Research Reports
Development Plan for Community Based Forest Management in Korea (Year 2 of 2)
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AuthorSeok, Hyundeok
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Publication Date2016.01.26
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Original
Background of Research
Sustainability is an important principle for managing the forest in all over the world. Various researches concluded that sustainability of forest can be accomplished by voluntary participation of local people who live near the forests. However, it was difficult for Korea to let local people participate in forest management.
This research aims to not only solve the various problems due to government-driven forest policies but also provide the new paradigm for sustainable forest management. Specifically, this research is designed to find specific policy solutions for activating Korean community-based forest management(hereafter KCBFM).
Method of Research
To develop the KCBFM, we collected various cases of all over the world. The cases of sixteen countries were categorized into a small number of types. All these data was collected by literature review and sharing experience in the international conferences.
On the other hand, we investigated the eight Korean cases that were similar to foreign cases, and these cases also were categorized into a small number of types. To evaluate the possibility of introducing KCBFM, we conducted a survey, in-depth interview, and focus group interview with various stakeholders.
Research Results and Implications
We define community-based forest management as use or management of forests by local people who live near the forests through their consensus. Among various Korean forest activities, (1) the national forest, (2) convention on national forest protection, (3) state-owned forest product concession, (4) national forest loan, (5) joint forest projects, (6) public forest management, (7) consignment forest management, and (8) leading forest management can be regarded as KCBFM.
The results show that most of these cases are not community-led but government-led. There was no significant difference in players and activities. And system and process are complicated for local people. For these reasons, local people did not want to utilize the forest near their village. Moreover, local people participating in the project also did not get a real income. Consequently, the number of participants has been stagnant.
Based on the analysis of the cases of sixteen countries, we categorized these foreign cases into five types as follows: (1) simple income-generating type; (2) service income-generating type; (3) environmental enhancement type; (4) forest value improving type; (5) education and recreation type. On the other hand, eight Korean cases were categorized into four types as follows: (1) producing forest product type; (2) providing forest services type; (3) forest value improving type; (4) education and recreation type. The categorization of foreign and Korean cases differed because we should consider the social and environmental situation of Korean forests.
To enable the KCBFM, we have to create successful pilot cases of each type around the area where local people want to utilize their forests, and it is necessary to spread the successful results to another area. In this study, we defined the procedure applying KCBFM as follows: (1) selecting target area; (2) formatting community; (3) creating forest management plan; (4) implementing forest management; (5) evaluating forest management.
As results, the procedure of four types of KCBFM was staying in second process, formatting community. Moreover, there were several problems due to conflicts and competition with another stakeholder. Therefore, it is necessary for forest government to let local people make their community and to moderate this problem in short term strategy.
Base on the survey, in-depth interview, and focus group interview, we could derive the policy implications for activating KCBFM. First, we suggested the long-term development strategy of KCBFM, which consists of 3-step procedure as follows: (1) promoting type-specific pilot projects; (2) expanding projects in national forests; (3) spreading to forests including the private sector.
Second, we proposed good-governance for activating KCBFM. The governance consists of various stakeholders including local people, forestry experts, intermediate support organization, government agencies, certification bodies, and companies. We also indicated a specific role of each player in governance and insisted that governance should form the independent decision-making body and the scope of governance should be enlarged to solve the possible problems due to conflict and competition relation between stakeholders.
Third, we proposed the ways of maintaining and utilizing the existing institutions. Specifically, modifying forest management plans, a bottom-up process in selecting the amount of forest activity, reflecting the uniqueness of forest business were presented. Also, we suggested the policy instrument for enhancing income and business expertise.
Fourth, we presented a differentiated application of policy measure under each type of KCBFM. Finally, we also presented a flexible application of policy instrument when more than two types of KCBFM proceeded simultaneously.
Researchers: Seok Hyundeok, Koo Jachoon, Jeong Jaeho, Choi Junyeong, Kwak Junyeong, Lee soyeong, Kim Nari
Research period: 2015. 1. ~ 2015. 12.
E-mail address: hdseok@krei.re.kr
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