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Tropical Forest Research Network |
DEVOLUTION OF FOREST MANAGEMENT: A CAUTIONARY CASE OF PUKHTUN JIRGAS IN DISPUTE SETTLEMENTS (PAKISTAN)
By Sarah Southwold-Llewellyn
In many respects, the legal framework of a jirga has comparable features to those proposed for community-based management. It is formed by representatives of different community factions and is based on the ideal of consensus. In our study we examine how the jirga operates. Two key issues involving the jirga's role in forest management are:
The case will illustrate some of the political, economic, social and cultural pitfalls that underlie assumptions about community-based management schemes.
The case is based on anthropological research on natural resource management and livelihoods among a community of Pukhtun agro-pastoralists in the Hindu Kush, whose permanent settlement is at 2 000 metres. During the summer, members from most households move to the alpine pastures at 2.500 to 3.500 meters.
In addition, we studied the relations between the Pukhtun community and transhumant pastoralists, paying particular attention to disputes over access to forests, alpine pastures and water, the impact of government policies on the articulation of disputes and the role of plural legal frameworks for dispute resolution. Other research themes included the impact of migration on rurally based livelihoods, especially with regard to agricultural production, the impact of state-controlled forest harvesting on livelihoods and the sources of power and influence of women. Research was conducted in Shangla District during the summer months of 1991, 1993, and 1994.
Devolution to heterogeneous
communities
The Provincial Government of the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) of Pakistan
owns all the forests. This has a historical legal precedent. The area studied
had a hereditary ruler until 1969 when the Malakand Division became a Provincially
Administered Tribal Area and was incorporated into the NWFP. The consequence
was the creation of additional tiers to the existing plural legal systems with
regard to the concepts of rights to the forest and dispute settlement. Since
2001, the government of President Musharraf has introduced radical changes to
the structure of Federal, Provincial and Local Government aimed at devolution.
Similar devolution policies are proposed for the Forest Department with regard
to their role in forest management.
These new policies recognise the needs of local stakeholders and the aim of community-based management schemes. They are not sensitive, however, to the heterogeneity among communities or to how these new policies will be incorporated into existing practices. The purpose of our study is to describe the situation in a Pukhtun community prior to these changes in the hope of understanding their likely consequences.
Further information:
Dr Sarah Southwold-Llewellyn
Rural Development Sociology, Dept. of Social Sciences, Wageningen University
P.O. Box 8130
6706 KN Wageningen
The Netherlands
E-mail: sarah.southwold@wur.nl