Environmental Management: Principles and practice

Social science and environmental management in practice
Social forestry
Social forestry deals with the establishment and management of forest, woodlots
and hedges by or for local people. The focus is on establishing tree cover, where it is
needed, in the most appropriate manner, with minimal dependency on outside help
(Lee et al., 1990). The social forester may also be interested in why people destroy
trees and in ways of countering such behaviour—e.g. finding substitute fuels, or
establishing alternative livelihoods. In some regions there has been NGO activity,
some of it more or less spontaneous, whereby local people have come together to
improve forest conservation or to support reafforestation and woodlot planting.
There has been strong support for social forestry in India since the 1980s
(Tiwari, 1983; Arnold, 1990; Chatterjee, 1995). Whether the approach is farm-based,
community-based or focused on women’s groups, the key feature is people’s
participation in planting and management. Getting effective participation may require
careful encouragement, perhaps manipulation of people, which demands guidance
from applied social scientists.
Indigenous peoples and conservation
Indigenous people can make ideal guides, managers, and police for conservation
areas, and they may be able to use conservation as a way of maintaining an adequate
livelihood in their traditional environment (Wesche, 1996). Conservation efforts have
often been insensitive to local people, which has alienated them and sometimes
triggered poaching and other destructive activities. The conservation planner must
avoid alienation and get effective involvement.
An understanding of people’s attitudes, capacities and needs is vital for
managing fisheries, pastoral development, or anything involving land users.
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