Trees, trust and the state: A comparison of participatory forest management in Pakistan and Tanzania

Abstract

This paper attempts to analyse the trust, power relations and emerging conflicts as state and non-state actors try to adjust to their new roles in the perspective of participatory forest management initiatives in Pakistan and Tanzania. Based on historical and empirical context, we argue that the institutional base responsible for enhancing trust between state and local actors is rather weak in both countries. The major obstacles are that the state actors are not willing to fully devolve power; and the responsibility-as delegated by the state-of newly created institutions demands forest protection rather than defining management rights.

The Role of Social Networks in Agricultural Adaptation to Climate Change: Implications for Sustainable Agriculture in Pakistan

“…On some occasions, these institutions work jointly with the extension department to provide on-farm services to farmers, such as information on water-saving technologies, farming practices, new fertilizers and pesticides. In line with our findings, various studies, e.g., [51][52][53] also stated the weak linkages and coordination between allied state and non-state institutions related to agriculture in Pakistan. This lack of coordination could lead to the inefficient use of the public resources allocated to agriculture and may also be one of the reasons behind the poor performance of most of the public institutions in providing services to farmers.…”

Dilemmas and challenges in forest conservation and development interventions: Case of Northwest Pakistan

“…The Forest Department wants to maintain its authority over forests and the conservationdevelopment interventions have to involve Forest Department as key player -most of the times as major implementer of the project -but in such situation local stakeholders feel themselves uncomfortable because of the attitude of the state officials and the dependence of people on them for forest related issues (see also Geiser and Steimann, 2004;Shahbaz et al, 2008). Previous researchers have corroborated that the staff of the Forest Department (particularly lower field staff) resisted the participatory approach because they perceived that their authority is threatened (Ali et al, 2006Steimann, 2003Steimann, , 2005.…”

“…Hence they resist any intervention that tries to restrict or regulate the forest uses (for details see Shahbaz et al, 2008;Geiser, 2000).…”

“…However in most parts of Hazara division of the province the property rights have been defined relatively clearly. Nevertheless the local communities are not homogeneous and there exist various groups of actors within one community (see also Steimann, 2005) and these groups not only have internal conflicts but also many groups challenge legitimacy of the state (Shahbaz et al, 2008).…”

The impact of trust relationships on environmental management in North Lebanon

“…First of all, trust is one of the factors that explains why participants choose to cooperate or not (Ostrom and Walker, 2003). Secondly, enhancing trust relationships is a means to reduce insecurity and conflict in the relationships between different actors (Shahbaz et al, 2008). Trust between parties also helps to overcome disagreements (Tennberg, 2007), as it facilitates negotiation and conflict management between stakeholders (Tomlinson et al, 2009).…”