Introduction
Many goods and services are required of forests, at various levels from the household to the globe. The private sector is generally agreed to be effective at producing wood products for local, national and global markets. But what is its potential to contribute to - or to detract from - other goods and services? For example, how can the private sector assist in meeting local needs for non-timber forest products? How can it meet national needs for watershed protection? How can it also help to meet global needs for carbon sequestration and biodiversity conservation? Most importantly, what policies and instruments can be employed to encourage private firms to integrate these and other non-timber forest values into their fibre production systems? To address this question the UK based International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) has begun a three year research project entitled, Instruments for Sustainable Private Sector Forestry.
Objectives
The research aims to identify effective market and regulatory instruments for ensuring that the private sector produces social and environmental benefits from forest management; to disseminate the lessons from the above assessments; and, to promote the application of (improved) mechanisms and instruments, along with the policy/institutional conditions which will support them.
The project will be based on collaborative research with local, multi-disciplinary teams in six focal countries, and on assessing key experience elsewhere. The work is being coordinated by the Forestry and Land Use Programme, and involves staff of the Environmental Economics Programme and Sustainable Consumption initiative. In addition, a number of thematic issues will be approached in collaboration with the Oxford Forestry Institute and Overseas Development Institute.
Activities As an initial step, IIED is conducting a detailed Global Review of Private Sector Participation in Sustainable Forest Management. The Review will assess the impacts of recent privatization processes - in terms of the production of public benefits by the private sector - and identify innovative governmental mechanisms and instruments. The focus will be on taking stock of the many recent and contemporary approaches to privatization, often associated with public sector reform, taking place in developing countries.
The Review's findings will assist in the selection of six focal countries where rapid changes in institutional arrangements and potential for private sector involvement in forestry have been identified. This in-country work will assess past and contemporary approaches and draw up options for future strategies towards private sector forestry in those countries.
The work will focus on three thematic areas: certification and audit; innovative instruments affecting public and private lands; and partnerships between corporations and communities. Recent policy innovations have begun to develop the potential of market-based instruments to internalize social and environmental values in the behaviour of private firms and consumers. Most notable in the field of forestry has been voluntary timber certification. To date, however, attempts to introduce innovative measures such as performance bonds, investment tax credits and incentive payments have been tentative and specific to a few sites and markets. There has been little systematic assessment of their potential, impacts, cost-effectiveness, or the opportunities for and constraints to their introduction and wider application. Similarly, there has been little analysis of ways corporate/community partnerships might provide both fibre and non-fibre products and services.
In addition to assessing the impacts and cost effectiveness of these approaches the Programme will actively support in-country processes to develop options for instruments and mechanisms that best meet local needs, emphasising the six focal countries. This will include designing pilot activities for developing and improving instruments as well strengthening the capacity of governmental, civil society and private sector groups to implement such measures.
Rationale
In general, markets for forest land and resources fail to account for the full social and environmental benefits that forests provide. As a result, too much forest is converted to other land uses, while those forests retained for timber production may be harvested too often or too intensively, at the expense of biodiversity and other non-market, non-timber values.
As a result of the continuing privatization trend, today the private sector is increasingly dominant in the way in which forests are used, and indeed in forest policy processes. The private sector already controls some of the highest yield-intensity forests, and is increasing its investment, to meet growing demands for fibre, especially through plantation development in the subtropics. Globalisation trends also mean that forestry companies are getting larger, and are often multi-national and therefore remote from other stakeholders, especially local communities.
The lack of effective controls on the private sector mean that many large enterprises are now responsible for some of the worst cases of forest asset-stripping (often in collusion with politicians and civil servants). Many of the worst conflicts between forest interest groups concern the private sector and local communities. Consequently, the potentials for equitable forestry partnerships between communities and the private sector are not realised. In contrast to the asset-strippers, leading companies have recently made major (environmental) improvements, and have command of significant financial and technological resources. They have experimented with working with communities, in 'outgrower' schemes, although these tend to have focused on fibre production alone.
