WRI Publications Feed: Forest Landscapes Initiative

Sustainable Procurement of Wood and Paper-Based Products: Version 2

Ruth Nogueron — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 08:52:22 -0400

Find out more at http://www.sustainableforestprods.org

Version 2 contains updates to the sections on legality and useful resources, known as the "guide to the guides." The guide now describes 47 tools and resources (13 more than in the previous version) that aid sustainable procurement of forest products.

Decisions regarding the purchase and use of wood and paper-based products can have far-reaching, long-term impacts for the forests where they are harvested, the communities supported by wood-using industries, and the places where those products are purchased and used.

The information in this joint WRI/WBCSD publication is organized around ten key issues, posed as "essential questions" that procurement managers might address related to the sustainable procurement of wood and paper-based products:

Origin: Where do the products come from?
Information accuracy: Is information about the products credible?
Legality: Have the products been legally produced?
Sustainability: Have forests been sustainably managed?
Special places: Have special places, including sensitive ecosystems, been protected?
Climate change: Have climate issues been addressed?
Environmental protection: Have appropriate environmental controls been applied?
Recycled fiber: Has recycled fiber been used appropriately?
Other resources: Have other resources been used appropriately?
Local communities and indigenous peoples: Have the needs of local communities or indigenous peoples been addressed?

The publication is designed as an information tool to help customers develop their own sustainable procurement policies for wood and paper-based products. It is also a decision support tool providing simple and clear information on twenty-two existing approaches to the procurement of wood and paper-based products from legal and sustainable sources, as well as providing additional references and resource materials.

Interactive Forest Atlas for Democratic Republic of Congo (Atlas Forestier Interactif de la République Démocratique du Congo)

Fri, 14 Jan 2011 13:10:01 -0500

Résumé exécutif

(Read in English)

Carte interactive/Interactive Map

Explorez notre carte interactive pour observer en détail les concessions forestières, les aires protégées et l’évolution du couvert forestier en République Démocratique du Congo (en Français et Anglais).

Explore our interactive map viewer to examine in detail logging concessions, protected areas, and forest change in the Democratic Republic of Congo (in both English and French).

Consciente du rôle essentiel des écosystèmes forestiers, le gouvernement de la RDC s’est engagé, en partenariat avec la communauté internationale, à améliorer la gouvernance du secteur forestier afin d’en assurer une gestion durable.

Pour ce faire, la RDC a ratifié plusieurs conventions et accords internationaux et régionaux, et lancé des initiatives nationales visant la gestion durable des forêts, dont (par ordre chronologique) :

l’organisation du Forum sur la Politique Forestière en 2000;
la promulgation du Code forestier par la loi no 011/ 2002 du 29 août 2002;
l’élaboration et la mise en route de l’Agenda Prioritaire pour la relance du secteur forestier en 2003;
la tenue de deux tables rondes sur la forêt en 2004 et 2006;
la rédaction et constante amélioration du Programme National Forêts et Conservation de la Nature (PNFoCo) d’une durée de 10 ans, débuté en 2004;
la rédaction du plan de préparation pour le processus Réduction des Émissions liées à la Déforestation et à la Dégradation (REDD);
la ratification du traité de la Commission des Forêts d’Afrique Centrale (COMIFAC) en janvier 2010.

