Keepers of the Forest

Now that the mystique and memory of the forests of Southeast Asia are nearly exhausted, people are beginning to talk effectively of forest management. Poffenberger, however, has for years concerned himself with finding collective schemes that will enable government foresters and communities living on forest land to work together towards this endeavor. In this book, Poffenberger with a group of other forestry researchers and workers present us with some important developments in forestry management in the Philippines, Thailand and Indonesia. The developments deal with cooperative action between state forest agencies and forest communities. Various new programs now seek to grant security of tenure to forest communities, engage communities in sustainable agricultural practices, and reduce government administrative costs. Through a realistic assessment of these experiences, the authors hope that others will further seek ways to effectively strengthen community management of the forest. With such a focus, therefore, the book cannot be expected to deal with present issues of commercial logging or plantations, environmental advocacy, related insurgency, population programs, international timber trade and development loans; though these issues are very much related to the question, Who are the rightful forest keepers? While the authors raise the question of who is to care for the forest as a major political issue, their answer remains purposely ambiguous. However, the editor's focus on community participation in government programs suggests that he considers forest communities as the primary keepers of the forest with supervision by government forest agencies. State management programs and policies are discussed with due attention to the historical and geographic context. The authors avoid generalized discussions on the causes of and solutions to deforestation, and delve instead into the process of managing specific forests. The lesson learned from the historical overview of land conflict is the need for decentralization which