Concepts of Participatory Forest Management

(PFM) system & its implementation

Umar Mama

December, 2024
Adaba
Contents of Presentation
 Introduction
 Legal Basis for PFM
 Opportunities and emerging issues
 Over View of PFM Process
 Forest Demarcation
 PFRA
 PFM Plan
 PFM and livelihood
 Organizing and legalizing community institution
 Capacity Building
 Introduction
• The world’s entire forest cover area has been declining at an alarming rate over the last quarter
of century (FAO, 2010).

• The rate of global forest loss has hit 13 million ha per annum (WB, 2009). C

• The largest loss of forest occurred in tropics, particularly in South America and Africa (FAO,
2010).

• Africa has the second highest rate of deforestation worldwide with a net loss of about 3.4
million ha per annum (FAO, 2010). Lin

• Similarly, Ethiopia has been experiencing high forest loss (Takahashi & Todo, 2012),

 Deforestation is the major ev`tal problems facing developing countries.

FAO, 2010). Recent studies indicated that the rate of global forest loss ha
 Introduction….
 To address the deforestation problem, policy and forest Mgt regimes have been revised from:

• centralized gov`nt Mgt PM system (Biswas & Choudhury, 2007).

• Accordingly, many developing countries have revised their forest policies, and institutionalized PFM
approaches in their policy directives (Eilola et al. 2015).
• This policy shift comes from the recognition of:

 The failure of top-down state forest policies to ensure sustainable Mgt & equitable access to forest
resources (Tesfaye et al.2012).

 That is why, the government of Ethiopia introduced PFM activities as one of the
solutions:
Concepts of PFM
 PFM is an umbrella name for a process and mechanism which
enables community groups living in and around forests to take part
in the management of the forest resources.

 Joint Forest Management (JFM), Community based Forest

Management (CBFM) and Collaborative Forest Management (CFM) all
denote a similar process and management arrangement.

 However, sometimes differs based on the type of forest ownership,

whether it is communal forest or state forest and involves two or
more stakeholders.
PFM
 PFM in Ethiopia has been taking place since the mid 1990s through the
pilot projects implemented, primarily by non-governmental organizations
(NGOs) such as FARM-Africa/SOS Sahel Ethiopia in close collaboration
with the regional governments.

 1995-Chilimo forest.

 1996- Bonga forest.

 1999-Borana Collaborative Forest Management Project .

 More than 115 CBOs in Bale Eco-region.

PFM…
 PFM/JFM/CBFM can be applicable as management option to all kinds of
natural resources, forest land, rangeland and wetlands- those which are
rich or poor in biodiversity, intact or degraded, large or small, moist
montane, woodland or mangrove, manmade or natural forest.

 What is important to understand is that the two agreeing parties

(government and the community) or if it is on communal land the "Goth"
or "Kebele" community needs to agree to share management
responsibility and the benefits that could be derived from the forest
resource.
PFM…
 Practical experiences, and lessons: Communities in and around
forested areas can be part of the solution for reducing deforestation and
forest degradation of forest resources.

 The participation of the communities in the negotiation and drafting of

the forest management, conservation and use plans strongly;

 Contributes to create community ownership of the programme and

ensure community involvement at all stages of forest resource
management through Participatory Forestry Management approach,

 It is believed to be the crucial element for sustainable forest

management.
Legal basis for PFM
 Policy framework

 Policy provisions acknowledge the need for public participation.

 “The right to ownership of rural and urban land, as well as of all natural
resources, is exclusively vested in the State and in the peoples of
Ethiopia, FDRE Constitution Article 40 (3).

 Proclamation No. 542/2007 Article 4 (3), Article 9(3), and Article 10 (3 and
4)

 Federal Proclamation No 1065/2018 e.g. article 4:

 Oromia and SNNP Regional States Forest proclamations.

Opportunities and emerging issues
 CRGE strategy.

 REDD+, PFM as a vehicle for REDD+ strategy.

 National and international frameworks interests and actions.

 Significance of forests for CC and socio-economic areas.

