Nolan Coburn

Comm 1080
Final Case Study
Blue Forest Case Study
The Blue Forest case was about a conflict that occurred over the Blue Forest in Honduras.
This conflict occurred over the misuse and illegal use of the blue forest, which is where
mahogany trees grow. In this paper I am going to cover a brief history of the blue forest conflict
and identify some of the problems that made the conflict worse. I am also going to give
suggestions on how to prevent further conflict from occurring in the future.
In 1994 the National Honduran Corporation for Forestry Development gave an
organization called Piedras Amarillas the rights to use the forest. The Piedras Amarillas
organization consisted of three separate communities: San Ramone, Nueva Granada, and Brisas
del Norte. However as time went on the Nueva Granada and Brisas del Norte communities
became upset over some management issues and they left the organization and began to harvest
the timber of the blue forest illegally. The San Ramone community kept the right to use the blue
forest, this community was richest community of the three but they were also the furthest away.
Because of the distance they struggled in using their rights to the forest and in preventing the
illegal harvesting. It was found that illegal logging of the blue forest was more profitable than the
legal method. So in the end the San Ramone community held the legal rights but they struggled
the most in utilizing their rights and in making a profit. This caused the conflict between the
three communities.
There were some major problems that were part of the Blue forest dilemma. First the
village that has the rights to the resources of the Blue Forest is the furthest away of the three

villages involved. Nueva Granada is right between the forest and San Ramone and Brisas del
Norte, is right on the border of the forest. This is the way things turned out but logically it is easy
to see why the distance factor was a major reason for conflict. Another problem with the
situation is that San Ramone has all the rights to the forest but the other two towns are profiting
the most from the forest by illegally obtaining the timber and using the forest however they
please, parts of the forest had even been turned into agricultural land. Another big problem that
this situation creates is that the companies that go through the proper legal process to get the
timber no longer want to be a part of the process. This is because there is not much being done to
prevent the illegal logging. The companies that are doing everything legally feel like because
nothing is being done about the illegal logging, they should not have to worry about going
through the legal process either. They think that because the illegal loggers are not getting into
trouble, they should just engage in illegal logging as well and that they would not get into any
trouble. Overall this conflict was a huge mess. There was a ton of misuse of the forest and
tension between the three communities.
This conflict was brought under greater scrutiny when some members of the Brisas del
Norte community and some of the foresters from the Piedras Amarillas organization got into a
physical brawl. Upset about the transformation of their forest into agricultural land the Piedras
Amarillas foresters tried to prevent the people from Brisas del Norte from walking onto the
agricultural land that they had claimed. This clash escalated the conflict and convinced the
authorities that something more needed to be done to help resolve the conflict. A few months
later some people from Brisas del Norte were arrested for illegally transporting timber. These
events made the parties involved lean more towards a peaceful settlement that would protect the
poor, the laws, and the environment.

There was a lot done to try to get the three communities to trust each other. Such efforts
included things like giving the people of Brisas del Norte and the people of Nueva Granada
medical aid. The Tropical Agriculture Research and Higher Education Center engaged in a multistakeholder strategy to reduce the conflict and the illegal logging. They used development
activities, facilitation, mediation and collaborative planning. Because of their efforts, illegal
logging has dropped. A better look is needed thought to ensure that illegal logging continues to
be reduced and to ensure that the communities continue to be on peaceful terms with one
another.
The conflict of the Blue Forest has been lessened at least temporarily, but it is important
to make sure that further conflict and illegal logging does not occur in the future. It is majorly
important that open communication is maintained to ensure the further resolution of the Blue
Forest conflict. It is also extremely important to balance the power in this situation and to
address the issues of accusation, victimization, and aggressive communication.
One of the most important factor in maintain and improving the relationships between
these three communities is open communication. They need ways to build relationships with
each other so they foster mutual understanding and friendship. It is important that these three
communities maintain good face with each other. Face is the reciprocated compliance, respect,
and deference that one party expects from, and extends to, another party. In this case face refers
to the respect that is maintained between the three communities. Some things that could be done
to promote respect and the building of face between the communities could include things like
activities and organizations that connect the communities together. Throughout this process it
will be important that a committee is formed to represent the different communities and to
maintain the relationship between the three communities. In order for this committee to build
face, the people of the committee need people to like them, respect them, encourage them,

