Power relationships: Their effect on the governance of community forestry in the Philippines

Published Date
July 2016, Vol.54:169–176, doi:10.1016/j.landusepol.2016.01.008

Author 

Jack Baynes ^1,,

John Herbohn ¹

Wolfram Dressler ²

Tropical Forests and People Research Centre, University of the Sunshine Coast, Sippy Downs, Queensland 4556, Australia

Received 6 March 2015. Revised 30 October 2015. Accepted 22 January 2016. Available online 22 February 2016.

Highlights

• We use social theory developed by Pierre Bourdieu to explain community forestry group power relationships.
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  Unequal power relationships lead to poor governance, resulting in either symbolic or physical violence.
• •
  Either response causes Philippine government timber harvesting and reforestation policies to fail.
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  We conclude that the successful community forestry is contingent on equitable power sharing with local people.

Abstract 

This paper examines the impact of unequal power relationships on the governance of community forestry groups (CFGs) in the Philippines. Devolution of power has long been considered to be a ‘magic bullet’ in the governance of CFGs. However, poor governance which involves unequal power relationships between state agencies, forest user groups and rural people, produces unequal access in decision-making, sharing of authority and responsibility. This engenders local resistance from those who feel excluded and marginalised in the process. Drawing on Bourdieu’s notion of ‘symbolic violence’, we examine how unequal power relationships between State and local agencies have facilitated destruction of mature and newly planted timber plantations. Studies of a harvesting and a reforestation project found that the adverse effects of poor governance occurred at two tiers, first at an upper level between the government and CFGs, and second, at a lower level between CFG’s and local people. Poor governance at upper levels has triggered both symbolic and physical violence on and from people who remained marginal to the benefits of harvesting and reforestation. We conclude that a key requirement for sustainable community-managed forests is to expand benefit sharing to non-CFG local people. Our findings highlight the importance of lower-tier levels of governance within CFGs and between CFGs and local people.

Keywords

National Greening Program

Power sharing

Reforestation

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  Corresponding author.

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