Over View of PFM Process
 The common features across all the PFM models
exercised in Ethiopia are:

1. The introduction of the concept,

2. Popularization and community mobilization;

3. Establishment of Forest Management Associations or

Community Based Organizations,

4. Participatory forest resources assessment,

5. Forest management plan preparation,

6. Signing of management agreement and,

7. Finally implementation of the management plans.

Over View of PFM Process…

S.n. Major PFM Phase Key steps

1 Mobilization/Negotiation 1. Getting Started
2. Familiarization of PFM processes
2 Planning/Investigation 3. PFRA and Management Planning
4. Organizing and legalizing community
institutions
3 Implementation 5. Capacity building and skill
development
6. Participatory monitoring and
evaluation
Note: Steps in PFM process are not strictly following sequential orders rather some steps
like participatory monitoring, PFM planning and organizing community could be done
simultaneously.
Over View of PFM Process…
S.n Steps Main Tasks
1 Getting Started 1. Choose forest site
2. Form PFM implementation team
3. Orient stakeholders
4. Meet and brief the kebele leadership
5. Meet and brief the kebele assembly/community members

2 Familiarization of PFM 1. Identifying primary and secondary stakeholders and defining

purposes and community groups
processes 2. Identify forest uses, users and gender issues
3. Introductory PFM training to woreda level PFM facilitation team

3 PFRA and FMP 1. Participatory resource mapping.

2. Demarcate using GPS
3. PFRA
4. Forest management plan development.
5. Benefit sharing
Over View of PFM Process…
4 Organizing and 1. Awareness raising to community groups on CBO
legalizing CBOs 2. Timing of establishing Community Based Organizations. Some PFM actors
establish legal and accountable community institutions at the start of the PFM
process while others along the process after PFM plan is developed.
3. Legal provisions of CBOs for PFM
4. Awareness raising on Forest cooperatives
5. ASK participants to identify the strengths and weaknesses of each type of
institution and the combination of the two (Associations, cooperatives, PLCs and
Associations).
6. Establishing forest cooperatives
7. PFM agreement development
8. Approval and signing of the PFM Agreement. The start of a new era!

5 Capacity building and 1. Institutional capacity development

skill dev’t. 2. Technical skill development.
6 Participatory M&E 1. Based on the indicators measure the changes or impacts using the agreed format.
E.g. "Before and after" PFM intervention, corrective actions, etc.
Stakeholder Analysis
 Stakeholder: Any individual, group or organization, community, with an
interest in the outcome of a programme/project (beneficiaries, partners,
line offices, local institutions, Gov’t offices.

 Why we need stakeholder analysis?" It is a process of identifying

various parties that have interest in a given project and investigating
their interest, expectation, attitude and possible reaction to a project”

 When?

 At all stages.
1. In Identification- to identify them and design a project
2. In implementation- to plan involvement
3. Evaluation- to see the impact
4. but it is importantly at the designing stage
Steps of stakeholder analysis:
1. Identify the general development problem or opportunity being
addressed/considered;

2. Identify all those groups who have a significant interest in the

(potential) project;

3. Investigate their respective roles, different interests, relative power and

capacity to participate (strengths and weaknesses);

4. Identify the extent of cooperation or conflict in the relationships

between stakeholders, and;

5. Interpret the findings of the analysis

Stakeholders Category
 Stakeholders can be categorized into three groups:

1. Key stakeholders: Those who can significantly influence or are

important to the success of the project.

2. Primary stakeholders: Those individuals and groups who are

ultimately affected by the project either as positively or adversely.

3. Secondary stakeholders: All other individuals or institutions with a

stake, interest or intermediary role in the activity.
Stakeholder Analysis…
 4Rs matrix (Rights Responsibility, Relationships and
Revenue).
 Venn diagram. Put the prominent resource at the center.

Stakeholder Analysis using Matrix

Identifying primary and secondary stakeholders and defining
community groups:
 Primary stakeholders: are those who are living in and around the
forest and are most affected by the outcome of PFM planning process.
 Secondary stakeholders are mostly not living in the area and are
indirectly or less affected by the outcome of the planning process.
 It should be noted that in the case of PFM, government departments are
key stakeholders who are critically important and significantly influence
the outcome of the process.
Identify forest uses, users and gender issues:
 It is important to carry out analysis of gender roles, decision making,
access to and control over the resources, forest use, etc.
 To analyze constraints to women's participation in PFM process and
develop strategies to overcome these constraints to ensure active
participation of women in PFM implementation.
Participatory Resource Mapping

 Convene a meeting with the committee

 Explain the purpose of this meeting
 Locate a few prominent features in the Kebele;
for example a road, a river or a forest.
 Orientate your current position-establishing the
direction from which the sun rises (East) and
sets (West).
 Reproduce the sketch map on a clean sheet of
squared paper;
Participatory Resource Mapping

