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5. Development of Practical Field Materials for Small Forest Owners
  • 5.2 Key Questions
  • 5.3 Workshop discussion report
  • 5.4 Potential Collaborators
  • 5.5 Potential Funding Bodies
  • 5.6 Solutions & uptake pathways
  • 5.7 Inventory of ongoing research
  • 5.8 Research concept notes

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    5. Development of Practical Field Materials for Small Forest Owners

    5.1 Intro

    This title concerns the need for general guidance for small forest owners on how to go about getting certified and how to manage forests to meet certification requirements. It addresses two specific problems: the lack of knowledge about certification requirements and their application to small forests, and the lack of specific advice for implementing certification requirements.

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    5.2 Key Questions

    1. What appropriate technical materials are required, with regard to relevant levels of literacy and understanding?
    2. What are the key limiting factors, in terms of technical understanding?
    3. What are the optimal means of delivering the required information?
    4. Is there a need for development of guidance material in other areas?
    5. FSC to relax some requirements for small businesses
    6. In which fields are there knowledge gaps?
    7. Is it possible to simplify guidance before simplifying the requirements?

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    5.3 Workshop discussion report

    Areas for development
    It was proposed that simplified guides to help the understanding and implementation of certification requirements are needed, which would include explanations of the kind of monitoring forest managers might be expected to do, and how would they use management plans. Other areas which were recommended for attention were materials to help forest managers and chain of custody enterprises with business management, and the development of guidance to help assessors.

    A general lack of knowledge about forest ecology was also identified - for example the reasons for conserving dead logs and large dead trees. It is an area in which materials are needed to raise consciousness of the issues, since the ecological viewpoint is important. Examples were given of work that has already begun to address the ecological issue - a book called "Richer Forests" (in Sweden) and manuals In Latvia and Denmark which have been developed to describe to small forest owners what biodiversity means in very simple language, using butterflies as an indicator species for self-assessments. This was described as a successful method for increasing awareness although it caused conflict with scientists, who argued that it was over-simplistic: this is an issue which should be kept in mind for any future work.

    Participants' attention was drawn to the fact that there are already a large number of Forestry Commission publications (in the UK) which deal with a very wide range of forestry issues, and the SGS/IIED handbook which was produced earlier this year also goes some way towards dealing with these problems. However, it was argued that there is still a need to develop material that is less complicated and more accessible to a wide range of people, rather than being aimed at professional foresters.
    Priorities
    An important point was raised in that any simplification of guidance is dependant to a certain extent on simplification of requirements: before these questions can be addressed, decisions need to be made concerning how to simplify standards and systems, otherwise the information in the manual will not be useful.

    However, within the area defined by this title, it was proposed that question 1 should be answered and implemented only after deciding what is needed, what the limiting factors are and what the best means for delivering information is.

    Another suggestion was that question 3 (the optimal means of delivering information) is an area that can only be assessed in the future, providing that any attempts that are made now to develop and implement guidance are recorded.

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    5.4 Potential Collaborators

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    5.5 Potential Funding Bodies

    It was anticipated that this would be a relatively easy area for which to find funding because research would produce a tangible product, but it is essential that the final product is something that works.

     

    ETFRN funding opportunities page

     

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    5.6 Solutions & uptake pathways

    • Extension Networks
    • National FSC working groups
    • forestry/forest trade
    • short courses
    • trade associations
    • training institutes
    • production of a single information sheet to address certification standards and how forest managers can meet them.

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    5.7 Inventory of ongoing research

    Research topic 5 : Development of practical field materials
    Organisation/Name Country Topic Mentioned by
    IIED
    Kirsti Thornber    		 . Sustainable forestry handbook (already published) .
    SGS Forestry, UK
    Bill Maynard    		 . Looking at ways to get above-mentioned book translated into Bahasa Indonesia .
    IIED
    Kirsti Thornber    		 China Interested in Chinese translation of above mentioned book .
    GTZ/IKC
    Barbara von Kruedener    		 Bolivia, Latin America Community forestry certification workshop planned for September 2000 in Bolivia - training materials being developed Barbara von Kruedener
    RECOFTC, Bangkok SE Asia Community forestry training centre: expressing interest in certification Kirsti Thornber
    National FSC Working Group Cameroon
    Marie Mbolo    		 Cameroon Translating certification information into local language, English and French .
    CIFOR . Grab bag & toolbox .
    Soil Associatio/UK
    Forestry Commission    		 UK Handbook for small properties on monitoring and management .
    UK Foundation for Peoples of South Pacific South Pacific . .
    World Bank Sustainable Forestry Programme . Developing disseminating and training activities on forestryissues; creating a network for South-South information exchange .
    ? . There is also a book called "Richer Forests" which brings ecological issues into the mainstream, and in Sweden there are other materials of this type. Edward Milner
    Forestry Commission, UK UK Huge volume of material on guidelines, research in forestry issues Jim Sandom

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    5.8 Research concept notes

    PROBLEMS TO BE ADDRESSED:
    1. Poor understanding of certification requirements and their application to small forests.
    2. Lack of skilled advice regarding implementation of certification requirements.

    KEY QUESTIONS:
    1. What appropriate technical materials are required, with regard to relevant levels of literacy and understanding? This is applicable to the understanding and implementation of certification requirements.
    2. What are the key limiting factors, in terms of technical understanding?
    3. What are the optimal means of delivering the required information?

    METHODOLOGY:
    Potential collaborators: local partners in sample locations to assist with survey, evaluation and delivery of training. Funding would be required for involvement of such partners and production of training materials.
    1. Workshops and surveys of small forest managers in sample locations to evaluate understanding of key requirements and perceived needs for information.
    2. Conversion of key needs identified into suitable field materials.
    3. Delivery of technical materials through initial training courses.

    OUTPUTS:
    1. Analysis of key shortfalls in technical understanding among small forest owners in sample locations.
    2. Field training materials, to facilitate understanding and implementation of certification requirements.
    3. Training courses to support delivery of field materials.

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