Browsing by Author "Krott, Max"

Over one billion people in the world depend on forests to meeting livelihood needs and more than half of them engage in community-based forest management. Community forestry has the potential of making important contributions in achieving the sustainable development goals; however, their positive effects on local livelihoods have been questioned. Actors, with their interests and power balance, can be important factors explaining the success of community forestry by shaping the decision-making process. Hence, the aim of our study was to analyze the economic performance of community forestry across the world, through its contribution to poverty reduction and explain how the economic outcome relates to the interests of the powerful actors. Community forestry from seven countries was analyzed including cases in Asia (Nepal, Indonesia, Vietnam), Africa (Namibia and Cameroon), and Europe (Germany and Albania). Data were collected with a sequence design method aiming to identify the participating actors and their power. A multivariate principal components analysis was conducted to capture the power dynamics within each community forestry. Results showed that community forestry programs do not always lead to poverty alleviation. The economic outcomes can be linked to the interests of the most powerful actors which in most cases do not desire a high economic outcome but rather promote contributions up to subsistence level.

This paper considers and analyzes the forestal consultancy services for small scale private forest owners by forestry departments and district officials (official consulting). The starting point of analysis is a radical constructivist point of view and a scientific understanding of consulting based on this approach to cognition which is presented in this work. From that perspective, I examine the forestal consulting practice on the basis of empirical studies of Krafft et al. and Bittner (in SCHRAML/VOLZ 2003). This is purely a literary work without its own empirical data collection. I am relying primarily on standard literature from various disciplines but also on some articles and dissertations. Radical constructivism assumes that the brain has only a mediated touch with reality by nerve impulses and therefore assigns meanings to them on the basis of own experiences and thus has to develop its own constructed reality, without qualitatively knowing something about the outside world. In place of a search for truth in empirical research therefore comes the viability, which raises the question of how hypotheses or theories help to explain something or be able to predict. In research, therefore, the subjective constructions have to be considered. Hence in communication has to be considered a variety of levels of meaning in sending and scope for interpretation upon receiving. If the individuality of cognitive worlds is not reflected in the consulting a variety of problems are rising, including the possible result of greater dependence and problems in adapting to new situations. In Bittner's study (mainly Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia), the consulting appears clearly dominated and controlled by the consultants. Subjective reality models of the clients are not considered here, also the used strategies have a significant proximity to manipulation and promote passivity and lack of independence of their clientele. The clientele-design represented by the consultants therefore appears not to be very viable, as it leads to a practic of counter-productive consequences. In the study of Krafft et al. (Bavaria) the basic question, on which practical strategies should be developed is, how behavior changes come about and can be supported by reducing inhibiting and using promoting factors. In the study design the cognitive realities of all stakeholders are already taken into account. Due to the different tasks and approaches the clientele-design shows to be a viable model that is resulting in a greater independence and activity. Accordingly, in the palette of acquired measures a diversity is revealed which aims to reach a variety of forest owners wide-ranging and needs-oriented and to assist in their problem solving skills. A constructivist consulting practice has to take the subjective realities of all parties into account, has to reach more openness and clarity in communication through metacommunication and use techniques such as active (enquiring) listening. Another goal has to be to increase the actual decision-making and problem-solving abilities of clients. A directive counseling and manipulative strategies and methods are not viable, as they promote the lack of independence of the clients or incapacitate them. In terms of a forestal-constructivist theory of non-directive consulting further empirical research and theoretical work in the form of an analysis of conversation techniques used in counseling sessions and a theoretical derivation of techniques from Constructivism would be necessary.

The traditional conceptions and claims of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) have profiled NGOs as civil society representatives and as benevolent philanthropic actors of development in the Global South. However, recent phenomena indicate NGOs often acting in opposition to their benevolent claims. This study attempts to move away from the normative concepts of NGOs and develop an analytical framework fitted with the current empirics in environmental governance. Using theories of organized interest groups in a democratic political system, we analyze the extent of NGOs fulfilling their roles as organized interest groups (OIGs), where they should take roles representing the interests of particular groups within societies and exerting political influence on governments on the basis of these common interests. We use empirics from Indonesian forest and environment-related governance, and our framework is called “Representation–Influence Framework,” which assists in establishing more systematic coherent typologies of OIGs. Analyzed from the perspective that NGOs claim to serve as representatives of specific groups within societies, we establish three overarching categories of OIGs, that is, 1) en route to fulfilling the claim, 2) breaking the claim, and 3) opposing the claim. We further detail our framework into a subset of nine OIG typologies. In this way, we provide pathways to begin deconstructing the common simplifications and misunderstandings about NGOs. For empirics, we identified 38 OIGs in the cases of social forestry and timber legality policies and populated them according to the typologies. We found that most of them are en route to fulfilling the claim of representing the groups’ interests, although their political influence on the government is, in most cases, limited.

Abstract Private sector plays an increasingly vital role in nature conservation globally. This study explores the concept of political embeddedness, which suggests that governments and environmental nongovernmental organizations (ENGOs) can leverage each other’s strengths to achieve both formal and informal goals. Using the case of Laohegou Nature Reserve in China, this study illustrated how the complementary advantages of the government and ENGOs form the foundation of a land trust reserve. Within the case, the study found that power and interest balance between the government and ENGOs during project implementation supported their formal cooperation in nature conservation. This study proposed a political perspective to elaborate power and interest in the formal and informal dimensions of nature conservation public–private partnership (PPP) project. Moreover, it noted that a balance of power between the government and ENGOs is essential in building partnership networks with inclusive interests.