Crafting institutional arrangements for community forestry













Table of Contents


by James T. Thomson and Karen Schoonmaker Freudenberger

FAO - FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS Rome, 1997

FORESTS, TREES AND PEOPLE

COMMUNITY FORESTRY FIELD MANUAL 7

The designations employed and the presentation of material in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.

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© FAO 1997

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Table of Contents


Preface

About the field manual

Chapter 1: Institutional issues in community forestry

Introduction to community forestry
Institutional issues in community forestry

Chapter 2: A systematic approach to studying institutional issues

Incentives
Choices
Outcomes
Case study: The village of Garin Dan Djibo

Chapter 3: The characteristics of the resource and resource management incentives

Forest resources and their outputs: Goods and services
Resource characteristics
Categorizing outputs: Private, toll, common pool, and public goods and services

Private goods and services
Toll goods and services
Common pool goods and services
Public goods and services

Implications for resource management
Case Study: Analysis of resource characteristics in Garin Dan Djibo

Chapter 4: The characteristics of the community and resource management incentives

Key characteristics of the community

Historical factors
Social factors
Economic factors
Cultural factors

Implications for community forestry projects
Case study: Analysis of community in Garin Dan Djibo

Chapter 5: The characteristics of the rules and resource management incentives

Formal and non-formal rules
Working and non-working rules
The types of rules at work in the community

Operational rules
Collective decision-making rules
Constitutional rules

Implications for community forestry
Transactions costs
Gathering information about the rules system
Case Study: Analysis of the rules in Garin Dan Djibo

Chapter 6: Working with local populations to adapt institutions for more effective natural resource governance

Community/professional partnership in addressing institutional issues
Steps in institutional analysis and reform

Step 1: Defining the products that are involved in resource governance problems
Step 2: Analysing the characteristics of the products according to the framework developed in Chapter 3
Step 3: Analysing the community's capacity for collective action
Step 4: Analysing the rules systems in the community as well as outside rules that affect resource governance
Step 5: Identifying 'best bets' for improving resource management and the institutional adjustments that will be needed
Step 6: Planning and implementing institutional changes
Step 7: Managing institutional change and the consequences of change

Case study: Finding a solution to the problem in Garin Dan Djibo

Chapter 7: Complicating issues in institutional analysis

Incompatible interests within and among local communities

Dominance by a few powerful individuals or interest groups
Exclusion of women or minority interests
Competing factions based on economic interests

Complications arising from interests outside the community

Limitations on decision-making and enforcement at the local level
Bureaucratic imperatives: NGO and government staff

Postscript

Appendixes

Appendix - 1. Participatory rural appraisal tools that may be useful in an institutional analysis
Appendix - 2. Worksheet for evaluating operational rules governing resource use

Glossary

Acronyms and abbreviations

Bibliography

Publications