FLAGSHIP 5 – GOVERNANCE OF NATURAL RESOURCES: JUNE – SEPTEMBER 2017 UPDATES

• On August 29, Flagship 5 co-leader Steven Lawry conducted a PIM webinar Community forestry. Where and why has devolution of forest rights contributed to better governance and livelihoods?
• On September 7-8, 2017, CIFOR, Bioversity International, and ACOFOP – the umbrella organization of forest communities in Petén, Guatemala – organized a workshop in Santa Elena, Guatemala to take stock of research findings on the performance of 25-year community forest concessions that have been granted in the Maya Biosphere Reserve since the late 1990s. The Workshop convened over 40 researchers, practitioners, and policy makers who discussed key lessons learned, with a view to informing discussions about concession renewal in Petén. Iliana Monterroso, who organized the workshop on behalf of CIFOR, said, "The community forest concession model has informed other ongoing processes for rights devolution in forest regions, the most recent ones Colombia and Indonesia. While forest communities in Petén still face challenges, this process has evidenced that secure rights to forests can strengthen livelihoods while enhance conservation outcomes". Dietmar Stoian, workshop co-organizer on behalf of Bioversity International, added, "All participants were impressed by the existing evidence on the environmental and socio-economic performance of the community concessions that clearly demonstrate that community stewardship of the forests in the multiple use zone of the Maya Biosphere Reserve is a viable model for ensuring forest conservation and livelihood benefits for forest-dependent communities. At the same time, stakeholders and researchers identified knowledge gaps that need to be addressed by future research, so as to gain a complete picture of the complex processes in the Maya Biosphere Reserve and how long-term usufruct rights for the local communities can help strengthen these processes." Steven Lawry provided a key note to the workshop on the global process of forest rights devolution and shared insights from a comparative analysis spanning Nepal, Mexico, and Guatemala.
• Representatives of PIM's Flagship 5 participated in the XVI Biennial Conference ‘Practicing the commons: Self-governance, cooperation, and institutional change’ of The International Association for the Study of the Commons (IASC) on 10-14 July 2017 in Utrecht, the Netherlands, and held a follow-up planning workshop on July 15.

Selected publications

Apgar, J. M., P. J. Cohen, B. D. Ratner, S. De Silva, M.-C. Buisson, C. Longley, R. Bastakoti, and E. Mapedza. 2017. Identifying opportunities to improve governance of aquatic agricultural systems through participatory action research. Ecology and Society 22(1):9. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-08929-220109

Krause, Marlen S.; Nkonya, Ephraim M.; and Griess, Verena C. 2017. An economic valuation of ecosystem services based on perceptions of rural Ethiopian communities. Ecosystem Services 26 (A): 37-44. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoser.2017.06.002

Ghebru, Hosaena and Girmachew, Fikirte. 2017. Scrutinizing the status quo: Rural transformation and land tenure security in Nigeria. NSSP Working Paper 43. Washington, D.C.: International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). https://ebrary.ifpri.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15738coll2/id/131363

Meinzen-Dick, Ruth Suseela; Quisumbing, Agnes R.; Doss, Cheryl R.; and Theis, Sophie. 2017. Women’s land rights as a pathway to poverty reduction: A framework and review of available evidence. IFPRI Discussion Paper 1663. Washington, D.C. https://ebrary.ifpri.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15738coll2/id/131359

Pitt, Ruth. 2017. Land property rights interventions improve agricultural productivity and investment in Latin America and Asia, but less in Africa.  Plain Language Summary International Development. //Summary based on the Campbell Systematic Review 2016: ‘The Impact of Land Property Rights Interventions on Investment and Agricultural Productivity in Developing Countries: a Systematic Review’ by Steven Lawry, Cyrus Samii, Ruth Hall, Aaron Leopold, Donna Hornby and Farai Mtero (DOI: 10.4073/csr.2014.1)// The Campbell Collaboration.
https://www.campbellcollaboration.org/media/k2/attachments/0166_pls_lawry_land_rights.pdf 

Ratner, B.D., S. So, K. Mam, I. Oeur, and S. Kim. 2017. Conflict and Collective Action in Tonle Sap Fisheries: Adapting Governance to Support Community Livelihoods. Natural Resources Forum 41(2): 71-82. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1477-8947.12120/full