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COMMUNITY
MANAGEMENT OF LOCAL FORESTS: WOULD IT BE A PROMISING STRATEGY TO SOLVE
FOREST MANAGEMENT PROBLEMS IN SRI LANKA?
Anoja Wicramasinghe
University of Peradeniya
This paper presents how non-forest scenarios affect the systems of community
management of local forests. The field investigations reveal that human-forests
interfaces exist in almost all the areas, irrespective of the state ownership,
their status and regulations. Examples regarding local management systems,
drawn from the fringe communities of Adam's Peak Wilderness, Ritigala
Strict National Reserve and the Knuckles Range of forest, show that the
systems are diverse. In some areas there are well formed social regulations
governing the people-forest interface, while in other areas either no
systems exist or are weak and related to market driven factors. The situations
tends to vary even among the communications living along one fringe. In
Ritigala, the community management system and social regulations are extremely
strong among indigenous communities. The cohesiveness of the communities
influence their group gathering and systems of sharing. The involvement
of individual families is widespread in the Knuckles where forest cultivation
has outstanding importance. There are variations along the fringe of the
Adam's Peak Wilderness in relation to ethnicity, location, survival systems,
and the level of dependence on the forest resources. This suggests that
local community organizations do not exist in all forest peripheries but
a generation long management practices on which community organizations
could be formed is an important aspect. It is argue that unless a better
understanding of local situations is attained, it would not be possible
to offer one blanket recommendation and replicate it for all the forest
lands of the country. To accept local management systems as promising
strategies for forest management, a broad understanding of their potentials,
regulations, interests and organizations should be examined.
Department of Forestry and Environmental Science,
University
of Sri Jayewardenepura,Sri Lanka. 1999. All rights reserved.
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