 The map displays important information, such

as forest boundaries, physical features (such as
rivers, roads, paths), and key forest resources.
 Usually done by the planning team and elders
together with neighboring community and
kebele administration representatives, together
with the forestry service.
 Verify by walking along the edge of the forest to
mark the outer boundary.
 Of course, it is full of challenge.
 ..\GPS Data collecting format.docx
Participatory Forest Resource Assessment (PFRA)…

 The purpose of PFRA is to gather technical baseline information

necessary for preparing a management plan and future monitoring of the
development by communities and the forestry service.
 As a tool it provides the government and community with a detailed
knowledge of the resource at the time of the assessment.
 PFRA has four major steps:

1. Preparation

2. Conducting the PFRA

3. Reporting/summarizing

4. Discussion on management implications of the assessment

Participatory Forest Resource Assessment (PFRA)…

 It is good if the PFRA team has some of those community members who
took part in participatory forest boundary demarcation but not
necessarily limited to these individuals and have some new additional
community members join the team.

 For practical reasons, the team should range from 5 to 8 community

representatives.

 The factors to consider during composition of the team include;

a) People who know the forest area well,

b) Are physically fit,

c) Both men and women and

d) Preferably literate individuals, but if not this should not be a hindrance.

The stages, the associated forms, and how the PFRA
information is used
Participatory Forest Resource Assessment (PFRA)…

 Determine the boundaries

 Map of the resource will make the PFRA much easier
 PFRA is undertaken based on compartment
 Sampling. Systematic sampling
 Sampling intensity
 As the size of a forest strata increases, the spacing between samples be
increased.
Participatory Forest Management Plan Development
 Summarize step by step what they have done in the PFM planning process so
far and relate to the activities of PFM planning.
 PFM Plan template

1. Introduction
2. Description of the forest
3. Objectives
4. Forest management actions
• Development
• Utilization
• Protection
• Monitoring actions
• Participatory Monitoring and evaluation
• Revision of the management plan
• Approval of the management plan
PFM and Livelihood

 Forest-based livelihood strategies need to be incorporated in the PFM

planning process.
 Activities of forest-based livelihood include assessment of forest-
based livelihood potential, forest-based product and market
development, and business development (MA&D).
 The forest-based livelihood development activities are summarized into a
business plan document.
Benefit sharing arrangements and rights and responsibilities of
the agreeing parties

 Clear benefit and revenue sharing arrangements are critical elements for
the success of PFM.
 The negotiation must be transparent and in principle the benefit sharing
arrangement should reflect the responsibility of each agreeing party.
 Benefit sharing (stumpage price)
Forest type BA (m2/ha) Benefit sharing(%)
Cooperative OFWE

Natural forest ≤10 60 40

10 -20 50 50
20 ol 40 60
Plantation forest - 10 90
Organizing and legalizing community institution(s) & signing
FMA

 In PFM, communities need to be organized in formal groups in order to get a

proper recognition and to execute the forest management actions properly.
 Invite an expert from the cooperative promotion office and let him/her
explain the advantages of establishing cooperatives and what is expected of
them to acquire a legal certificate.
 They need to prepare a bylaw as a code of conduct for internal
administration and a business plan to guide its business development.
 After the cooperative bylaw and business plan are completed convene a general
assembly meeting to present the final draft documents for endorsement.
 Annexes of PFM agreement development.
1. List of members and their signature
2. Map of the forest
3. PFRA report
4. PFM Plan
Approval and signing of the PFM Agreement

 Organize a ceremony at which the forest management agreement is

signed- the start of a new era!
 As part of this ceremony, let the Secretary or the Chairperson or
someone representing the forest cooperative present the
process they have gone through and the major rights and
responsibilities of the agreeing parties.
 Representatives of government institutions and community SIGN
agreement.
 Ideally, photographs of the ceremony should be taken.
Capacity building and skill development for PFM plan
implementation

1. Institutional capacity development

 Bylaw implementation
 Governance

2. Technical skill development

 On topics like forest development, forest protection, forest utilization, and
marketing, conflict management, financial management and
administrative support.
 CBO Capacity development process??
 OCAT???
 Points to ponder!

1. When do you think natural resources are best managed? Do you think PFM is viable
option?

2. Difference between conventional and community forest management?

3. What are phases and steps to establish PFM?

4. What are main tasks of each step?

5. PFM is said to be the best option to empower communities and ensure sustainable
forest management. What criterion do you think should be fulfilled to establish PFM?

6. What is the main Challenges and Threats of PFM?

7. What criteria and strategies do you suggest to strength CBO`s?

 The End
Thank Yo u so m uc h ! !