During recent years, CIFOR has made a number of films about the livelihoods and welfare of forest-dwelling communities. One of the great things about films is that you don’t have to be well educated to enjoy and understand them. The films described here have not only caught the attention of policy-makers, researchers and advocacy groups, they have been widely viewed and appreciated in remote forest communities with relatively low levels of literacy.

Women’s rights and environment wrongs in Amazonia

“The forests have gone, but our lives haven’t improved,” explains an elderly woman from the village of Quiandeua in ‘Daughters of the Canopy,’ a documentary which focuses on the struggles of two women’s groups in the Brazilian Amazon. Both groups are fighting to preserve their way of life and their farms; both have witnessed the steady destruction of their local forests. Every year, Brazil loses 17,000 square kilometres of forest, and over four-fifths are transformed into cattle ranches.

“Our trees were sold to loggers by the men in the village,” explains another woman from Quiandeua, “and we were never consulted.” The documentary provides a moving evocation of how the women have begun to fight back – against 500 years of patriarchal decision-making, and against the businesses, especially logging and ranching, that threaten their livelihoods. But this is not just a story of political activism; it shows how women’s groups have used science to back their case for better and fairer forest management.

CIFOR scientist Patricia Shanley has spent over a decade living and working with the caboclo communities along the River Capim, in the state of Pará, and her research has shown why the forests matter so much to local people, and especially to the women. She found that between 1993 and 1999 the consumption of forest fibre, fruit and game plummeted by 70 per cent in Quiandeua as a result of forest loss. Drawing on these findings, and using Shanley’s celebrated book, Fruit trees and useful plants in the lives of Amazonians, women’s groups have begun to mount a persuasive campaign against the reckless use of their forestry resources.

‘Daughters of the Canopy’ was directed by film-maker Trilby MacDonald, who now works as a communications specialist for CIFOR’s ‘Mulheres da Mata’ (Women of the Forests) project. It has been shown many times on Brazilian television, and articles about the film and those whose stories it tells have appeared in many newspapers. Just as importantly, NGOs in Brazil have distributed the film to over 400 community activist groups throughout the Amazon. “It appears to be a sure-fire tool to provoke dialogue,” reflects Shanley. “It also provides a useful indicator of where communities are on the spectrum of women’s rights and community organisation, and it helps to open up constructive dialogue about access rights to forestry resources.”

Making the most of the savannah

‘On the Pod Trail’ tells the story of an underused resource found on the African savannahs that could do much to help alleviate poverty. The film was produced by CIFOR, the Centre national de la recherche scientifique et technologique (CNRST) and the national television station in Burkina Faso, RTB. It provides a refreshing antidote to much of the gloom and doom that emanates from the Sahelian region.

The shrub Piliostigma is found throughout large parts of Africa and is particularly common in central Burkina Faso. Its pods are consumed by livestock, its bark is used for making rope, and various parts of the plant have medicinal properties. Recently, a new initiative has begun to make better use of this important resource. ‘On the Pod Trail’ shows how crushed pods can be mixed with salt, agricultural residues and crush mussel shells to make high quality animal fodder. Besides being highly nutritious, the fodder can be stored for long periods and used to feed cattle during the hottest times of year, when the savannah grass is dry and unpalatable.

The manufacture of pod-fodder has already had significant livelihood benefits. “Now we can do for ourselves what our husbands had to do before,” explains one woman, when reflecting on the income she makes from pods. “Now we won’t pull plants up by the roots any more,” says another. “If we use this species properly, we can make good money in the future.”

A French-language version of the film has been shown on Burkinabé TV, and it was the only African contribution to a recent documentary film festival in Cuba. It has also been shown in villages – it has been dubbed into moré, the local language – to stimulate discussions whose aim is to identify other underused resources. “The film provides a good example of a private initiative which has taken off without any help from outside, and where everybody makes money,” explains CIFOR forester Daniel Tiveau, “and it shows the close links between research and development.”

The view from the forest in Borneo

When Indonesia was ruled by the autocratic government of President Suharto, rural communities were seldom consulted about developments which had a profound effect on their lives. Loggers, miners and others did much as they and the government pleased. However, since 1998, the process of decentralisation has meant that local communities now have more say – in principle, at least – in what happens to the environment.

‘Our Forests,’ a two-part series filmed in Malinau District, in Indonesian Borneo, provides a compelling account of the way in which the local communities view the forest, and their struggle to make their voices heard in the local corridors of power. Much of the first film – ‘Our Forests: Our Prosperity’ – is set in villages where CIFOR’s Multidisciplinary Landscape Assessment (MLA) team has been conducting research to find out what matters most to communities. Here the villagers describe what matters most to them, and they reflect on the ways in which logging and other activities are affecting their lives.

The second film – ‘Our Forests: Our Decision’ – explores the opportunities which decentralisation has brought for greater participation in decision-making. It looks at the role of local government and its often uneasy relationship with local communities. Interviews with Dayak farmers, Punan hunter-gatherers, district officials and academics shed light on how local people’s needs could be better served and local forest policies improved.

The films have been widely distributed by CIFOR throughout East Kalimantan, and they have been used by institutions and organisations as far afield as South India and Sumatra, Finland and Vietnam. “We wanted the films to give communities the opportunity to present what matters to them to the outside world, and especially to decision-makers,” explains Miriam van Heist, a CIFOR consultant and co-director of the films. “The moving stories they told have made a strong impression on audiences.”