Corruption or an Alternative System? Re-assessing Corruption and the role of the Forest Services in the Northern Areas, Pakistan
During the last two decades, considerable attention has been paid to the issue of local participation and government involvement in community-based conservation initiatives. While the main purpose to introduce such measures was to increase transparency and local decision making in resource
management, forest services have been sidelined, mainly on the premise that they are too corrupt and ineffective to play a useful role in natural resource management. In this paper, we expose the limitations of conventional ideas of corruption in understanding forestry services. Corruption
for personal gains is just one aspect of the issue. We analyze how forest agents, faced with severe shortages of resources, engage in what we call an alternative system in order to perform official tasks. We argue that a better understanding of these issues will help to both reform and redefine
the role of forest services so that they can become viable actors in community-based conservation.
Keywords: Pakistan; community-based conservation; corruption; forest services
Document Type: Research Article
Affiliations: Department for International Environment and Development Studies (Noragric), Norwegian University of Life Sciences, P.O. Box 5003, N 1432 s, Norway.
Publication date: 01 September 2010
- The International Forestry Review is a peer-reviewed scholarly journal that publishes original research and review papers on all aspects of forest policy and science, with an emphasis on issues of transnational significance. It is published four times per year, in March, June, September and December. Theme editions are a regular feature and attract a wide audience.
The IFR is part of The Global Forest Information Service - GFIS
International Forestry Review has an Impact Factor of 1.705 - Editorial Board
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