Impact of participatory forest management on vulnerability and livelihood assets of forest-dependent communities in northern Pakistan

During the past two decades, several (donor-funded) participatory forest management projects were implemented in the forest-rich North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) of Pakistan, but these projects could not reduce the high rate of deforestation in the province. In 1996 the Asian Development Bank funded the Forestry Sector Project (FSP) in NWFP, which has institutionalized the participatory forest management system in the province. Forests are important natural capital and an essential part of the daily lives of the people who live in and around them. It was therefore considered imperative to analyze the impact of the participatory forest management model introduced by the FSP through a livelihoods lens, and to assess the contribution to livelihood sustainability made by the participatory approach. The findings of the study may be applied to similar situations in Third World settings. People of similar socio-economic and ecological zones may learn lessons for accelerating the process of sustainable natural resource management in their areas. The results showed that the participatory forest management system introduced by the FSP has had a definite impact on increasing the natural and social assets of forest dwellers and reducing vulnerability to their livelihoods. But the project did not address most of the factors of vulnerability and the elites that dominated the newly created institutions. It is suggested that the available livelihood assets, diverse factors of vulnerability and livelihood strategies of the local communities should be analyzed before the implementation of such mega-projects.