Afin de respecter son engagement de garantir une gestion durable et responsable des ressources forestières, le Ministère de l’Environnement, Conservation de la Nature et Tourisme (MECNT) a entrepris de se doter d’outils lui permettant d’acquérir une meilleure connaissance du patrimoine forestier congolais et de suivre son évolution. Cet dans cet état d’esprit qu’en 2006 le MECNT signait avec le World Resources Institute (WRI) un accord de collaboration visant le développement d’un Atlas forestier interactif, comme outil moderne associant l’usage de la télédétection, des bases de données et des Systèmes d’Informations Géographiques (SIG). Cet outil devrait permettre aux acteurs impliqués dans la gestion forestière de pallier aux difficultés d’accès à des données fiables, et d’aider à une utilisation de ces données. L’Atlas forestier interactif répond aux besoins tant de l’administration congolaise que des acteurs non-étatiques (secteur industriel et société civile) en apportant une solution à : (1) la dispersion des informations à travers les différents organismes (secteur privé, société civile et autres parties prenantes du secteur forestier), ministères, directions et services, (2) la faible qualité de l’information disponible (information disparate, parfois désuète, sources de données fragmentaires, absence de standards) et (3) la faiblesse ou l’absence de communication et de coordination dans la gestion et la diffusion de l’information entre les différents acteurs, tels les producteurs de données et les utilisateurs de l’information. Cet Atlas forestier interactif a été produit de façon conjointe par le MECNT et le WRI dans le cadre la convention de collaboration sus-mentionnée, permettant une appropriation de l’outil par les services administratifs congolais. Les informations fournies par l’Atlas sont publiques et rendues activement disponibles aux parties prenantes, confirmant l’engagement du gouvernement pour une gestion transparente du secteur forestier.

Cette première version de l’Atlas forestier interactif de la RDC se présente sous format informatique et papier, le tout comprenant 5 produits distincts, à savoir : un rapport synthèse, un manuel d’utilisation, une application SIG, des données vectorielles et enfin une affiche présentant la situation actuelle de l’affectation du Domaine Forestier de l’État (DFE), et enfin une carte interactive en ligne.

Comme le prévoit la convention MECNTWRI, cet Atlas comprend toutes les informations actualisées relatives aux limites géographiques et aux attributs descriptifs des zones forestières vouées à la production ou la conservation fournies par le MECNT. Pour cette première version, les efforts ont été concentrés plus particulièrement sur les données liées aux titres forestiers admissibles aux processus de conversion suivant l’application de l’article 155 du Code forestier de 2002 et des dispositions du décret 05/116 de 2005. En outre, ont aussi été considérées toutes les informations connexes et pertinentes disponibles au moment de la publication, comme par exemple les routes nationales, les chemins forestiers et les aires protégées. L’Atlas est cependant un outil en constante évolution afin de prendre en considération les modifications d’éléments existants ou l’intégration de nouvelles couches d’information. Ainsi, l’acquisition d’images satellites plus récentes permettra d’actualiser les pistes forestières ; les plans d’aménagement, les données d’inventaire et les limites d’autorisation de coupe industrielle de bois sont autant de nouveaux éléments qui pourront s’intégrer aux prochaines versions de l’Atlas.

À ces efforts doivent s’ajouter d’autres actions pour assurer la qualité, la fiabilité, l’exhaustivité et la cohérence des données et des informations produites. Soulignons entre autres:

l’institutionnalisation d’une base de données géographiques (SIG) unique pour la gestion des informations forestières ;
la mise en place et l’institutionnalisation de standards de cartographie forestière numérique ;
l’élaboration de procédures d’échanges d’information entre les acteurs au sein du MECNT, mais aussi avec d’autres ministères, la société civile et le secteur privé, pour une actualisation complète de la base de données géoréférencées de l’Atlas ;
le renforcement de la fiabilité des données grâce à la formation continue des acteurs responsables des opérations de récolte, d’archivage et de traitement des données au sein des institutions nationales techniques mandatées, des opérateurs privés et de la société civile.

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Executive Summary

Recognizing the essential role of forest ecosystems, the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has partnered with the international community to improve forest sector governance and ensure sustainable management of the country’s vast forest resources.

To achieve this goal, the DRC’s Ministry of Environment, Nature Conservation and Tourism (MECNT) sought to develop tools that would present an accurate snapshot of the nation’s forests and their evolution. In 2006, MECNT signed an agreement with WRI to develop a first-ever Interactive Forest Atlas for the DRC – a tool which would combine the use of remote sensing, geodatabases, and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to monitor and manage forests.

The Interactive Forest Atlas meets the needs of both the Congolese administration and non-governmental actors by providing a solution to:

The dispersion of information across different government departments and organizations (private sector, civil society and other stakeholders in the forestry sector);
Low quality, incomplete, and often publicly inaccessible forest information;
Weak or absent communication, coordination, and information sharing between forest sector stakeholders.

