PWL: Pygmy hunter-gatherers and biodiversity conservation in the context of industrial forestry: Looking for a win-win collaboration
If responsibly managed, production forests have been shown to have the potential to make important contributions to conservation and sustainable development, but sustainable management of production forest in the tropics remains an enormous challenge.
In order to facilitate and improve the sustainable management of production forests, this research project considers collaboration between logging companies and forest dwelling hunter-gatherers as a way to address social, ecological and economic challenges in forest management in the tropics simultaneously.
The focus is placed on the Congo Basin, the second largest block of tropical forest in the world, housing many unique and threatened large mammals and the highly forest-dependent Pygmy hunter-gatherers. While only 10–15% of the Congo Basin’s forests are protected, another 25% are allocated to industrial logging. Therefore, research that facilitates socially and ecologically sustainable logging practices in the Congo Basin deserves special attention.
Considering that wildlife is an indispensable component in Pygmy people’s diet and the focus of many conservation projects, the proposed study aims to explore models for and possible benefits from collaboration between logging companies and forest dwelling hunter-gatherers on the basis of wildlife management.
The analysis is guided by a people-centered conceptual framework: the sustainable livelihood approach. With reference to this conceptual framework, the analysis comprises two parts: (A) The context analysis focuses on current practices, policies, institutions and organizations that impact on wildlife management and thus on Pygmies’ livelihoods. Particular focus lies on the logging companies. (B) The core analysis investigates aspects of Pygmies’ livelihoods and will take a participatory approach in investigating Pygmy people’s ecological knowledge, activities and values with respect to wildlife, as well as their attitudes and expectations towards co-management.
A cost-benefit analysis of collaboration in wildlife management between logging companies and Pygmies, based on a thorough understanding of the current challenges in wildlife management in certified logging concessions, the traditional ecological knowledge of Pygmies and the perspectives, goals and strategies of both stakeholders, will set the stage to suggest mutually beneficial ways of collaboration.
The study is carried out under the joint supervision of Dr. Jean-Pierre Sorg and Prof. Jaboury Ghazoul. It is funded by the Research Fellow Partnership Program of the North-South Center at ETH and carried out in collaboration with the Center for International Forestry Research and Dr. Jerome Lewis from the University College London.