The private sector as a whole, however, has taken only tentative steps towards sustainable forest management, due to the lack of appropriate governmental incentives, to market and tenure insecurity, and to uncertain policy and financial contexts. Indeed, government capacities to generate the right mix of incentives and controls for the private sector, and to keep track of their activities, are often weak and/or in decline. Privatization processes tend to have down-sized governments without building up a new regulatory/monitoring role. Existing mechanisms for regulating access to, and use of, forest land are therefore inadequate. The key problem is the lack of a clear profit motive for firms to engage in sustainable forestry on any type of land, public or private.
Whilst there has been a recent trend to improve legislation on how forests are used, and to encourage local partnerships, proven instruments to do this - and to verify if they are working - are lacking. Given the increasing influence of the private sector, improved policy research capacities will be needed in countries where the private sector is most active.
For further information, please contact:
Stephen Bass
Forestry & Land Use Programme
International Institute for Environment & Development
Endsleigh Street
London, WC1H 0DD
United Kingdom
Tel: +44 171 388 2117
Fax:+44 171 388 2826
Email: steve.bass@iied.org
ETC Ecoculture as part of ETC international
by Henk Lette
The Organisation
ETC was established in 1974 as a non-profit but commercial organisation based in the Netherlands. The ETC Foundation consists of ETC International in Leusden (the Netherlands), ETC-Netherlands, also in Leusden, ETC Consultants India Pvt.Ltd. in New Delhi (India), ETC- East Africa in Nairobi (Kenya), ETC-Lanka in Sri Lanka, ETC-Andes in Peru and La Paz and ETC-UK in Tynemouth (United Kingdom).
ETC is part of an innovative network. Affiliations and working relations exist with governmental and non-governmental organisations, international and local consultancy firms, universities and other institutions. ETC promotes the use of local resources, knowledge and experience as the basis for development activities. Participation of beneficiaries in design, implementation and evaluation is considered to be fundamental. ETC Netherlands has recently been subdivided into four separate business units, of which ETC Ecoculture deals with sustainable use of natural resources, mainly low external input sustainable agriculture and sustainable management of natural resources and forestry.
Sustainable Forest Management
ETC Ecoculture's Sustainable Forest Management Unit deals with forestry issues as an integral part of people-centred rural development. This unit has also recently reformulated its future strategy, focussing on a limited number of topics for further development. An important aspect will be a stronger linkage between our activities in developing countries and in the Netherlands and Europe.
Within ETC-Netherlands, priority issues for forestry and natural resources management are:
Certification of Tropical Wood
The first is a Desk-Study on Certification of Tropical Wood commissioned by SNV and HIVOS (two Netherlands'-based organisations working in development co-operation). This study contributes to the development of certification criteria for sustainable forest management from a small-scale local producers' perspective.
The study established a framework for assessing and developing locally specific and appropriate certification standards producing a check-list for individual forest management situations (Volume I). In Volume II this framework has been applied in five cases, Bolivia and Zambia being most detailed.
The results have been integrated to provide a basis for a strategy paper on the certification of tropical wood from a local users' perspective.
Main conclusions deal with: the sustainablility of actual forest exploitation (large scale logging companies vs small-scale); the accountability at the local level for sustainable forest management; the empowerment of local forest user groups; certification as a strategic instrument; recovery of additional costs necessary to guarantee sustainability of forest management; and data on sustainable forest management.
Local Participation in Sustainable Forest Management
The second study is a Netherlands' oriented research on experiences with local participation in sustainable forest management.
This study comprises two parts, the first being a diagnostic research based on five case studies in the Netherlands on behalf of the Netherlands' Reference Centre for Nature Management in Wageningen.
