Community Forest ManagemenT

Fall 2007

Tuesday, Periods 3-5 (9:35-12:35)

 

Course numbers:  FOR 6934 (Sect 5701), LAS 6290 (Sect 9781)

 

Course credits:  3

 

Instructors:    Dr. Karen A. Kainer               Dr. Marianne Schmink

                        kkainer@.ufl.edu                    schmink@latam.ufl.edu

                        846-0833                                 392-6548, Ext. 827

            210 Newins-Ziegler                301 Grinter 

Office Hours:  M 9-11, Th 10-12                    M 1:00-3:00, W 9:30-11:30

…or by appointment

 

Course website:  http://www.sfrc.ufl.edu/class/for6934/index.html

 

Course readings:

(1) Book:  Mulder, M. B. and P. Coppolillo. 2005.  Conservation: Linking ecology, economics, and culture.  Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey.

(2) Select articles and book chapters:  See readings list.

 

Course description: 

Integrating new knowledge and perspectives with personal and professional experiences, this course encourages students to think critically about real world challenges for supporting community-based forest management and conservation.

 

Learning objectives:

Upon completion of this course, successful students will have:

  • Integrated new multidisciplinary knowledge with their personal and professional experiences to think critically about community-based forest management;
  • Synthesized key ecological concepts for sound management of community resources;
  • Articulated the relevance and complexity of the socio-political context on community-based resource management;
  • Reviewed and discussed practical ways in which community-based management has been implemented;
  • Reflected on their roles as supporters of community-based resource management;
  • Written a research proposal or manuscript that integrates student interests with course learning.

 


Grading:        

Forest observation                                                                                             5%

Reflection paper                                                                                              10%

            Readings comments                                                                                        10%

            Research paper                                   

   Preliminary statement and bibliography                                                      10%

   Final submission                                                                                           40%

Peer review I (preliminary statements & bibliographies)                                10%

Peer review II (research paper draft)                                                              10%

Class participation*                                                                                           5%

                        Total                                                                                                 100%

 

            90 – 100% = A

            87 – 89%   = B+

            80 – 86%   = B

            77 – 79%   = C+

            70 – 76%   = C

            60 – 69%   = D

            < 60%        = E

           

* Attendance is a prerequisite to in-class participation.  Class attendance is important because of our emphasis on cross-student learning.  Students bring a wealth of experience into the classroom, and each class period is a unique chance to learn from those experiences.  A second reason we insist on class attendance is because of the 3-hour class meetings.  Missing one day = 6.7% of the course; two = 13.3%; and 3  = 1/5 of the course!  In other words, quickly, one can miss a large portion of what could be learned.  Finally, course space is at a premium, and we’d like to open up room to those who are able to commit fully to the class.

 

In the past, we have always asked that students let us know immediately if they are going to be missing a class, and this courtesy has been extended almost without fail.  Typically, one or two students miss a session during the course of a semester (conference, sibling wedding, etc…), but rarely has a student missed more than one.  If you know that you will miss more than one class, please let us know immediately.  We’ll ask that you consider dropping the course.  Unplanned absences (emergencies) just come up, and are dealt with differently.


Academic Honesty, Software Use, Services for Students with Disabilities, UF

Counseling Services

The University of Florida requires all members of its community to be honest in all endeavors. Cheating, plagiarism, and other acts diminish the process of learning. When students enroll at UF they commit themselves to honesty and integrity. Your instructor fully expects you to adhere to the academic honesty guidelines you signed when you were admitted to UF.  As a result of completing the registration form at the University of Florida, every student has signed the following statement: “I understand the University of Florida expects it students to be honest in all their academic work. I agree to adhere to this commitment to academic honesty and understand that my failure to comply with this commitment may result in disciplinary

action up to and including expulsion from the University.”

