Adaptive collaborative management of community forests in Asia ...

Chapter 7: Discussion and Conclusions • 209
Following an analysis of the differences and similarities of research contexts
(i.e., conditions), we discuss changes in social learning and collaborative
processes (i.e., outcomes) and finally the degree of institutionalisation of
the approach in the communities. As appropriate, we will draw on our
model from Chapter 2 as an explanatory aid.
Differences and similarities in research contexts
Contexts
First, we highlight the obvious similarities in the contexts and communities
where we conducted the research:
• We were engaging with local people as the central actors—and
potential beneficiaries of change—and with the forest resources on
which they depend for their livelihoods .
• The local people had power deficits in relation to local government
agencies, traders, entrepreneurs and others.
• The communities were heterogeneous in composition, divided by
factors such as caste, ethnicity, length of residence, gender, wealth,
age, status and power.
• Forest resources played an important role in local peoples’
livelihoods, including subsistence and nontimber uses.
• Conflict, latent or overt, was occurring amongst community members
and between community members and outside stakeholders.
Additionally, the people in all the research communities wanted to improve
their social, political or livelihood situations by engaging in the project.
Both local communities and partners expressed a need for greater—and
sustainable—outcomes from their forests and were willing to seek this
through social learning and collaboration-based innovations in their
relations, governance and management.
Differences in context existed as well. The communities had different
histories and relationships to the forests—some largely agrarian, others much
more intimately involved in the forest, culturally as well as economically.
The devolution status in each country was different. Indonesia found itself
in the post-Soeharto era of chaotic decentralisation, where the term was still
hotly debated and the institutional frameworks for its implementation were
lacking. The result was a laissez-faire situation where the old rules seemed