People Managing Forests: The Links Between Human Well-Being and Sustainability

How do we extend the 'conservation ethic' to include the cultural links between local populations and their physical environments? Can considerations of human capital be incorporated into the definition and measurement of sustainability in managed forests? Can forests be managed in a manner that fulfills traditional goals for ecological integrity while also addressing the well-being of its human residents? In this groundbreaking work, an international team of investigators apply a diverse range of social science methods to focus on the interests of the stakeholders living in the most intimate proximity to managed forests. Using examples from North America, Asia, Africa, and Latin America, they explore the overlapping systems that characterize the management of tropical forests. People Managing Forests builds on criteria and indicators first tested by the editors and their colleagues in the mid-1990s. The researchers address topics such as intergenerational access to resources, gender relations and forest utilization, and equity in both forest-rich and forest-poor contexts. A copublication of Resources for the Future (RFF) and the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR).

Table of Contents:
Introduction: History and Conceptual Framework Carol J. Pierce Colfer and Yvonne Byron, with Ravi Prabhu and Eva Wollenberg Section One: Gender and Diversity in Forest Management 1. Gender and Diversity in Assessing Sustainable Forest Management and Human Well-Being: Reflections on Assessment Methods Tests Conducted in Bulungan, East Kalimantan, Indonesia Cynthia L. McDougall 2. The Place of Rural Women in the Management of Forest Resources: The Case of Mbalmayo and Neighboring Areas in Cameroon Anne Marie Tiani 3. Changing Gender Relationships and Forest Use: A Case Study from Komassi, Cameroon Katrina Brown and Sandrine Lapuyade Section Two: A Conservation Ethic in Forest Management 4. Traditional Knowledge and Practice of Biodiversity Conservation: The Benuaq Dayak Community of East Kalimantan, Indonesia Mustofa Agung Sardjono and Ismayadi Samsoedin 5. Assessing People's Perceptions of Forests: Research in West Kalimantan, Indonesia Carol J. Pierce Colfer, Joseph Woelfel, Reed L. Wadley, and Emily Harwell 6. In Search of a Conservation Ethic Agus Salim, Mary Ann Brocklesby, Anne Marie Tiani, Bertin Tchikangwa, Mustofa Agung Sardjono, Roberto Porro, Joseph Woelfel, and Carol J. Pierce Colfer Section Three: Security of Intergenerational Access to Resources 7. Intergenerational Equity and Sharing of Benefits in a Developing Island State: Research in Trinidad Mario G nter 8. Assessing Intergenerational Access to Resources: Using Criteria and Indicators in West Kalimantan, Indonesia Carol J. Pierce Colfer, Reed L. Wadley, Emily Harwell, and Ravi Prabhu 9. Sustainability and Security of Intergenerational Access to Resources: Participatory Mapping Studies in Gabon Norbert Gami and Robert Nasi 10. Soil Fertility and the Generation Gap: The B n of Southern Cameroon Diane Russell and Nicod me Tchamou 11. Access to Resources in Forest-Rich and Forest-Poor Contexts Roberto Porro, Anne Marie Tiani, Bertin Tchikangwa, Mustofa Agung Sardjono, Agus Salim, Carol J. Pierce Colfer, and Mary Ann Brocklesby Section Four: Rights and Responsibilities to Manage Cooperatively and Equitably 12. From 'Participation' to 'Rights and Responsibilities' in Forest Management: Workable Methods and Unworkable Assumptions in West Kalimantan, Indonesia Carol J. Pierce Colfer and Reed L. Wadley 13. Rights and Means to Manage Cooperatively and Equitably: Forest Management among Brazilian Transamazon Colonists Noemi Miyasaka Porro 14. Rights to Manage the Forest Cooperatively and Equitably in Forest-Rich and Forest-Poor Contexts Bertin Tchikangwa, Mary Ann Brocklesby, Anne Marie Tiani, Mustofa Agung Sardjono, Roberto Porro, Agus Salim, and Carol J. Pierce Colfer Section Five: Comparisons: Geograhical and Temporal 15. Sustainable Rural Communities: General Principles and North American Indicators Joseph A. Tainter 16. Forest Cover Change Analysis as a Proxy: Sustainability Assessment Using Remote Sensing and GIS in West Kalimantan, Indonesia Rona A. Dennis, Carol J. Pierce Colfer, and Atie Puntodewo Conclusion: Concluding Remarks and Next Steps References Index

About the Author :
Carol J. Pierce Colfer is team leader of the CIFOR program on Local People, Devolution, and Adaptive Collaborative Management of Forests, coauthor of Beyond Slash and Burn: Building on Indigenous Management of Borneo's Tropical Rainforests, and coeditor of Which Way Forward? People, Forests, and Policymaking in Indonesia. Yvonne Byron is an editor for Lonely Planet Publications in Australia. Previously, she was an editor for CIFOR. She is coauthor of In Place of the Forest: Environmental and Socio-economic Transformation in Borneo and the Eastern Malay Peninsula.

Review :
'Offers fascinating insights into how people who live in and around tropical forests think about and use their systems of resources.' Jeffrey A. McNeely, IUCN - The World Conservation Union 'An impressive piece of research on the inholder problem. An important reference for scientists who are concerned about biodiversity conservation.' Thomas K. Rudel, Rutgers University