 

Furthermore, on work submitted for credit by UF students, the following pledge is either required or implied: “On my honor, I have neither given nor received unauthorized aid in doing this assignment.  It is to be assumed all work will be completed independently unless the assignment is defined as group project, in writing by the professor. This policy will be vigorously upheld at all times in this course.

 

Software Use:

All faculty, staff, and students of the University are required and expected to obey the laws and legal agreements governing software use. Failure to do so can lead to monetary damages and/or criminal penalties for the individual violator. Because such violations are also against University policies and rules, disciplinary action will be taken as appropriate.

 

Campus Helping Resources

Students experiencing crisis or personal problems that interfere with their general wellbeing are encouraged to utilize the university’s counseling resources. Both the Counseling Center and Student Mental Health provide confidential counseling services at no cost for currently enrolled students. Resources are available on campus for students having personal or lacking clear career and academic goals, which interfere with their academic performance. The Counseling Center is located at 301 Peabody Hall (next to Criser Hall). Student Mental Health is located on the second floor of the Student Health Services in the Infirmary.

1. University Counseling Center, 301 Peabody Hall, 392-1575; personal and career counseling: www.counsel.ufl.edu

2. Student Mental Health, Student Health Care Center, 392-1171, personal counseling: www.hsc.ufl.edu/shcc/smhs.htm

3. Sexual Assault Recovery Services (SARS), Student Health Care Center, 392-1161, sexual assault counseling; and

4. Career Resource Center, Reitz Union, 392-1601, career development assistance and counseling.

 

Students with Disabilities Act

The Dean of Students Office coordinates the needed accommodations of students with disabilities. This includes the registration of disabilities, academic accommodations within the classroom, accessing special adaptive computer equipment, providing interpretation services, and mediating faulty-student

disability related issues. Dean of Students Office, 202 Peabody Hall, 392-7066, www.dso.ufl.edu.           

 

 


Date                Topic                                                                                                  Assignments due*     

 

Setting the theoretical stage

Aug 28                        Introduction

 

Sep 4               Why CFM? and Key ecological variables                                          forest observation

 

Sep 11             Disturbance, equilibrium, and management implications                   title of paper

 

Sep 18             Political ecology of CFM                                                                    prelim statement & biblio

                                   

Sep 25             Institutions for CFM                                                                           peer review I              

 

Community forest management for differing values

Oct 2               Management and values        

 

Oct 9               Fire management

 

Oct 16             Wildlife management and environmental service payments

 

Oct 23             Timber management                                                                            research paper – draft

 

Oct 30            Non-timber forest products                                                                peer review II

 

Supporting community resource management

Nov 6              Partnerships and capacity building

 

Nov 13                        Collaborative management in practice

 

Nov 20            Research with communities

 

Nov 26 (due Monday – 8:00 a.m.)                                                                              reflection paper

Nov 27                        Ethics and social responsibility

 

Dec 4               Course wrap up and evaluation                                                          research paper – final

 

 

 

*Electronically posted comments are due at 8:00 am on the Monday prior to each class.

 

 

 


Reading Assignments

 

We will be using UF’s Ares system to access non-text readings.  If you are on campus, you can go directly to https:\\ares.uflib.ufl.edu. If you are off-campus, (1) Go to UF’s main webpage (www.ufl.edu), (2) click on “libraries” under the “Academics” subsection at the left sidebar, (3) Click on “George A Smather’s Libraries, (4) Remotely logon using your gatorlink username and password, (5) Under the first column “Find”, click on “Course Reserves”, and you will now be at the Ares Course Reserve Page.

 

Whether on campus or off, you will need to create a new account.  Once you have an account, you will be able to log-in on the Ares Course Reserve Page.  Once inside the Course Reserve, click on “Search classes” under student tools, searching for Community Forest Management or Kainer.  When you find Community Forest Mangement, click on “add class” and this will always come up when you log-on.  If assistance is required please contact Course Reserves at (352) 273-2520 or eres@uflib.ufl.edu.