A theoretical framework has been developed to analyse different levels of participation (informing, consulting, joint decision making and autonomy in decision making) in each stage of the process, and an analysis of the actors involved in participation. Based on the factors determining success and failure in the five case studies (Crobse Waard, Stramproy, Bentwoud, Oostermoer and Arnhem) an analysis has been made of the conditions required for enhancing responsibility for and commitment to local forest management, and for an effective local participatory process.
The second part of the study was executed on behalf of the NCDO (Netherlands Committee on Sustainable Development) and concerned the further elaboration of one of the former case studies: Co-operation of Small-scale forest owners in Stramproy. The objective was to indicate the importance of co-management in small-scale forest properties (smaller than 5 ha) which account for some 17% of the total forest area in the Netherlands.
In the past, forests had a function in agriculture and for livelihood of the small forest owners. This situation has changed, because of a decrease in economic importance. Commitment of the forest owner to the forest and thus the management also decreased. Because many of the rules and regulations regarding subsidies for forest management are applied only to management units larger than 5 ha, the intention is that sustainability is enhanced through joint management by small scale forest owners.
The study deals with one of the local forest groups in Limburg, focussing on the area of Stramproy. It describes the process of the forest owners' development of a joint management plan for their area. Awareness raising is an essential part of the process as small forest owners often perceive limited financial benefits. A co-operation framework between the small forest owners may solve many problems. It may be important to take into account that one major stakeholder (in this case the regional forest group of the province of Limburg) may be required to take the lead in the process and that one specific co-ordinator should be accessible to all owners. Furthermore, support from municipality, a local nature organisation and provincial administration was necessary in this case, mainly in the field of policy and regulations and financial support.
The following conditions (based on Laban, 1994) for stimulating commitment and responsibility of forest owners have been identified: measures proposed by the co-operation framework should be voluntarily applied in the individual forests; the forest owners should remain proprietor of their own forest (they should continue to have their own individual claim making power); financial benefits should be available through eg cost sharing and the increased possibility of receiving subsidies; for public and private interest in the ecological values of the forest the benefits should be made apparent; the existence of an organisation to support the co-operation of small scale forest owners for technical advice and knowledge.
Finally, the co-operation framework between the small-scale forest owners improves when the local citizens are involved, providing a positive commitment of the local people towards the forest in the area.
For further information, please contact:
Henk Lette
ETC Ecoculture
PO Box 64
3830 AB Leusden
The Netherlands
Tel: +31 33 4943086
Fax: +31 33 4940791
Email: h.lette@etcnl.nl
References:
A plant biotechnology instuitute in Frech Guyana for the sustainable utilisation, conservation and improvement od tropical forest species
by Chris Simoens, Peter Breyne and Marc Van Montagu
The recent development of molecular techniques and their application in forestry has tremendously accelerated knowledge gathering and tree improvement for commercial production. Facing the continuing destruction of tropical forests, there is an urgent need to apply these molecular techniques to tropical trees. The latter would be immeasurably beneficial for both conservation, reforestation efforts, sustainable utilisation and tree improvement. In this way, biotechnology would be the ideal tool to reconcile conservation with a certain level of economic exploitation, thus meeting the demands of both the developed and the developing world.
To contribute towards this goal, an institute is being established in French Guyana, European territory which still has a tropical forest relatively untouched by human activities. The institute will function as a platform for the exchange of perspectives and technologies that address and incorporate tropical concerns. This interface will benefit European scientists as they strive to develop relevant research projects. It will also benefit tropical scientists by blending new technologies with existing local expertise. This will aid tropical scientists as they devise strategies for the conservation and utilisation of their forests.
The institute will integrate existing multidisciplinary forest research in French Guyana, represented by Silvolab, with European centres working on the molecular biology and ecology of tropical forests. The institute will function as an outstation where European molecular biologists meet with regional forest biologists to unite existing local knowledge with new technologies, allowing them to collectively envisage strategies for sustainable forest management and reforestation. On the short and medium term, European researchers will establish the institute's research programmes but scientists from Central America will be essential partners in the formulation and accomplishment of these programmes.
