The Tragedy of Forestland Sustainability in Postcolonial Africa: Land Development, Cocoa, and Politics in Côte d’Ivoire

Ongolo, Symphorien; Kouassi, Sylvestre Kouamé; Chérif, Sadia; Gießen, Lukas

doi:10.3390/su10124611

Cited by 19 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 62 publications

(65 reference statements)

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“…Such narratives have persisted for decades and are often rooted in colonial policies to control upland farmers and agrarian revolutions, despite being frequently challenged (Forsyth, 1994). These colonial policies not only relate to North–South trade and investment relations (e.g., Galaz et al , 2018), but are very much implicit in national policies and institutional structures around land and forest use, tenure systems and concession models (Galudra & Sirait, 2009; Ongolo et al , 2018; Peluso & Vandergeest, 2001).…”

Section: Dominant Myths In Sustainable Forest Governancementioning

confidence: 99%

Unearthing the myths of global sustainable forest governance

et al. 2020

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Non-technical summary Despite efforts to address the global forest crisis, deforestation and degradation continue, so we need to urgently revisit possible solutions. A failure to halt the global forest crisis contributes to climate change and biodiversity loss and will continue to result in inequalities in access to, and benefits from, forest resources. In this paper, we unpack a series of powerful myths about forests and their management. By exposing and better understanding these myths and what makes them so persistent, we have the basis to make the social and political changes needed to better manage and protect forests globally.

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Section: Dominant Myths In Sustainable Forest Governancementioning

confidence: 99%

Unearthing the myths of global sustainable forest governance

et al. 2020

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“…In most of the cases, a constellation of multilevel private and public actors fight each other to access, control or keep the upper hand over above-and below-ground forestland resources (wood, arable lands, and mines). The notion of forestland in this paper refers to "an area of land covered by trees or forest ecosystem and that can be used [or transformed] for other specific purposes such as farming, natural resource extraction, hunting zone, ecotourism, or building" [5]. In such a context, the central state struggles to impose its authority over the government of the national territory including in the forestland areas [6,7].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Can Traditional Authority Improve the Governance of Forestland and Sustainability? Case Study from the Congo (DRC)

Majambu

Wabasa

Elatre

et al. 2019

Land

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With about 107 million hectares of moist forest, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is a perfect paradox of a natural resources endowed country caught in repeated economic and socio-political crises. Democratic Republic of Congo possesses about 60% of the Congo basin’s forest on which the majority of its people rely for their survival. Even if the national forest land in the countryside is mainly exploited by local populations based on customary rights, they usually do not have land titles due to the fact that the state claims an exclusive ownership of all forest lands in the Congo basin including in DRC. The tragedy of “bad governance” of natural resources is often highlighted in the literature as one of the major drivers of poverty and conflicts in DRC. In the forest domain, several studies have demonstrated that state bureaucracies cannot convincingly improve the governance of forestland because of cronyism, institutional weaknesses, corruption and other vested interests that govern forest and land tenure systems in the country. There are however very few rigorous studies on the role of traditional leaders or chiefdoms in the governance of forests and land issues in the Congo basin. This research aimed at addressing this lack of knowledge by providing empirical evidence through the case study of Yawalo village, located around the Yangambi Biosphere Reserve in the Democratic Republic of Congo. From a methodological perspective, it used a mixed approach combining both qualitative (field observations, participatory mapping, interviews, focal group discussions, and desk research,) and quantitative (remote sensing and statistics) methods. The main findings of our research reveal that: (i) vested interests of traditional rulers in the DRC countryside are not always compatible with a sustainable management of forestland; and (ii) influential users of forestland resources at the local level take advantage of traditional leaders’ weaknesses—lack of autonomy and coercive means, erratic recognition of customary rights, and poor legitimacy—to impose illegal hunting and uncontrolled forest exploitation.

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“…Forestland concession refers to a contract, license, or permit granted to a company or an individual to extract forestland and resources commercially from a defined area of the forest within a certain time [1]. The notion of forestland refers to an area of land covered by trees, which might be used for other purposes like resource extraction, hunting, ecotourism, and farming [3]. In another way, forestland concession processes award land user rights to individuals or companies who assume the risk and responsibility of forestland resource exploitation and/or management [1].…”

Section: Conceptual and Theoretical Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The variation among the concession deals and responsibilities of the stakeholders is enormous, and in most cases, the forest concessions have been severely criticized by scientists, because they failed to provide the expected benefits and services [1,2]. The land covered by trees is considered to be forestland [3], and the forestland concession process confers the holder a certain set of rights. There are many concerns about forestland concessions, which seem to have a bad track record, particularly in the tropical forests of developing countries [1].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There are many concerns about forestland concessions, which seem to have a bad track record, particularly in the tropical forests of developing countries [1]. Tropical forestlands and biodiversity are in decline worldwide, and an estimated 80% of new agricultural lands (including plantations) have been taken from forestland [3,4]. Although resources from forestland have always been key to the livelihood of forest-dependent people, the recent interest in commercial food, biofuel production, and industrialization have resulted in a growing interest in land resources [2,5].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Forestland Concession, Land Rights, and Livelihood Changes of Ethnic Minorities: The Case of the Madhupur Sal Forest, Bangladesh

Islam

Hyakumura

2019

Forests

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Forestland concession has been the dominant governance tool for the acquisition of natural state-owned forest resources in many tropical countries, including Bangladesh. Moreover, the forestland concession process confers the holder a bundle of rights. The Sal forests of Bangladesh are treated as some of the greatest concession forests, as a number of ethnic minorities use these forests for their daily living. Therefore, the objectives of the study were to assess the impacts of Sal forestland concession and land rights on the livelihood development of the ethnic minorities living in the Madhupur Sal Forest (MSF) area of Bangladesh. Using both qualitative and quantitative data collection techniques, the study found out that about two thirds of the original Sal forestland was grabbed by the state and non-state actors. As a result, the ethnic minority inhabitants have lost their traditional land and free access rights to the Sal forests. The process of losing ethnic minorities’ land and forest access rights has been enhanced by the institutional arrangements of the state, which had also created severe conflicts between the Forest Department and the ethnic communities. The study also revealed that the forestland concession has negatively affected the five livelihood capitals development of the ethnic minorities, consequently, their forest-based livelihood has shifted to non-securing jobs or poor income sources, like daily wage labor and subsistence agriculture. Despite this, the development drivers have emphasized the Sal forests and biodiversity conservation, while the livelihood development of the ethnic minorities has been ignored from every level. Therefore, this study would recommend establishing a legitimate process in order to settle the issue of traditional land and the forest rights of ethnic minorities, which could also attain the conservation and development goals of the Sal forests.

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The Tragedy of Forestland Sustainability in Postcolonial Africa: Land Development, Cocoa, and Politics in Côte d’Ivoire

Cited by 19 publications

References 62 publications

Unearthing the myths of global sustainable forest governance

Unearthing the myths of global sustainable forest governance

Can Traditional Authority Improve the Governance of Forestland and Sustainability? Case Study from the Congo (DRC)

Forestland Concession, Land Rights, and Livelihood Changes of Ethnic Minorities: The Case of the Madhupur Sal Forest, Bangladesh

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