Adaptive collaborative management of community forests in Asia ...

Chapter 6: Facilitating Change from the Inside in the Philippines • 175
area because DENR had not renewed its extraction rights. Nevertheless,
the unresolved conflict between the barangay captains and the PO affected
the cooperative’s ability to implement its forest management activities and
engage the wider community (Lorenzo 2001). In Bukidnon, although there
was no history of intense conflict between the PO and other stakeholders,
the association had been unable to establish networks with others, such
as such as the Council of Elders and Basac Tribal Farmers’ Association.
Furthermore, there was a lack of trust between community members and
barangay officials. The community members tended to hold back their
opinions at meetings. Information sharing was also limited: the barangay
leaders did not always share information widely with other community
members (Arda-Minas 2002).
The team found that prior to the ACM project, the POs’ conscious
learning and adaptation of forest management strategies to the broader
socio-economic and political shifts had been slight. Reflections on past
experiences were limited to discussions at meetings, and lessons were rarely
incorporated into subsequent actions. In Palawan, it appeared that the POs
occasionally reflected on their past experience. Nevertheless, the processes
were limited to the board of directors and a few members and did not include
other stakeholders. The learning processes and their links to subsequent
strategies were not obvious (Arda-Minas 2002; Lorenzo 2002).
ACM process and elements
Prioritisation of local issues
In the first six months of the ACM project, the team members familiarised
themselves with local conditions and built trust with local stakeholders.
During this immersion period, the team also collected information on
biophysical and socio-economic conditions of the area and assessed to
what degree collaboration and adaptation had been used by the people’s
organisations in past community forestry activities. Conventional and
participatory data collection methods were used. The information served
as baseline against which the team assessed the improvement contributed
by ACM processes at the end of the project.
Next, using a participatory process, the team asked the POs and
representatives of local stakeholders to identify and prioritise the local