Main research priorities are:
In order to establish efficient forest management methodologies, a thorough understanding of the dynamic equilibrium within the ecosystem of a tropical forest is a prerequisite. Molecular tools now allow to answer these questions.
For a plantation forest to remain stable, sufficient genetic variability is required within each species, while maintaining its traits of economic interest. Conventional methods however do not offer a tool to monitor this variability. By use of molecular markers, this can easily be accomplished.
As these areas suffer harsh environmental conditions and have degraded soils, trees will need specific qualities, such as high vigour and pathogen resistance, and also require a number of beneficial soil micro-organisms. Molecular tools can provide the acceleration needed to provide these trees and to learn about these soil micro-organisms.
In order to obtain the necessary funding, a European Economic Interest Grouping (EEIG) is being established, involving companies such as Rhône Poulenc, Novo Nordisk and GlaxoWellcome, as well as European national research institutes. The EEIG will function as the negotiation node with the European Commission.
Indeed, the importance of the tropical forests, for the world economy and climate, should be made more clear to the European Commission. In this respect, it is essential that the value of biodiversity should be more strongly emphasised within the 5th framework programme.
The EC has acknowledged their interest in this endeavour by granting to this initiative, in the frame of the TMR program of DGXII, the status of a Large Scale Facility. In this project, the French organisms, present in French-Guyana and grouped as Silvolab, present themselves as an existing facility. The obtained financial support will be partially used to allow non-French researchers to make use of this facility. Another project has been approved within the INCO-DC programme (International Co-operation with Developing Countries). It occurs in collaboration with Brazil and Costa Rica, and studies, among other subjects, human impact on the tropical forest.
For more information, please contact:
Prof. Marc Van Montagu
Dr. Chris Simoens
Dr. Peter Breyne
Department of Genetics
Flanders Interuniversity Institute for Biotechnology
K.L. Ledeganckstraat 35
B-9000 Gent, Belgium
Tel: + 32 9 264 5070/5205
Fax: + 32 9 264 5349
E-mail: monta@gengenp.rug.ac.be
chsim@gengenp.rug.ac.be
pebre@gengenp.rug.ac.be
Since 1994 we have established different small research units around Puerto Ayacucho, capital of Amazonas, Venezuela, involving both researchers from South American institutions (especially ORPIA, FONEIAP and University Simon Rodriguez) and Europe (Padova University, Italy; University of Salzburg, Austria) and some Amerindian villages (Piaroa, Guajibo, Curripaco and Yanomamo). Many specialists around the world helped with identification and literature. Some local and European students have been involved.
We wanted first to assess the different environmental impacts in one area of savanna and forest cline, possibly in a process of rapid transformation (savannanization) due to different impacts, such as urbanization around the capital (Puerto Ayacucho), fire, cattle grazing, increased pressure of horticulturalists in the forest (Lopez Hernandez et. al.,1997). We wanted to develop sufficiently simple and reliable sampling tools to analyze this area and possibly measure and compare the different situations to help people to judge the different impacts and suggest the best and more sustainable options.
After various trials we adopted the invertebrates as target organisms to be monitored and we focused on pitfall traps as sampling methods. We then repeated the sampling in the wet and dry seasons and in 16 different locations representing the key elements of these interesting landscapes including the primary forest, different kinds of savanna, slash and burn gardens in the forest, fallow gardens, different types of small farms.
We could demonstrate that ants sorted as morphotypes (up to 90) collected by the pitfall traps can well be used as key element to assess this humid tropical landscape (Netuzhilin et al. 1998). Both species number and abundance respond to different management in this area.