 

All articles listed below are required reading for the course, unless “recommended” precedes the citation.  An “*” in the reading list below indicates that the article is also available in another language.  

 

 

Setting the theoretical stage

 

Aug 28            Introduction

No readings

 

 

Sep 4               Why community forest management (CFM)?

                        Key ecological variables 

Peters, C.M.  1996.  Chapter I: Introduction to the ecology of tropical forest resources.  Pages 5-36, In: The ecology and management of non-timber forest resources. World Bank Technical Paper No. 322.  The World Bank, Washington D.C.

 

Mulder and Coppolillo: Chapter 1, The many roads to conservation.

 

Klooster, D. and S. Ambinakudige.  2005.  The global significance of Mexican community forestry.  Pages 305-334 (Chapter 13), In: Bray, D.B., L. Merino-Peréz, and D. Barry (eds.).  The community forests of Mexico: Managing for sustainable landscapes. University of Texas Press, Austin, TX.

 

Kainer, K.A., M. Schmink, A.C.P. Leite, and M.J. da Fadell Silva. 2003.  Experiments in forest-based development in Western Amazonia. Society and Natural Resources 16(10):869-886. *In Portuguese through Kainer or Schmink

 

Recommended:

White, A. and A. Martin.  2002.  Who owns the world’s forests? Forest tenure and public forests in transition.  Forest Trends, Washington, DC.  *In French at:  http://www.rightsandresources.org/library/publications.html

 

Molnar, A. S.J. Scherr, and A. Khare.  2004.  Who conserves the world’s forests? Community-driven strategies to protect forests and respect rights.  Forest Trends, Washington, DC.  *In French at:  http://www.rightsandresources.org/library/publications.html

 

 

Sept 11            Disturbance, equilibrium and management implications

Mulder and Coppolillo: Chapter 2, The evolution of policy

 

Mulder and Coppolillo: Chapter 3, The natural science behind it all

 

Sprugel, D.G. 1991.  Disturbance, equilibrium, and environmental variability: What is “natural” vegetation in a changing environment?  Biological Conservation 58:1-18.

 

 

Sept 18            Political ecology of CFM

Mulder and Coppolillo: Chapter 7, The bigger picture

 

Mulder and Coppolillo: Chapter 8, Local people and international conservation

 

Schmink, M.  1994.  The socioeconomic matrix of deforestation.  Pages 253-275, In: Arizpe, Lourdes, M. Priscilla Stone, and David C. Major (eds.).  Population and environment: Rethinking the debate.  Westview Press, Boulder.

 

Keck, M.E.  1995.  Social equity and environmental politics in Brazil: Lessons from the rubber tappers of Acre.  Comparative Politics 27(4):409-424.

 

Recommended:

Agrawal, A. and C.C. Gibson.  1999.  Enchantment and disenchantment: The role of community in natural resource conservation.  World Development 27(4):629-649.

 

 

Sep 25             Insitutions for CFM

Mulder and Coppolillo: Chapter 6, Rational fools and the commons

 

Mulder and Coppolillo: Chapter 9, Global issues, economics and policy

 

Klooster, D.J.  2002.  Toward adaptive community forest management: Integrating local forest knowledge with scientific forestry. Economic Geography 78(1):43-70.

 

Dietz, T., Ostrom, E., and P.C. Stern. 2003. The struggle to govern the commons. Science 302(12): 1907-1912.

 

Chilton, S. 1999. The good reviewer. Academe 6:54-55. Available on Ares or online at:

http://ctl.stanford.edu/Tomprof/postings/184.html  Peer review guidelines

 


Recommended: 

Mulder and Coppolillo: Chapter 4, Indigenous peoples as conservationists

 

Mulder and Coppolillo: Chapter 5, Conservation and self-interest

 

 

Community management for differing values

 

Oct 2               Management and values

Holling, C.S. and G.K. Meffe.  1996.  Command and control and the pathology of natural resource management.  Conservation Biology 10(2):328-335. 

