Contribution of the Participatory Forest Management (PFM) intervention to the socio-economic development in the Southern Cape Forests : a retrospective approach

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The Department of Water Affairs and Forestry (DWAF) maintains that its people-centred Participatory Forest Management (PFM) program contributes to rural poverty eradication through provision of employment, skills training and sharing of benefits of sustainable forest management. It also asserts that local people in the forested parts of South Africa interactively participate in designing systems and institutions that shape forest resources use and management and hence influence their livelihood strategies. Furthermore, the department asserts that the PFM program has taken off exceptionally well in the Southern Cape Forests than anywhere else in South Africa. This means that local people that inhabit the margins of the Southern Cape Forests benefit from the management of these forests. Consequently, this study set out to investigate the socio-economic contribution of the PFM intervention to the two forest-dwelling communities of Diepwalle and Covie within the Southern Cape Forests. The investigation employed an outcome based evaluation approach and was summative in nature. Data were gathered by conducting a 100% survey of the two communities and also through a workshop. Informal interactions and discussions as well as visual observations were used to verify data as the purpose of the study was to present an unbiased, multi-voiced account of the socio-economic contributions of the PFM intervention to the Diepwalle and Covie communities.The results of this research show that the outcomes of the PFM intervention have not been met in the two communities. It was found that the vast majority of the households in the two communities were not aware at the time of this study of the PFM program. There were at the time of the study no PFM-based incentives for local communities to actively participate in the sustainable use and management of the indigenous forests in the vicinity of Diepwalle and Covie. Almost all the householders in the two communities stressed that they do not benefit from the management of the indigenous forests. The existing management approach followed in the Southern Cape Forests does not appear to have more socio-economic and environmental gains than the conventional approach which excludes local people from the planning, designing, implementation and evaluation of institutions and systems which affect their physical environment. The study recommends, among others, regular evaluation of the PFM program to fast track its successful implementation and to ensure that the National Forests Act of 1998 that establishes PFM is fully implemented to realize the socio-economic benefits of forest conservation.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University