We then tried to better understand the use of the local resources: species used by the different ethnic groups, particularly the non conventional small animals, the minilivestock (Paoletti and Bukkens, 1997) and semidomesticated crops. We are producing a database on semidomesticated plants and on such small organisms, in particular insects. In fact many terrestrial invertebrates including some earthworms (at least three different species) are eaten by the different ethnic groups and not just as extreme resource. On some insects such as palmworms (Rhynchophorus palmarum) we did some experimental trials, raising this interesting grub on different media both in the field and the laboratory. This very good snack is eaten, especially by the Guajibo, in some periods of the year and can represent a very important supplement of fat, proteins and vitamins for the villagers. In a trip around Alcabala Guajibo last August, we encountered two couples coming back from their foraging activities and both had a basket of palm leaves containing palmworms in addition to palm fruits.
Many interesting semidomesticated plants are just harvested in the forest and/or the gardens. We are currently interested in listing the local names and uses these plants. Two types of 'tomatoes' TUPIRO and TUPIRILLO (Solanum sessiliflorus and S. stramonifolium) have been collected, and trials on germination, composition of leaves and fruits, biological characteristics of flowers and pollination strategies are underway. Additionally, an interesting tree of the Annonacean family, (Duguetia lepidota) which produces very delicious fruits in the forest is under observation and local trials of disseminations are underway.
We are trying to make all this local, oral knowledge available to the local schools through the collection of data in a photo-database that has been developed with over 800 slides in a cd-rom.
Any comments, suggestions and help would be appreciated.
For further information please contact:
Maurizio G. Paoletti
Dipartimento di Biologia Università di Padova
via U. Bassi, 58/b
35121 Padova, Italy
Tel: +39 49 8276304/5
Fax: +39 49 8276300/8072213
Email: paoletti@civ.bio.unipd.it
http://www.bio.unipd.it/agroecology/
References
Lopez Hernandez D., M.P Garcia-Guadilla, F. Torres, P. Chacon and M.G. Paoletti 1997. Identification, Characterization and Preliminary Evaluation of Venezuelan Amazon Production Systems in Puerto Ayacucho Savanna- Forest Ecotone. Interciencia, 22(6): 307-314.
Netuzhilin I. Maurizio G. Paoletti, Hugo Cerda, D. López-Hernández, Frans Torres, Prudencio Chacon. 1998. Biodiversity tools to evaluate Sustainability in Savanna-forest Ecotone in the Amazonas (Venezuela). In. M.V. Reddy (ed): Management of tropical Agroecosystems and Beneficial Soil Biota. Oxford & Ibh. Publ. Co. Ltd. (New Delhi) (in press)
Paoletti M.G. and Bukkens S. 1997. Minilivestock. Ecology of Food and Nutrition, 36(2-4): 95-346.
The Surumoni Project is an interdisciplinary programme with emphasis on long-term research on different biological and abiotic aspects of the rain forest canopy. It started with the installation of a crane in the neotropical rain forest of the Amazonian lowland in Southern Venezuela at a tributary of the upper Orinoco river in November 1995. Since then, this Venezuelan-Austrian joint project is regulated by an agreement (convenio), in which the partners are equally entitled and the most important project-competencies are coordinated for the next five years. The crane and the infrastructure have been financed by the Austrian Academy of Sciences. Since the crane's installation, it has become the property of Venezuela and is under the maintenance of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. The project's policy favours long-term research focusing on plant-animal interactions, measuring and observing processes rather than extensive sampling. Minimal disturbance of the study plot is a requirement for all investigations.
By now, the Surumoni Project consists of nine research projects, conducted by scientists from seven participating universities and research institutes in Austria, Germany and Venezuela which initiated their fieldwork during 1996. The topics covered by the ongoing projects are:
For further information, please contact:
Dr Christian Listabarth
Coordinator Surumoni Project
Konrad Lorenz-Institute for Comparative Behavioural Research
Savoyenstrasse 1a
A-1160 Vienna
Austria
Tel: +43 1 486 212135
Fax: +43 1 486 212128
Email: c.listabarth@klivv.oeaw.ac.at
or
Prof Dr Hans Winkler
Project Leader (address as above)
Tel: +43 1 486 212122
Fax: +43 1 486 212128
Email: h.winkler@klivv.oeaw.ac.at