Produced jointly by MECNT and WRI, the Interactive Forest Atlas is freely and publicly available to any party working or interested in the DRC’s forest sector – affirming the governmnet’s commitment to transparent resource management.

This preliminary version of the Interactive Forest Atlas contains 5 products:

Overview report
Atlas user manual
GIS applications
Vector data
Poster showing current forest allocations in the DRC
Interactive map viewer

As required under the MECNT-WRI agreement, this Atlas includes all updated information provided by MECNT on geographic boundaries and the descriptive attributes of forest areas slated for production or conservation. For this first version, MECNT and WRI focused specifically on data related to titles submitted to the DRC Forest Title Conversion Process, following the application of section 155 of the 2002 Forest Code. This Atlas also includes other information available at the date of publication, such as national roads, logging roads, and protected areas.

The Atlas, however, is a tool that is constantly evolving, in order to take into account changes to existing data and the integration of new information layers. Thus, the ongoing acquisition of new satellite images will allow MECNT and WRI to update information on logging roads, management plans, inventory data and industrial cutting limits for the next version of the Atlas.

To accomplish these goals, and ensure the quality, reliability, and coherence of forest information, MECNT and WRI aim to undertake the following actions during the next phase of the partnership:

The institutionalization of a single, centralized GIS database to manage forest information;
The establishment and institutionalization of numerical forest mapping standards;
The development of procedures for information sharing between actors within MECNT and other departments, the private sector, and civil society to ensure an up-to-date, accurate geodatabse;
Strengthening the reliability of data through the training of those actors responsible for the gathering, storing, and processing of forest data in national technical institutions, companies, and civil society.

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Southern Forests for the Future

Maggie Barron — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 13:15:07 -0500

Additional information and resources are available at www.SeeSouthernForests.org, an online interactive information portal developed by the World Resources Institute (WRI).

Executive Summary

Stretching from Texas across to Virginia and from Kentucky down to Florida, the forests of the southern United States are a vast global, national, and local natural treasure. They provide a variety of benefits or “ecosystem services.”

For instance, southern forests yield 18 percent of the world’s pulpwood for paper while comprising just two percent of the world’s forest area. They protect water quality, prevent erosion, and help regulate climate by storing carbon dioxide—the leading greenhouse gas. In addition, they provide opportunities for millions of people to hike, hunt, and experience natural beauty.

Southern forests are dynamic and have a long history of change. Prior to European colonization, these forests were shaped by natural disturbances such as climatic warming after the last ice age, hurricanes, and lightning-induced fires, as well as by fires set by Native Americans. Beginning in the 1600s, agriculture, timber extraction, and settlements built by Europeans and their descendants gradually spread across the region, affecting the extent, distribution, and composition of southern forests. Over four centuries, more than 99 percent of southern forest acreage was cut or cleared at one time or another as the region was developed. Much of the land regenerated over time as secondary forest, demonstrating the resiliency of forests. Yet the net extent of southern forests has declined by an estimated 40 percent since the dawn of European settlement.

A number of factors or “drivers of change” are projected to affect the quantity (extent and distribution) and quality (composition and health) of southern forests over the coming 2–3 decades, with some increasing and others decreasing forest quantity or quality. For example:

Suburban residential and commercial development is projected to convert 19 million acres of forest between 2020 and 2040 and increase forest fragmentation.
In some areas of the South, forest extent may expand as agricultural land reverts back into forest, but this trend will not sufficiently offset forest loss due to development.
Climate change may have a number of impacts, including shifting the distribution of some plant and animal species, increasing invasive species threats, inundating low-lying coastal forests, intensifying droughts, and exacerbating wildfire dangers.
Wildfires remain a risk as a consequence of decades of suppressing natural, low-intensity fires.
Outbreaks of pests and pathogens—such as the gypsy moth, hemlock woolly adelgid, sirex wood wasp, butternut canker, emerald ash borer, laurel wilt of redbay, and many more—will affect numerous types of trees—such as oak, hemlock, pine, butternut, and ash—and may alter forest species composition.
Invasive species—such as cogon grass and Japanese stiltgrass— threaten to crowd out native species, alter natural ecosystem processes, and increase wildfire risk.

