**4. The development of a system for engaging local communities in natural resources management**

Before introducing the main components of our approach, it is important to clarify the terminology used. Initially, we understand that landscape level planning and management for natural resource governance (notably SFM) is the foundation of territorial zoning and follow the 12 principles, discussed and adopted by countries at the Convention of Biological Development (CBD). In applying the principles of the ecosystem approach, the following five points are proposed as operational guidance: a) focus on the relationships and processes within ecosystem; b) enhance benefit-sharing; c) use adaptive management practices; d) carry out management actions at the scale appropriate for the issue being addressed, with decentralization to lowest level, as appropriate; and e) ensure inter-sectoral cooperation.

Following FAO, SFM is defined as the stewardship and use of forests and forest lands in a way, and at a rate, that maintains their biodiversity, productivity, regeneration capacity, vitality and their potential to fulfill, now and in the future, relevant ecological, economic and social functions, at local, national, and global levels, and that does not cause damage to other ecosystems (FAO, 2005). This leads us to the idea behind "forest lands", which are defined by the US Forest Service as land at least 10% stocked with live trees, or land formerly having such a tree cover, and not currently developed for non-forest use. The minimum area of forest land recognized is 0.40 ha (Smith et al., 2009).

The development of a land management system that could integrate multiple uses of natural resources with a participatory approach in a social and politically complex context was one of the first and most difficult challenges to overcome. By using traditional forest management concepts, adapted to the current stage of scientific knowledge and societal comprehensiveness, we introduced a participatory approach as a means to engage local communities in order to build a management plan that could provide landowners with ways to plan the use of their properties by combining agroforestry, forest management and natural resource conservation. The decision-making process uses local ecological knowledge (LEK) as part of the input necessary for establishing the goals and objectives and is based on the demands and interests of landowners.

Sustainable Forest Management in Rural Southern Brazil:

to integrate agriculture with other land uses.

Exploring Participatory Forest Management Planning 103

integrate multiple uses of natural resources which require knowledge from different areas of expertise. As a consequence, techniques applied to one activity should be balanced considering the outcomes in other areas. For example, conservation techniques used in agriculture should consider its effects on downstream water quality (e.g. no-till farming, green manure, among others) or the effects of agroforestry systems on increased crop pollination (and overall biodiversity). The multidisciplinary approach necessary for achieving integrated management might require specific solutions that can be designed using different expertise in a participatory system. However, in this paper we do not aim to detail agricultural alternatives, but rather consider some general principles that can be used

**4.1 Locally adapted participatory sustainable forest management system – lapSFM**  The definition and implementation of the "**locally adapted participatory sustainable forest management - lapSFM**" system followed two main steps that are common to both scenarios, encompassing landscapes with both small and large rural properties. The system aims to deliver a Management Plan, as a part of a Roadmap (Figure 2), composed of different stages. The first phase – the *Ecosystem Analysis* – is related to the landscape as a whole, which can be a property, a set of properties, a municipality or a watershed, for example. The main purpose of this phase is to design territory zoning, based on spatially organized available information. For the purpose of this paper the second phase – the *Management Plan* – is related to the rural property and will focus not only on forested areas (forest) but also on forest lands, in which the forest component includes agroforestry, forest plantations and management of native fragments. Other designated zones, such as agriculture, are noted in the lapSFM but not discussed in this paper. The second phase also

encompasses the monitoring activities of the implemented silvicultural treatments.

referencing the "territory zoning" layer and the "forest sub-typology" layer.

Phase 2: Following the territory zoning and the definition of the areas in which agroforestry (for forest land) and forest management (for forest) will take place either directly or indirectly, we define the techniques to be applied in forest management or other forest-

Phase 1: The initial step in the participatory forest management system refers to a broad analysis of the current environmental state of the area under consideration. It can be defined as a territory zoning which is based on the compilation of environmental data obtained from primary or secondary sources and requires initial land-use/land-cover (LULC) mapping. When possible, a landscape (or an ecosystem) approach is always the best way for dealing with large areas because of the managerial possibilities that planning at this level has for natural resource governance (notably SFM). Such a map should locate different land uses and different forest types and can be obtained either from satellite imagery (including Google Earth) or based on available ancillary information. In both cases a field verification of the classification is recommended as a means to update and check the gathered information. Additional cartographic, soil and hydrography layers can also be used and integrated into a GIS platform. The LULC mapping with the goal of creating territory zoning is a participatory process. Different stakeholders, including landowners, local government representatives, environmental agencies and academic institutions, for example, help in defining land use priorities and identifying the consequences of different decisions on the landscape configuration. LULC classes that are defined by environmental law as "restricted use" must also be mapped. For the forested areas or for forest lands, a procedure performed in a GIS platform can define the "forest stands", based on cross

The conceptual foundation for the development of the method used in this paper is called *Regeneration by Stands*, a method focused on the management of forest resources. Forest management, for the purpose of this chapter, can be defined as the set of actions related to forested areas with a focus on its silviculture that aims to optimize the production of goods and services in a sustainable manner over time (Rosot, 2007); such optimization relies on identifying potential land uses which extends beyond currently forested areas. When planning the use of an area we must consider that multiple uses and functions cannot coexist simultaneously in the same place at the same time, consequently requiring the prioritization of tasks, the identification of preferred uses and the analysis of their compatibility and zoning (Gonzales et al., 2006). Furthermore, while designing an integrated plan we must consider all the resources and limitations that a property (or an area) may have. This process establishes a baseline considering multiple alternatives for managing land resources while decision-making takes advantage of the information available to determine specific actions for different areas considering a landscape approach (Rosot et al., 2006). By deciding the areas in which forests will play an economic and ecological role, a sustainable forest management plan can be defined as a means to organize the use of forest resources, which is intended primarily to ensure its perpetuity (Gonzales et al., 2006).

