Farmer Tree Planting Barriers to Sustainable Forest Management - Smallholder Tree Growing for Rural Development and Environmental Services - page 424

20.7 Bottleneck 6: Lack of Supportive Legal and Institutional

Framework

A constraining element shared by various case studies in this volume is the lack of
institutional structures that are conducive to smallholder tree growing activities
(Masipiqueña et al., Chapter 7, this volume; Rahman et al., Chapter 11, this vol-
ume; Hares, Chapter 19, this volume). It is even stated that smallholder tree-based
systems may simply not form the best option for either land use planning (i.e., spa-
tial planning) or smallholders given that institutional objectives are commonly
linked to political-economic agendas that do not prioritize smallholder conditions
or needs (Barney, Chapter 13, this volume).
National governments and international donors throughout Southeast Asia have
made reforestation based on 'plantations' a priority, for a variety of reasons. In the
Philippines the government strategy for reforestation has been to promote govern-
ment and industrial plantations, primarily of Gmelina arborea , Eucalyptus sp. and
Acacia mangium , as discussed earlier (e.g., Tolentino, Chapter 15, this volume).
Official records indicate that between 1976 and 1995, 1,300,000 ha of fast-growing
trees were planted. About 50 percent of this total was established under the National
Forestation Programme for watershed protection. The remaining half targeted wood
production. The success of these plantations is not impressive. Analysis concludes
that a success rate of 30 percent is generous, if success is defined as the proportion
of area planted that actually evolves into secondary forests (Lasco et al. 2001). In
Indonesia, the Five-Year Development Plan, Repelita VI 1994-1999 , targeted pub-
lic and industrial reforestation of 1,250,000 ha per year. Government figures
acknowledge that less than a third (400,000 ha) of this goal was achieved (Moestrup
1999). The actual existence and long-term success of these plantations, primarily
industrial or government reforestation schemes, are widely questioned. The reasons
for the failure of public and industrial reforestation efforts in Southeast Asia are
numerous and often related to legal and institutional deficiencies. Key problems
include: (1) conflicts over land often with overlapping claims by the state and local
farmers, (2) the target mentality of the reforestation - or tree planting - activity;
(3) inadequate attention given to technical details (species-site matching, plantation
maintenance, etc.); (4) lack of clear management and utilization objectives for the
plantation; (5) disregard of the needs and objectives of the local communities; and
(6) corruption (Carandang and Cardenas 1991; Carandang and Lasco 1998). In
general these plantations are established by technicians and contract laborers who
have no post-planting responsibility, concern or expectations of future benefits.
Central planning of reforestation schemes often assumed that local people would
protect the newly established forests. However, having been excluded from the
planning process, local people feel no sense of ownership and no incentive/obliga-
tion to protect plantations not intended to address their needs/priorities. Plantations
are often heavily damaged or completely destroyed by fires (Suyanto et al. 2001;
see also Box 20.1), grazing, or appropriation of the site for other uses.