Part 1 – A Rapid Participatory Biodiversity Assessment - IUCN

IUCN Rapid Participatory Biodiversity Assessment
• Independent land use and land title studies - In addition to expanding government-company
collaboration, current land use mapping techniques can also be strengthened with the
commissioning of further land use studies. There is need to conduct more in depth studies of
land holdings in the area to understand how farmers deal with limited access to land.
Collaborative research efforts between national and international research institutions is
recommended
• A feasibility study should be undertaken to examine the possibilities of forest restoration,
including fallow regenerating areas, secondary forests and other forest types. This result will
be a good potential for both plantation investor and government authority to maintain their
different forest types for their long-term and sustainable use, especially NTFPs, primarily
bamboo shoots and traditional medicinal herbs. For example, the project could engage with
the Forest Research Center at the National Agriculture and Forestry Research Institute on
forest restoration activities.
R5.4.2 - Agricultural extension program at both district and provincial levels should be
strengthened for large scale plantation with the aim at improving local livelihood systems
together with the provision of extension service as human resource development including:
• Support to research and capacity building in local agriculture and forestry extension officers
to improve local government capacity to promote efficient agricultural and livestock
management practices, assess biodiversity and to predict ecological impacts of various
plantation interventions. This could include training of villagers, government staff at different
levels, and private sector employees concerning knowledge and skills needed to achieve the
goal of large scale plantation (see section 5.1). There is also the opportunity to establishment
a plantation network for sharing their concerns experiences, and lessons learnt in the district.
• Explore and nurture a benefit-sharing model for plantation establishment with villagers should
to gain full local participation. As mentioned above, villagers and local government officials
were concerned that local stakeholders would not have a role in establishing the benefit
sharing agreements. They expressed hope that local stakeholders would be involved in a
rolling process to monitor and adjust benefit sharing arrangements in response to actual
implementation experiences and outcomes. In their words,
• Work with and support district agricultural extension services to provide villagers with
technical assistance on:
o rice varieties; proper timing for rice seeding; and improvement of soil fertility in their
swidden agriculture is essential for increasing their rice production.
o building livestock numbers and encourage people to keep cattle in the plots.
Similarly, it is recommended for villagers to learn on keeping cattle rotated in
specified grazing areas, especially for large scale intercropping tree plantation
Management R5.4.3: Work with individual communities to integrate plantations into village
traditional management practices and support biodiversity conservation interventions at the
village level
Plantation establishment should be carried out in an integrated landscape fashion considering
existing local livelihood systems and traditional management practices. The plantation model should
identify and incorporate knowledge of the provisioning, supporting regulating and cultural services of
these landscapes. Specific collaborative interventions include:
o Promoting community mobilization, empowerment and local governance mechanisms to
conserve biodiversity for human well-being.
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