DIGITALNA ARHIVA ŠUMARSKOG LISTA
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J. Tomićević, M. A. Shannon, D. Vuletić: DEVELOPING LOCAL CAPACITY FOR PARTICIPATORY... Šumarski list br. 9–10, CXXXIV (2010), 503-515 Max Weber argued, social context and history shape human action and individuals act within historically constructed institutional environments (Weber 1978: 4–7 and 22–31;Breiner 1996).Thus, ‘willingness to invest’indicates recognition by local actors of their ability to reshape their current context so as to create new choices by creating new institutions.This is the essential quality necessary for democratic practices like participatory management (Shannon 2006). The livestock sector also plays an important role in Tara area. Cattle and sheep herding are traditional activities and play important roles in the daily life of the community. Today livestock is a major part of the local production system (e.g. milk, meat, wool). From the survey results we found that in both villages meat, wool, and diary products are produced for household purposes along with brandy, honey and other craftwork. In Jagoštica village, which is a much more isolated village than Rastište, local people produce mostly for household purposes since market access is very restricted. While in Rastište, there is both subsistence and commercial production largely due to slightly better access to markets. However, the continued emigration of younger people and the reduced numbers of livestock are leading to more forest cover, less cultivated land, fewer pastures and meadows, and relatively more orchards in the area. These landscape changes affect not only the resources available for human sustenance, but also the nature and quality of the biodiversity in the Park. It is within this context of subsistence as well as limited commercial production and landscape changes that a participatory process with National Park authorities would be initiated. Participatory management would link local social issues of „expanding market opportunities” with ‘biodiversity protection’, thereby opening opportunities for improved local livelihoods and biodiversity conservation through participatory processes. The goal of local community empowerment in relation to sustainable development requires that the local communities are ready to participate in development as well in conservation processes. Tomićević (2005) learned that the people of theTara region are willing to cooperate in implementing any idea of environmental improvements that also provides them with economic and educational benefits. Their collective memory maintains customs aimed toward maintaining good relations between human beings and their environment, even though economic development is needed for continued survival.Assessing readiness and capacity to participate in management draws from these expressed intentions, both individual and collective, framing desired outcomes and strategies. At noted above, part of the historical context of the region, and still an important factor in the memory and attitudes of the local people, is that after the Second World War,the land belonging to the ‘enemies of the nation’( individuals who profited during war time) was confiscated by the State (Ignjić 1986). Confiscated land was placed in a communal fund or was given to poor peasants for cultivation (in 1945, 303 ha of cultivated land were confiscated and in 1954, 852 ha of land were taken from 272 wealthy peasants). At the time, there were proposals to establish cattle breeding farms on the confiscated lands’ (Ignjić 1986: 250). Surprisingly, given this historical context, we learned through the interviews that only 13.8 percent (Tab. 1) of the local population in Rastište expressed a lack of willingness to cooperate with the National Park managers. From what people told us in the interviews, these attitudes toward the Park were related to the confiscation of private lands during post-war and communist times and the continuing lack of clear ownership structure between the state and local people. However, these negative attitudes regarding the Park characterized older people who had directly experienced the war and its aftermath. Table 1. Distribution of answers on question:Are you in conflict with the NP? in villages Rastište (n=65) and Jagoštica (n=37) Tablica 1 Raspodjela odgovora na pitanje: Da li imate konflikt sa NP Tara?u selu Rastište(n=65) i Jagoštica (n=37) Village – Selo Rastište Answers –Odgovori Frequency Frekvencija Percent Postotak no –ne 56 86.2 yes –da 9 13.8 Total number of respondents Ukupan broj ispitanika 65 100.0 Village – Selo Jagoštica no –ne 37 100 yes –da 0 0.0 Total number of respondents Ukupan broj ispitanika 37 100.0 Nonetheless, in general, the National Park is perceived positively by most people in both villages. Naturally, it is very important as one of the few sources of local job opportunities. Even more interesting, among younger people there is a recognition of the importance of nature protection and how it can benefit them.The collection of medicinal plants is a major source of current household cash incomes. With technical assistance, some of the valuable medicinal plants could be cultivated by the farmers in their own fields and in this way the local knowledge of how to maintain and sustain these plants could be of significant assistance to the Park in conserving them and protecting biodiversity (Tomićević et.al. 2010: 161). In summary, although |