 

Schelhas, J., L.E. Buck and C.C. Geisler.  2001.  Introduction: The challenge of adaptive collaborative management.  Pages xix-xxvii, In: Buck, L.E., C.C. Geisler, J. Schelhas and E. Wallenberg (eds.), Biological Diversity: Balancing interests through collaborative management.  CRC Press LLC, Boca Raton, FL.

 

Schmink, M.  2004.  Communities, forests, markets, and conservation.  Pages 119-129, In: Zarin, D.J., J.R.R. Alavalapati, F.E. Putz, and M. Schmink (eds), Working Forests in the Tropics: Conservation through Sustainable Use.  Columbia University Press, New York.

 

Recommended: 

Molnar, A., M. Liddle, C. Bracer, A. Khare, A. White and J. Bull.  2006.  Community-based forest enterprises in tropical forest countries: Status and potential.  ITTO (International Tropical Timber Organization). *In French and Spanish at:  http://www.rightsandresources.org/library/publications.html

 

Lee, K. N. 1999. Appraising adaptive management. Conservation Ecology 3(2): 3. [online] URL: http://www.consecol.org/vol3/iss2/art3/

 

 

Oct 9               Fire management 

Jacobson, S.K., M.C. Monroe, and S. Marynowski. 2001. Fire at the wildland interface: The influence of experience and mass media on public knowledge, attitudes, and behavioral intentions. Wildlife Society Bulletin 29(3):929-937.

 

Monroe, M.C. and K.C. Nelson. 2004. The value of assessing public perceptions: Wildland fire and defensible space. Applied Environmental Education and Communication 3:109-117.

 

Community Preparedness for Wildfire Case Studies, Florida: Palm Coast, Waldo, Wedgefield.  [Online] URL:  http://ncrs.fs.fed.us/4803/focus/fire/community_preparedness/cp_case_studies/

 

Cochrane, M.A., A. Alencar, M.D. Schulze, C.M. Souza, Jr., D. Nepstad, P. Lefebvre, and E.A. Davidson.  1999.  Positive feedbacks in the fire dynamic of closed canopy tropical forests.  Science 284:1832-1835.

 

Recommended:

Cochrane, M.A. 2003.  Fire science in rainforests.  Nature 421:913-919.

Oct 16            Wildlife management

Environmental service payments

Milner-Gulland, E.J., E.L. Bennett and the SCB 2002 Annual Meeting Wild Meat Group.  2003.  Wild meat: the bigger picture.  Trends in Ecology and Evolution 18(7):351-357.

 

Griffiths, T. 2007.  Seeing ‘red’? ‘Avoided deforestation’ and the right of Indigenous Peoples and local communities.  Forest Peoples Programme, Moreton-in-Marsh, England.

 

Recommended:

Bennett, E.L. and J. Robinson.  2000.  The hunting of wildlife in tropical forests: Implications for biodiversity and forest peoples.  World Bank Technical Paper No. 76.  The World Bank, Washington D.C.

 

 

Oct 23             Timber management

Rockwell, C., K.A. Kainer, N. Marcondes, and C. Baraloto.  2007.  Ecological limitations of reduced impact logging at the smallholder scale.  Forest Ecology and Management 238:365-374.  *In Portuguese through Kainer

 

Humphries, S.S., Kainer, K.A., 2006. Local perceptions of forest certification for community-based enterprises. Forest Ecology and Management 235:30-43.  *In Portuguese through Kainer

Putz, F. E., Blate, G. M., Redford, K. H., Fimbel, R., Robinson, J. G., 2001. Tropical forest management and conservation of biodiversity: An overview. Conservation Biology 15:7-20.

 

Oct 30             Non-timber forest products

Kusters, K., R. Achdiawan, B. Belcher, M.R. Pérez.  2006.  Balancing development and conservation? An assessment of livelihood and environmental outcomes of nontimber forest product trade in Asia, Africa and Latin America.  Ecology and Society 11(2):20 [online URL:  http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol11/iss2/art20/

 

Ticktin, T.  2004.  The ecological implications of harvesting non-timber forest products.  Journal of Applied Ecology 41:11-21. 

