Traditional Forest Related Knowledge And Sustainable Forest Management In Africa

Exploring a topic of vital and ongoing importance, Traditional Forest Knowledge examines the history, current status and trends in the development and application of traditional forest knowledge by local and indigenous communities worldwide. It considers the interplay between traditional beliefs and practices and formal forest science and interrogates the often uneasy relationship between these different knowledge systems. The contents also highlight efforts to conserve and promote traditional forest management practices that balance the environmental, economic and social objectives of forest management. It places these efforts in the context of recent trends towards the devolution of forest management authority in many parts of the world. The book includes regional chapters covering North America, South America, Africa, Europe, Asia and the Australia-Pacific region. As well as relating the general factors mentioned above to these specific areas, these chapters cover issues of special regional significance, such as the importance of traditional knowledge and practices for food security, economic development and cultural identity. Other chapters examine topics ranging from key policy issues to the significant programs of regional and international organisations, and from research ethics and best practices for scientific study of traditional knowledge to the adaptation of traditional forest knowledge to climate change and globalisation.

This publication contains 14 case studies which detail successful examples of sustainable forest management practices identified and demonstrate the evolution of the forest sector in Central Africa. This is part of an initiative, undertaken within the framework of the FAO/Netherlands Partnership Programme and in close collaboration with regional and international organisations, to highlight the numerous efforts undertaken in forest management over the last 20 years to promote all aspects of sustainable development.

Examines whether forest management regimes in the region have actually provided communities with sufficient economic benefits to make them willing and able to conserve and to use sustainable forest resources in the course of their production and consumption activities.

Many countries around the world are engaged in decentralization processes, and most African countries face serious problems with forest governance, from benefits sharing to illegality and sustainable forest management. This book summarizes experiences to date on the extent and nature of decentralization and its outcomes, most of which suggest an underperformance of governance reforms, and explores the viability of different governance instruments in the context of weak governance and expanding commercial pressures over forests. Findings are grouped into two thematic areas: decentralization, livelihoods and sustainable forest management; and international trade, finance and forest sector governance reforms. The authors examine diverse forces shaping the forest sector, including the theory and practice of decentralization, usurpation of authority, corruption and illegality, inequitable patterns of benefits capture and expansion of international trade in timber and carbon credits, and discuss related outcomes on livelihoods, forest condition and equity. The book builds on earlier volumes exploring different dimensions of decentralization and perspectives from other world regions, and distills dimensions of forest governance that are both unique to Africa and representative of broader global patterns. Authors ground their analysis in relevant theory while attempting to distill implications of their findings for policy and practice.

Even though the importance of indigenous knowledge is gradually being recognized in development studies, little attention had been given in research to the value of indigenous knowledge in climate change adaptation. This book takes up many of the research challenges articulated in the UN-commissioned Millennium Ecosystem Assessment which highlighted many uncertainties that exist about climate change issues. This book aims to address these challenges in a localized context by providing a robust evidence-base that supports improved implementation of climate change adaptation schemes in rural Africa. That is, to set up negotiations within the climate change adaptation agenda in ways that the ‘western scientific’ and ‘local-traditional practices’ can work together ethically, seriously and respectfully to combat climate change in the African continent. Interactions between indigenous knowledge systems and climate change adaptation, and resulting feedbacks are dynamic, location and time-specific, occurring at different scales, and responding to different drivers. Climate change and its adaptation strategies must be addressed as dynamic, multi-disciplinary, multi-sectoral and multi-dimensional. This book will be useful to academia, community development practitioners, government and non-governmental organizations, consultants and practitioners, and students in the field of rural sociology and sustainable development, and will add to the literature that is beginning to build around indigenous knowledge and sustainable development in Africa.