FoxHershockMappingCommunities
FoxHershockMappingCommunities
FoxHershockMappingCommunities
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EMPOWERING COMMUNITIES THROUGH MAPPING:<br />
EVALUATION OF PARTICIPATORY MAPPING IN TWO HANI VILLAGES, YUNNAN PROVINCE, P. R. CHINA<br />
formulate these kinds of rules before the mapping activity.<br />
However, after the MIGIS mapping activities these two<br />
villages had several discussions in 2000 regarding villagers'<br />
regulations and rules. At present, they have developed<br />
some rules for administrating village affairs as well as for<br />
managing natural resources. These include, for instance,<br />
that: (1) households can not cut down trees and then plant<br />
crops, including lemon grass; (2) each village will hire one<br />
forest guard to take care of all forests, including collective<br />
forests and individual households' forest. Each household<br />
will pay 2 RMB Yuan per year to subsidize the forest guards;<br />
(3) villagers stealing trees will be fined in cash 11 ; (4) owners<br />
of domestic animals loose in the young forests and closed<br />
hills will be fined 5 RMB Yuan per head per incident; and (5)<br />
tree harvests must be approved by village cadres, and three<br />
trees must be planted for every one tree cut down.<br />
A key issue is how to enforce these kinds of regulations and<br />
rules. Animals, especially cattle, still contribute a great deal<br />
to households' cash income and engage in labor such as<br />
plowing fields, carrying products, and so forth. In many<br />
cases households must graze animals in forests. It is thus<br />
necessary to find a compromise in dealing with this issue.<br />
A question we asked the villagers was why they needed<br />
villagers' regulations and rules after the MIGIS activities. One<br />
young man about twenty-five years old told us that it meant<br />
it was necessary for them to have villagers' regulations and<br />
rules, but no one was willing to take the responsibility for<br />
organizing villagers to discuss and formulate them. The<br />
MIGIS mapping exercises showed that all the villagers were<br />
facing the same problems resulting from deforestation so<br />
they needed some regulations and rules to protect their<br />
forests. Before, not all people had the same understanding<br />
as to how important the forests are for everyone.<br />
One point we argue here is that the empowerment should<br />
come from the community inside. However these does<br />
need to be an external spark lit. This can be a way of<br />
facilitation. In other words, the community may not be<br />
empowered by outsiders; however the outsiders may take<br />
roles of starting and speeding up the process. The<br />
community participation mapping activity more or less took<br />
this kind of role in these two villages.<br />
Construction of bio-gas systems. In order to decrease<br />
firewood consumption, the two villages organized<br />
households to construct bio-gas systems. Initially, the village<br />
cadres faced much opposition because most households<br />
thought that a bio-gas system with three cubic meters would<br />
cost about 1500 RMB Yuan. This was not affordable for<br />
almost every household. At that time they visited Mr. Heng<br />
Chunqing and reported this issue to him. Mr. Heng then<br />
made a phone call to the county forest bureau. Later the<br />
village cadres visited the county forest bureau three times<br />
and finally they got a subsidy for materials, including<br />
cement, steel and plastic pipes, gas stoves, and gas pulp.<br />
The forest bureau also sent technicians to design the biogas<br />
tank for every household and provided training for<br />
households on how to maintain the system and how to use<br />
the bio-gas equipment. With the subsidy from government,<br />
each household only needed to contribute labor and stones<br />
that they may prepare themselves.<br />
Villagers explained the many advantages of the bio-gas<br />
systems: (1) it is not necessary to pay for electricity for<br />
lighting since they use bio-gas; (2) smaller households (three<br />
to four family members) could save on firewood<br />
consumption since they could also use bio-gas for cooking;<br />
(3) it decreases the labor burden for firewood gathering and<br />
carrying, especially for women and children; and (4) forests<br />
can be more effectively protected.<br />
We asked Mr. Heng Chunqing a question about the linkage<br />
between the construction of bio-gas systems and MIGIS<br />
activity. He said he could not give us a clear answer.<br />
However he mentioned one point we thought was<br />
important. He said that during the mapping process villagers<br />
not only analyzed the reasons for deforestation, they also<br />
analyzed how to resolve the problem. One woman<br />
presented what she saw at her parents' village concerning<br />
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