 

Wadt, L.H.O., K.A. Kainer, C.L. Staudhammer and R.O.P. Serrano.  In review.  Sustainable forest use in Brazilian extractive reserves: natural regeneration of Brazil nut in exploited populations.

 

 

SUPPORTING COMMUNITY-BASED RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

 

Nov 6              Partnerships and capacity building

Wilshusen, P.R.  2003.  Exploring the political contours of conservation: A conceptual view of power in practice.  Pages 41-57, In: Brechin, S.R., P.R. Wilshusen, C.L. Fortwangler, and P.C. West (eds.), contested nature: Promoting international biodiversity conservation with social justice in the twenty-first century. State University of New York Press, Albany, NY.

 

Menzies, N.K.  2007.  Negotiating partnerships, Pages 152-170 (Chapter 9) In: Our forest, your ecosystem, their timber, Columbia University Press, New York.

 

Rodríguez, J.P., A.B. Taber, P. Daszak, R. Sukumar, C. Valladares-Padua, S. Padua, L.F. Aguirre, R.A. Medellin, M. Acosta, A.A. Aguirre, C. Bonacic, P. Bordino, J. Bruschini, D. Buchori, S. González, T. Mathew, M. Méndez, L. Mugica, L.F. Pacheco, A.P. Dobson and M. Pearl.  2007.  Globalization of conservation: A view from the South.  Science 317:755-756.

 

Schmink and Kainer.  2003.  Partnerships for research, community development and policy change in Acre, Brazil.  Paper presented at XXIV International Congress of the Latin American Studies Association (LASA), Dallas, TX.

 

 

Nov 13                        Collaborative management in practice

Buck, L.E., E. Wollenberg, and D. Edmunds.  2001.  Social learning in the collaborative management of community forests: Lessons from the field.  Pages 1-20, In: Wollenberg, E., D. Edmunds, L. Buck, J. Fox, and S. Brodt (eds.), Social learning in community forests.  CIFOR, Bogor Barat, Indonesia.

 

Guijt, I. and J. Gaventa.  1998.  Participatory monitoring & evaluation:  learning from change.  IDS Policy Briefing 12, November. Online at: http://www.ids.ac.uk/ids/bookshop/briefs/PB12.pdf  *In Spanish at:

http://www.ids.ac.uk/ids/bookshop/briefs/Pb12sp.pdf

 

Mulder and Coppolillo: Chapter 10, From how to think to how to act

 

Moller, H., F. Berkes, P.O. Lyver, and M. Kisliogliu. 2004. Combining science and traditional ecological knowledge: Monitoring populations for co-management. Ecology and Society 9(3): 2.
(online) http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol19/iss3/art2 

 

 

Nov 20                        Research with communities

Firehock, K.  2003.  Protocol and guidelines for ethical and effective research of community-based collaborative processes.  Community Based Collaborative Research Consortium (CBCRC), University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA.

 

Kainer, K.A., M. Schmink, H. Covert, J.R. Stepp, E.M. Bruna, J.L. Dain, S. Espinosa and S. Humphries. 2006. A graduate education framework for tropical conservation and development.  Conservation Biology 20(1):3-13.

 

Mulder and Coppolillo: Chapter 11, Red flags: Still seeing things in black and white?

 

 

Nov 28                        Ethics and social responsibility

Lubchenco, J.  1998. Entering the century of the environment: A new social contract for science. Science 279:491-497. 

 

Jacobson, P.J. and K.M. Jacobson. 1997.  Encouraging, training, and supporting “ecologists/biologists as problem solvers”: Some concerns from Providence. Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America 78(1):4-6. 

 

 

Dec 5               Course wrap-up and evaluation

No readings