Going forward, these drivers of change will likely impact the ability of southern forests to continue to provide a full range of ecosystem services. How landowners, businesses, conservation organizations, governments, and citizens respond and adapt to these and other drivers ultimately will shape southern forests for the future.

Approximately 87 percent of southern forest acreage is privately owned. Of this amount, about two-thirds is held by individuals and families. The future of southern forests thus rests largely in the hands of private landowners. Given the entailed forgone revenue, creating protected areas out of their forests may not be a viable option for many of these landowners. However, a number of measures exist or are beginning to emerge that could create incentives for private forest owners to conserve and sustainably manage their forests. These measures include:

Land use instruments such as conservation easements, development offsets, and transferable development rights;
Fiscal measures such as forest management-related and conservation-related cost-share programs and incentives;
Liability limitations such as legal assurances and the “right to prescribed burns”;
Market incentives such as markets for sustainably harvested timber and paper, payments for carbon sequestration, payments for watershed protection, and recreational user fees; and
Increased education and capacity building.

However, so far the performance of many of these measures has been mixed. For instance:

Despite being already available, some of these measures are currently undersubscribed in the region; Awareness of some measures is low;
Some of the market incentives, especially payments for ecosystem services such as carbon sequestration and watershed protection, are just emerging and therefore are relatively novel for most forest owners;
The region lacks a sufficient number of pilot projects utilizing these incentives to raise awareness, stimulate adoption, and facilitate continuous improvement of incentive design; and
Some measures, such as voluntary development offsets or transferable development rights, have been piloted in a few locations but have yet to be scaled up.

These observations lead to a number of questions, including:

Which of these incentives and measures show the greatest promise for sustaining southern forests and their ecosystem services?
What are the barriers southern forest owners face that limit utilization of these measures? How can these barriers be addressed?
How can emerging incentives be piloted in the region to demonstrate effectiveness and refine incentive design?
How can incentives that have successfully been piloted in a few instances in the region be scaled up?
What other innovative incentives for sustaining forest ecosystem services are being pioneered elsewhere that could be replicated in the South?
How can awareness of these incentives and outreach be improved?

Southern Forests for the Future sets the stage for addressing these and related questions by introducing readers to the forests of the southern United States. It provides data, maps, and other forms of information about southern forests, their condition, and trends. In particular, this publication:

Maps many of the natural features of southern forests, including extent and species composition;
Describes and, where possible, quantifies a range of ecosystem services that these forests provide to people, communities, and businesses at the local, regional, and global levels;
Provides a brief history of southern forests and the forces that shaped them;
Profiles the factors that will likely affect southern forest extent, distribution, composition, and health over the coming decades; and
Outlines a number of markets, incentives, and practices that might help ensure southern forests continue to provide a full range of ecosystem services into the future. Although public policies have an important role to play in sustaining southern forests, this publication focuses on non-policy measures.

Southern Forests for the Future is designed to serve as a resource for conservation organizations, concerned citizens, landowners, academic institutions, the private sector, government agencies, and others involved with forest stewardship. Additional information and resources are available at www.SeeSouthernForests.org, an online interactive information portal developed by the World Resources Institute (WRI).

The site includes satellite imagery of southern forests, detailed interactive maps on forest features and drivers of change, case studies, historical photos, and other data. With this information publicly available, WRI aspires to raise awareness of the importance of these forests and help empower stakeholders to implement innovative measures that will ensure southern forests for the future.

Forest Taxation in Post-1994 Cameroon: Distributional Mechanisms and Emerging Links with Poverty Alleviation and Equity

Maggie Barron — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 15:42:43 -0500

Executive Summary

This report documents a study carried out on the Cameroonian forest taxation system, particularly covering: (i) the distribution practices of the government, as demonstrated through transfers from the central government to the local authorities and from the latter to the local communities; and (ii) the interrelations of these transfers with equality and livelihoods. The study was conducted in the forested zone of Cameroon in 2006. It covers three Rural Councils in the East and Center provinces, with the inclusion of a “non-forested” council in the North-West province. In total, 22 villages and 525 households were targeted by the exploratory work and evaluation.