Here, we adapt Regeneration by Stands, one of the most successful forest management methods, as a means to integrate a participatory approach to the decision-making process with sustainable natural resources use. Regeneration by Stands has been widely implemented throughout Central Europe and has its historical origins in the work of Friedrich Judeich, in late nineteenth-century Germany. The method can be considered one of the most advanced planning systems currently available as it allows forest areas to respond effectively to the challenge of multifunctional management and conservation of forest resources (Gonzales et al., 2006). The system is based on maintaining a balance of age classes and the ability to generate goods and services from forests rather than turning it into a predetermined rigid pattern. This method differs from traditional methods of forest management mainly in relation to its short planning period, typically 10 years. As a consequence, management is based on continuous re-assessments in which the stands are evaluated in terms of their resources and respective use (i.e. objective and management applied); the system is therefore more flexible to changes such as forest fires, market demand, and land-owner interests, among others.

Hernando et al. (2010) applied the method of Regeneration by Stands for managing Natura 2000 forest sites in Spain, considering two different phases. In the first phase, the study area was divided in ''stands'', considered as any homogeneous patch of vegetation using Geographic Information System and Remote Sensing technologies and detailed fieldwork. The second phase evaluated the conservation status of each stand; the conservation status of the habitat was then obtained by integrating these values. Finally, forestry management measures were recommended for maintaining the favorable conservation status of the study area. These measures included consumption of the forest resources in such a way as to satisfy the objectives of both landowners and society (Brunson & Huntsinger, 2008; Davis & Johnson, 1987; Irvine et al., 2009). In Latin America the Regeneration by Stands method has not been implemented, with the exception of some studies in temperate forests in Chile (Rivera et al., 2002; Cruz et al., 2005).

Although some improvements in developing a sustainable forest system have been achieved, harmonizing different productive (economic) and conservation goals is still difficult to obtain. As stated above, in an ideal scenario a land management system should

The conceptual foundation for the development of the method used in this paper is called *Regeneration by Stands*, a method focused on the management of forest resources. Forest management, for the purpose of this chapter, can be defined as the set of actions related to forested areas with a focus on its silviculture that aims to optimize the production of goods and services in a sustainable manner over time (Rosot, 2007); such optimization relies on identifying potential land uses which extends beyond currently forested areas. When planning the use of an area we must consider that multiple uses and functions cannot coexist simultaneously in the same place at the same time, consequently requiring the prioritization of tasks, the identification of preferred uses and the analysis of their compatibility and zoning (Gonzales et al., 2006). Furthermore, while designing an integrated plan we must consider all the resources and limitations that a property (or an area) may have. This process establishes a baseline considering multiple alternatives for managing land resources while decision-making takes advantage of the information available to determine specific actions for different areas considering a landscape approach (Rosot et al., 2006). By deciding the areas in which forests will play an economic and ecological role, a sustainable forest management plan can be defined as a means to organize the use of forest resources, which is intended primarily to ensure its perpetuity (Gonzales et al., 2006). Here, we adapt Regeneration by Stands, one of the most successful forest management methods, as a means to integrate a participatory approach to the decision-making process with sustainable natural resources use. Regeneration by Stands has been widely implemented throughout Central Europe and has its historical origins in the work of Friedrich Judeich, in late nineteenth-century Germany. The method can be considered one of the most advanced planning systems currently available as it allows forest areas to respond effectively to the challenge of multifunctional management and conservation of forest resources (Gonzales et al., 2006). The system is based on maintaining a balance of age classes and the ability to generate goods and services from forests rather than turning it into a predetermined rigid pattern. This method differs from traditional methods of forest management mainly in relation to its short planning period, typically 10 years. As a consequence, management is based on continuous re-assessments in which the stands are evaluated in terms of their resources and respective use (i.e. objective and management applied); the system is therefore more flexible to changes such as forest fires, market

Hernando et al. (2010) applied the method of Regeneration by Stands for managing Natura 2000 forest sites in Spain, considering two different phases. In the first phase, the study area was divided in ''stands'', considered as any homogeneous patch of vegetation using Geographic Information System and Remote Sensing technologies and detailed fieldwork. The second phase evaluated the conservation status of each stand; the conservation status of the habitat was then obtained by integrating these values. Finally, forestry management measures were recommended for maintaining the favorable conservation status of the study area. These measures included consumption of the forest resources in such a way as to satisfy the objectives of both landowners and society (Brunson & Huntsinger, 2008; Davis & Johnson, 1987; Irvine et al., 2009). In Latin America the Regeneration by Stands method has not been implemented, with the exception of some studies in temperate forests in Chile

Although some improvements in developing a sustainable forest system have been achieved, harmonizing different productive (economic) and conservation goals is still difficult to obtain. As stated above, in an ideal scenario a land management system should

demand, and land-owner interests, among others.

(Rivera et al., 2002; Cruz et al., 2005).

integrate multiple uses of natural resources which require knowledge from different areas of expertise. As a consequence, techniques applied to one activity should be balanced considering the outcomes in other areas. For example, conservation techniques used in agriculture should consider its effects on downstream water quality (e.g. no-till farming, green manure, among others) or the effects of agroforestry systems on increased crop pollination (and overall biodiversity). The multidisciplinary approach necessary for achieving integrated management might require specific solutions that can be designed using different expertise in a participatory system. However, in this paper we do not aim to detail agricultural alternatives, but rather consider some general principles that can be used to integrate agriculture with other land uses.
