Does higher owner participation increase conflicts over common land? An analysis of communal forests in Galicia (Spain)

Abstract

© iForest -Biogeosciences and Forestry IntroductionIn a modern sense, public participation in devising forest management is voluntary. Within public participation processes, people, individually or in organized groups, can exchange information, express opinions and articulate interests with the aim of influencing the final result in decision making (ILO 2000, Aasetre 2006, Atmis et al. 2007. It is both an opportunity and a need for today's society, as it is a useful tool to avoid conflicts, share information and encourage good relations with the planning team (Hellström 2001, Kangas & Store 2003, Santos et al. 2006, Janse & Konijnendijk 2007, Hiltunen et al. 2009, Cantiani 2012. Public participation contributes to democratization through the reinforcement of transparency in decision making: it increases plurality of aims, encourages mutual learning and increases the awareness of collective responsibility for natural resource management questions (Elsasser 2002, Kangas et al. 2010, Lennox et al. 2011).According to Ostrom & Nagendra (2006), sustainable governance of natural resources is a challenging task, in which "major debates occur over what types of policy interventions best protect forests, with choices of property and land tenure systems being central issues" and natural resource management can be approached from different views. There are regional differences in practical approaches to biodiversity conflict management because the social, political and economic characteristics of a culture influence the type of conflicts and the response to them (Hellström 2001). In this context, conflicts are confrontations between opposing values and objectives of the stakeholders in the sustainable management of natural resources (Bojórquez-Tapia et al. 2004), often caused by different perceptions of the initial situation of the resources discussed (Gritten et al. 2009). Following Skutsch (2000, conflicts over biodiversity should be regarded as inherent in social participation, reinforcing the ideas of Hellström (2001), which are seen as an important part of the decisionmaking process on how to use the natural resources.Conflicts usually have negative effects on forest management (Druckman 2005). However, the key to understanding and to the new social demands in forest areas (Hellström 2001) lies in the nature of conflicts. Many authors have analyzed conflicts in forest areas (Elands et al. 2004, Maskey et al. 2006, Djamhuri 2008, Schlueter 2008. White et al. (2009) developed a new and innovative framework aimed at improving the conceptual understanding of biodiversity conflicts. This method is based on the analysis of ecological, economic and social factors that affect the behavior of the biodiversity actors responsible for the conflict. This system is useful in developing strategic models to improve the understanding of general conflict dynamics.The aim of the study is to classify in groups the parishes with communal forest land of the Montes Vecinales en Mano Común (MVMC), to analyze the different management levels an...

Os incendios forestais do cambio global xa estan aquí

“…É moi importante crear unha sociedade consciente e informada dos riscos asociados ao lume, e autoprotexida, pero que ao mesmo tempo conte co lume como un elemento máis do sistema socio-ecolóxico no que está inmersa, que se sinta concernida co problema e contribuínte activa nas decisións tomadas polos xestores públicos (Everett 2002, Tábara et al 2003, Hernando et al 2012, McCaffrey et al 2013, Marino et al 2014, Tedim et al 2016. É preciso, polo tanto, facilitar a participación social e o consenso político sobre o tema porque, en definitiva, se trata dun problema colectivo complexo, que ten as súas raíces na nosa sociedade e lle corresponde a ela o principal papel na súa resolución (Tedim et al 2015e 2016, Bruña e Marey 2013e 2017, Marey et al 2015.…”

Degradación das institucións sociais e usos do solo: mecanismos de retroalimentación entre forestación e condicións de habitabilidade no rural

“…Estos resultados redundan en el papel clave del abandono del rural identificado en trabajos sobre la relación entre distintos factores socioeconómicos con el tipo de manejo forestal practicado en las comunidades de montes vecinales mancomunadas gallegas (Marey Pérez et al, 2014). Estos autores apuntan, en línea con nuestras aportaciones, que el abandono de los terrenos y la inexistencia de procesos decisorios sobre el manejo del monte, que sean capaces de integrar la diversidad creciente de demandas realizadas, tienen el riesgo asociado, de cara al futuro, de desplazar aquellas motivaciones de tipo emocional o intrínsecas que ayudan a explicar el mantenimiento de la actividad forestal entre muchas personas pequeñas propietarias, y en las que el sentimiento de lugar se sostiene.…”

“…La cultura define las condiciones para la reproducibilidad de modos de vida, la compatibilidad de las plantaciones forestales con otros usos y las posibilidades de satisfacción material y emocional de las comunidades (Jasper, 2017), incluidos los modelos de gestión forestal y el tipo de conflictos y respuestas ante estos (Marey-Pérez, Díaz-Varela y Calvo González, 2014). La integración de la cultura en los estudios de la acción colectiva sirve de puente con los análisis de cambio social, al recoger significados compartidos basados en la identidad que atraviesan las dinámicas de la acción colectiva (van Zomeren y Louis, 2017).…”

Structural capital value addition to timber and related industries value chain

“…Galicia is a province in northwestern Spain characterized by a high relative percentage of its total forest area, which represents over 60% of its surface area and accounts for 11% of the total forest area of Spain (Marey-Perez, Diaz-Varela & Calvo-Gonzalez, 2014), the stock of timber being more than 133 million m 3 , accounting for 19% of the total Spanish timber reserve and representing nearly half of the Spanish production of timber, with 98% of the forests being privately owned and the remaining 2% owned by the public sector (Caballero, 2015).…”

“…Some studies on the timber industry of Argentina and Latin America were found (Martos, F-Jar-dón & Figueroa, 2008;F-Jardón & Martos, 2014;F-Jardón & Silva, 2017) but none on the Spanish area, as far as intellectual capital is concerned. The studies on Spain were mainly related to forest management (Carvalho-Ribeiro & Lovett, 2011) or ownership issues (Marey-Perez, Diaz-Varela & Calvo-Gonzalez, 2014). There are also works that analyze this impact in Latin American countries.…”