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Institution building

A fair share? Experiences in benefit sharing from community managed resources in Asia

Benefit sharing in community based management in the Mekong region

Authors: S. Mahanty (ed); K. Burslem (ed); E. Lee (ed); Regional Community Forestry Training Center for Asia and the Pacific (RECOFTC); World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF); Netherlands Development Organisation (SNV)
Publisher: Regional Community Forestry Training Centre for Asia and the Pacific , 2007

Full text of document

This book attempts to answer the question of whether the benefits of Community Based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM) initiatives will be sufficient to raise rural people out of poverty, and provide them with sufficient incentive to sustainably manage their resources. Over a period of about six months, partners from the Mekong region (Cambodia, Lao PDR and Vietnam) came together to address these questions through a series of case studies, national workshops and a regional workshop. The outcomes of CBNRM from the different countries were then reviewed through a benefit sharing lens.

The experiences of participants and those documented in the case studies can broadly be summarised as follows:

  • the quantity of benefits flowing to communities has been lower for high value resources such as timber, compared to high low value resources like non-timber forest products (NTFPs) and fish
  • clear guidelines have in some cases been developed for taxation support in order to ensure more equitable flow of benefits to communities. When the guidelines are too complex, many communities are unable to work with them and realise their rights in practice
  • laws need to address fundamental rights and principles, with the flexibility to work with and support local/traditional institutions for local implementation.
Areas for future action identified at the country level include:
  • in Vietnam: promote benefit sharing regulations for communities and legalise the status of community as an owner of the forest
  • in Lao PDR: introduce more enabling policies for CBNRM and strengthen local institutions
  • in Cambodia: establish a national framework, mechanisms, and minimum standards for adoption of benefit sharing in CBNRM initiative.
In general it is agreed that local governments need to facilitate CBNRM rather than try to capture a share of CBNRM benefits, which are generally already shared among many players. It is asserted that the activities of local governments need separate funding outside of the revenue raised through CBNRM activities.