- Timber is a component of human well-being and local economy in rural areas.
- The number of community-based timber management has increased drastically in sustainable use protected areas.
Timber extraction for commercial use has been introduced into Amazonian protected areas, most recently in Extractive Reserves as a strategy to:
- Mitigate forest degradation and deforestation
- Incentivize conservation of standing forests
- Promote well-being
Challenge
Some organized logging projects in Amazonian Extractive Reserves have flourished (in Pará, Amazonas) while others (in Acre) have struggled, contributing to a demoralized community forestry sector across the state.
Strategy
Link actors from across Acre’s forestry sector with representatives from flourishing community case studies in Pará and Amazonas to:
- Exchange knowledge and experiences of community timber management
- Collectively discuss and analyze the diverse approaches
- Reflect on ways to adapt lessons learned to timber management in Acre
- Grow networks and trust levels among actors
Collaborative Governance Approach to Social Learning & Improved Timber Management
Collaborative Governance
The processes and structures of decision making and management that engage people constructively across the boundaries of public agencies, levels of government, and/or the public, private and civic spheres in order to carry out a shared goal (1)
Social Learning
Collective and communicative learning, which may lead to a number of social outcomes: generation of new knowledge, the acquisition of technical and social skills as well as the development of trust and relationships, which together may form the basis for a common understanding of the system or problem at hand, agreement and collective action (2)
Adaptive Management
Structured interactive process of a socioenvironmental problem assessment, decision-making, implementation, monitoring, evaluation and adjustment considering local knowledge, context, and capability embed in a global context (3)
Days 2 & 3 : Workshop with stakeholders
Workshop Outcomes
Informed: skepticism, ongoing research, about the importance of long-term partners and the existence of alternate scenarios
Network growth & capacity: 54 participants (communities, government, extension, private sector, civil society, academia, research, NGOs)
Next Steps
- Disseminate information across region
- Cultivate existing and create new partnerships
- ”Caravana” 2019: Organization representatives make joint visits to forest communities
- Community exchanges 2018-19
- Initiate community trainings for timber management
Thank you! Questions? Comments?
Mail: violatoespada@ufl.edu // encontro.manejo.acre@gmail.com
References
Araújo, E., P. Barreto, S. Baima, & M. Gomes. 2016. Quais os planos para proteger as Unidades de Conservação vulneráveis da Amazônia? Belém, Pará, Brazil: Imazon. doi:ISBN 978-85-86212-85-7.
(1) Emerson, K., T. Nabatchi, and S. Balogh. 2011. An Integrative Framework for Collaborative Governance, Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 22(1):1–29.
(2) Muro, M. and P. Jeffrey. 2008. A critical review of the theory and application of social learning in participatory natural resource management processes. Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, 51(3):325-344.
(3) Grenville, Barnes, and Brian Child. 2014. Adaptive Cross-Scalar Governance of Natural Resources. New York: Routledge.
Credits:
Ana Luiza Violato Espada; Eduardo Bongiolo