include them, appreciate them, reward them, make references to them, ask them for input or
opinion, smile at them, greet them warmly, help them, and make them feel safe. While there is no
way to ensure that the members of the communities do this for each other one way to do
accomplish this face building would be to have a mediator who is not part of any of the
communities. Even if having the community members build face with each other, this mediator
could build face with everyone and help trust and respect be felt by and given to all of the
respective parties. These methods of open communication would encourage the building of face,
or trust and respect between the members of the various communities. Establishing the
committee would help improve the principled negotiation between the three communities.
The next important thing that needs to be addressed is balancing the power between the
three communities. There is various power possessed by the three different communities as
pertaining to the blue forest. Understanding and balancing the power will help to improve the
situation even further. San Ramone has power because they are the wealthiest community and
they were also the community that had the original rights to the blue forest. Nueva Granada and
Brisas del Norte have power over San Ramone because they are closer to the blue forest. It is
important to make sure to balance the power and deal with any misconceptions that the power is
out of balance. San Ramone should not be favored because they are wealthier and it is just as
important that the community members of Brisas del Norte and Nueve Granada understand that
San Ramone is not favored because of their money. Also San Ramone should not have a
disadvantage because they are further away. Besides balancing the power between the three
communities it is important as a mediator to not come across as the all-powerful party. I think
that over asserting power as the mediator will hurt the relationships between us and the three
communities. It is important that we develop trust and respect with these people so that they
decide to stop illegally logging. In order to not come across as all-powerful, we as the mediator

should use low power approaches in solving the conflict. Using low power tactics is a powerful
way to build trust. As a mediator we should engage in activities such as building up the
communities in a simple and honest way, recognizing that the communities feel
Powerless, and acknowledging all of the communities and their contributions. As we strive to
balance the power the problem will be able to be solved in a better way.
The final aspect of the problem that should be addressed is the issues of accusation,
victimization, and aggressive communication between the three parties. This has been a
destructive conflict and has escalated through some of the stages of destructive conflict. The
communities have most definitely gone through stages of criticizing, defensiveness, stone
walling, and contempt. Criticizing and defensiveness between the communities is what tore the
Piedras Amarillas organization apart. After that they engaged in stone walling and would not
communicate with each other but would simply do their own thing with the blue forest. That
turned into contempt when the situation escalated to be more violent. It was then that
intervention was made and it can be seen that both contempt and stonewalling have been moved
past but some lingering defensiveness and criticism probably still lingers. It is important to try to
get rid of any lingering defensiveness or criticism that is still harbored by the members of the
communities. It is important that discussions discourage and avoid destructive criticism while
they encourage constructive criticism. This will help to get rid of the criticism that still lingers
between the communities. To get rid of the defensiveness it is important to promote problem
solving, empathy, and equality instead of control, neutrality and superiority. This will help to
eliminate the defensiveness that is still harbored between the communities. It is important that
we get the facts straight instead of allowing accusations to flourish; we should require proof of
all things that are considered fact. As we strive to implement these principles, the accusation,
victimization, and aggressive communication between the three parties will diminish.

In looking back over the problems in the Blue Forest, it is obvious why conflict arose so
easily. The three communities involved thought nothing of each other, and did not communicate
with each other. There has been resolution made but in order to maintain that resolution it is
imperative that those two problems are fixed. While they may not seem like problems, not caring
for or communicating with parties that influence ones life is a problem creator. That is why my
suggestions to improve this situation focus on building the relationship between these
communities, illuminating power barriers, and getting rid of aggressive communication and past
bad feelings. As these communities feel more united and are brought together, they will relate to
each other. One a positive relationship is formed the problems of the past will be able to be
moved past. As we strive to implement the tactics that I have discussed in this paper, the
problems faced in the blue forest will continue to be deescalated and the chances of such
problems happening again will become more and more improbable.

Works Cited
Cahn & Abigail, Supportive and Corrective Facework, pp. 220
"Honduras | Global Witness." Global Witness. Web. 17 Dec. 2015.
Prins, Cornelis, Rosa Almendares, and Oscar Castillo. From Conflict to Co-management:. Web.
17 Dec. 2015.
Wilmot and Hocker, Destructive Conflict pp. 16
Wilmot & Hocker, Power Imbalances, pp. 115
Wilmot, William, 21 Low for Conflict Resolution
Yau-fai Ho, David, The Concept of Face