ...

168 • Herlina Hartanto
Another major challenge is the mismatch between DENR’s legal, technical
and administrative requirements and the POs’ capabilities. Not only were
the requirements excessive, they were also often ambiguous, contradictory
and irrelevant to realities on the ground (Edmunds and Wollenberg 2001;
O’Hara 2002). This situation was compounded by frequent policy changes
and insufficient information sharing between central and local offices of
DENR and the resultant policy misinterpretations (Devanadera et al. 2002;
Hartanto and Evangelista 2002). The POs had insufficient knowledge
and capacities and could not rely on support from the understaffed local
offices. Often, there was only one site coordinator for every three to five
community forests (Diaz and Bacalla 2002; Cayatoc 2002). In such a
situation, it was hardly surprising that the POs often failed to meet the
agency’s requirements to participate in the programme. This tight regulatory
control contradicted the spirit of devolution in forest management and
undermined the partnerships the agency was supposed to foster with the
communities.
Testing ACM in community forestry
The ACM Philippine team hypothesised that the ACM approach and
processes (Chapter 2) could enhance the capabilities of the people’s
organisations and local stakeholders in dealing with the political, ecological
and socio-economic challenges they faced and improve community
forestry in several ways. First, through proper identification of stakeholders
and deliberate engagement of key stakeholders in information sharing
and collective action, ACM would enhance participation and foster
genuine partnerships. Second, through social learning and collaborative
monitoring, ACM would help POs and local stakeholders respond to the
broader socio-economic and political shifts and adapt their management
strategies accordingly. Lastly, by putting POs squarely at the center of all
innovation, ACM would strengthen members’ skills and awareness so
that they could become more self-reliant and self-confident in addressing
their problems and in managing forest resources. Collective action, social
learning and collaborative monitoring would empower POs and produce
long-term positive impacts. The team used participatory action research as
the main methodology to enhance collaboration and adaptation in forest
management.