Traditionally, subsistence economies in developing countries are biomass economies. Housing itself, energy, furniture and utensils are still biomass products. The yield of trees and shrubs provides thatch, fodder and a host of other products which serve each family household. Deforestation is an erosion of local entitlement to subsistence resources as well as being an environmental problem that destroys local, national and global common property resources. The challenge for foresters, and other rural development professionals, is to build new landscapes which provide a range of biomass products to local users. The New Forester will contribute to that task by helping professionals to see new opportunities by working through, not against, the local people. This book is aimed at foresters, but its practical approach is worth the attention of all rural development practitioners, as well as individuals within a range of professional backgrounds from engineering to sociology.
List of boxes iv
Foreword v
Preface vi
1. Setting the Scene 1
The challenge of wood: the biomass economy 1
From plantation to fields: location of the problem 2
From fuelwood to trees: redefining intervention 8
Social forestry 12
2. Tools for Work — Indigenous Knowledge 14
Asking questions with people 14
Exploring what people know 15
Exploring how people are 18
3. The Classical and the Social Forester 23
New and old knowledge: traditional versus modern approaches 23
The changing role of the forester in forestry 24
4. The Way Forward 31
Understanding existing management: the least cost solution 31
Traditional versus farm nurseries 42
Seedlings or seed? — simplifying tree establishment 45
Technical issues: the question of species 45
Agroforestry production systems 54
5. The Practicalities of Intervention 60
The new forester in action 60
A model for participatory development: thinking through the process 61
Steps for a participatory process 66
Wood beyond forestry: wood in rural development projects 74
6. A New Approach to Training 82
New modalities: starting points 82
Practical issues 86
7. Conclusion 90
And Now?
Berry van Gelder has over 30 years' of experience in forestry and the wood industry. He graduated form the University of Wageningen and worked for many years in Africa and Asia through international aid agencies like the FAO, World Bank, Asian Development Bank, and other Dutch Development organisations and companies
Phil O' Keefe teaches economic development and environmental management at the University of Northumbria. He is also the director of ETC UK.