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When Policies Problematize the Local: Social-Environmental Justice and Forest Policies in Burkina Faso and Vietnam

Forest and Society · Vol. 8 No. 1 (2024) · pp. 296–313

DOI
10.24259/fs.v8i1.34276
ISSN
2549-4333, 2549-4724
Published
2024-06-21
Publisher
Forestry Faculty, Universitas Hasanuddin
Language
en
License
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

Abstract

We examine social-environmental justice in forest governance by asking who is problematized as drivers of deforestation and forest degradation. We adapt Bacchi’s “What is the problem represented to be” approach to the community forest (CAF) model in Burkina Faso and the Payment for Forest Environmental Services (PFES) in Vietnam and examine the implementation of these policies in specific sites through disaggregated focus group discussions (men, women, youth, ethnic minorities). We delve into the discursive, lived and subjectification effects of the policies’ problematizations, highlighting tensions and contestations relating to forest access and benefits. For both countries, what is left unproblematized in the implicit policy focus on the local is a “communal fix” of indigeneity tied to idealized and collective governance of fixed areas of land and exclusionary processes for those that do not fit the ideal. We argue that market-oriented approach in policies such as CAF and PFES absent of the wider underpinnings of the political and historical forest will only exacerbate social-environmental injustices.

Keywords

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13 authors · 48 co-authorship links

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Co-authorOrganisationJoint articles
Moira MoelionoAffiliation unknown4
Pham Thu ThuyAffiliation unknown2
Indah Waty BongAffiliation unknown2
Indah Waty BongAffiliation unknown2

Affiliations come from OpenAlex; journal OAI-PMH metadata carries none. Authors without an OpenAlex ID are matched by name, which can merge or split people.

Metadata source: OAI-PMH (metadata jurnal) https://journal.unhas.ac.id/index.php/fs/oai, first harvested 5 Nov 2026, last seen 5 Nov 2026.
Original metadata (oai_dc) 
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	<dc:title xml:lang="en">When Policies Problematize the Local: Social-Environmental Justice and Forest Policies in Burkina Faso and Vietnam</dc:title>
	<dc:creator xml:lang="en">Wong, Grace Yee</dc:creator>
	<dc:creator xml:lang="en">Karambiri, Mawa</dc:creator>
	<dc:creator xml:lang="en">Thu Thuy, Pham </dc:creator>
	<dc:creator xml:lang="en">Ville, Alizée</dc:creator>
	<dc:creator xml:lang="en">Hoang, Tuan Long</dc:creator>
	<dc:creator xml:lang="en">Linh, Chi Dao Thi</dc:creator>
	<dc:creator xml:lang="en">Downing, Andrea</dc:creator>
	<dc:creator xml:lang="en">Jiménez-Aceituno, Amanda</dc:creator>
	<dc:creator xml:lang="en">Brockhaus, Maria</dc:creator>
	<dc:subject xml:lang="en">WPR</dc:subject>
	<dc:subject xml:lang="en">Political forest</dc:subject>
	<dc:subject xml:lang="en">Social-environmental justice</dc:subject>
	<dc:subject xml:lang="en">Community forestry</dc:subject>
	<dc:subject xml:lang="en">Payment for environmental services</dc:subject>
	<dc:description xml:lang="en">We examine social-environmental justice in forest governance by asking who is problematized as drivers of deforestation and forest degradation. We adapt Bacchi’s “What is the problem represented to be” approach to the community forest (CAF) model in Burkina Faso and the Payment for Forest Environmental Services (PFES) in Vietnam and examine the implementation of these policies in specific sites through disaggregated focus group discussions (men, women, youth, ethnic minorities). We delve into the discursive, lived and subjectification effects of the policies’ problematizations, highlighting tensions and contestations relating to forest access and benefits. For both countries, what is left unproblematized in the implicit policy focus on the local is a “communal fix” of indigeneity tied to idealized and collective governance of fixed areas of land and exclusionary processes for those that do not fit the ideal. We argue that market-oriented approach in policies such as CAF and PFES absent of the wider underpinnings of the political and historical forest will only exacerbate social-environmental injustices.</dc:description>
	<dc:publisher xml:lang="en">Forestry Faculty, Universitas Hasanuddin</dc:publisher>
	<dc:date>2024-06-21</dc:date>
	<dc:type>info:eu-repo/semantics/article</dc:type>
	<dc:type>info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion</dc:type>
	<dc:format>application/pdf</dc:format>
	<dc:identifier>https://journal.unhas.ac.id/index.php/fs/article/view/34276</dc:identifier>
	<dc:identifier>10.24259/fs.v8i1.34276</dc:identifier>
	<dc:source xml:lang="en">Forest and Society; Vol. 8 No. 1 (2024): JUNE; 296-313</dc:source>
	<dc:source>2549-4333</dc:source>
	<dc:source>2549-4724</dc:source>
	<dc:language>en</dc:language>
	<dc:relation>https://journal.unhas.ac.id/index.php/fs/article/view/34276/11675</dc:relation>
	<dc:rights xml:lang="en">Copyright (c) 2024 Forest and Society</dc:rights>
	<dc:rights xml:lang="en">http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0</dc:rights>
</oai_dc:dc>