Numerous villages have yet to benefit from any projects while their forests are exploited, mostly because of lack of responsible management practices and safeguards.

The emphasis on forests in the Millennium Development Goals as well as in the National Strategies for the Reduction of Poverty is an illustration of how political discourse is translated into the economic planning of human well-being. With significant forest resources—the third or the fourth largest by area in the Congo Basin, according to estimates—Cameroon has placed a key emphasis on sustainable use of them to meet national development objectives. Revenues generated by forest taxes constitute one of the options that could help Cameroonian forests contribute to the fight against poverty.

The forest tax system in Cameroon aims at a series of objectives, including: (i) the creation of revenues and of national prosperity; (ii) distributional equity and the reduction of poverty; (iii) fiscal decentralization; and (iv) the inclusion of local communities in access to forest benefits. The Cameroonian forest tax system also brings together a number of mechanisms. One of these, the Annual Forestry Fee, is representative of the political desire of the central government to use part of the revenues generated by logging activities to improve local development and livelihoods. Since 1999, however, the Annual Forestry Fee does not appear to have led to a significant improvement in the conditions of life at the village or household level in the forested zone. This fee is the primary focus of this report.

The Annual Forestry Fee is an area-based forestry tax and stems from Article 68 of the 1994 Forestry Law and subsequent modifying and accompanying texts. The Annual Forestry Fee is presented as an annual “governmental transfer” towards the Rural Councils and villages—one of the many forest taxes applied in Cameroon. In the logic of the transfer, 50 percent of the annual tax goes to the central government and the other 50 percent is allocated to relevant sub-national parties. The 50 percent allocated to local entities is further divided between the Rural Council with jurisdiction over the forest titles and the village communities surrounding these titles, with a 40:10 ratio, for the execution of socio-economic projects in the villages.

Data shows that from 1999 to 2005 the Annual Forestry Fee generated approximately 70 billion CFA francs (FCFA). The three Rural Councils considered for this study regularly received their share of the Annual Forestry Fee. However, discrepancies were found between the distributed amounts as published at the central level through the Forest Revenue Enhancement Program and the amounts declared as received by the municipal authorities. For instance, in one of these councils, the Rural Council of Mindourou (Eastern province), data from the central level indicates a transfer of 578 million FCFA as the 40 percent allocated to the council in 2004, while the municipal authorities acknowledged a transfer reported at 544 million FCFA. In the Rural Council of Gari-Gombo, figures from the central level indicate a transfer of 321 million FCFA as the 40 percent allocated to the community in 2004, while the municipal authorities acknowledge receipt of approximately 230 million FCFA.

Discrepancies were even greater when the 10 percent of Annual Forestry Fee allocated to the village communities was considered. For example, in 2005, in the Rural Council of Gari- Gombo (Eastern province), the amount registered by the municipal authorities as the village communities’ AFF allotment was only 55 percent of the amount registered by the Forest Revenues Enhancement Program (PSRF ). These discrepancies are indicative of an overall lack of transparency that surrounds the management and redistribution of the Annual Forestry Fee.

Differences also exist in the way the 10 percent actually committed to village communities is disbursed by the Council. In the Rural Council of Mindourou, for instance, each of the 16 villages received 8.5 million FCFA for the implementation of socio-economic projects in 2005, while other councils decided to allocate money according to different and not clearly defined rules.

As far as the impact of the 10 percent is concerned, results show that when data could be gathered the actual money spent on planned activities in a number of villages was found to be less than the amount supposedly allocated. Results show that several of the village-level projects carried out had been over-budgeted and recorded inflated costs, as already found by previous audits done on the Annual Forestry Fee distribution and disbursement.

The distribution and transfer of the Annual Forestry Fee on paper, therefore, does not necessarily reflect the actual execution of socio-economic projects at either the village or Council levels. Numerous villages have yet to benefit from any projects while their forests are exploited, mostly because of lack of responsible management practices and safeguards. As for the councils, this study found—in concordance with previous studies—that the 40 percent was allocated to diverse uses (such as overall administrative costs) and that the first objective of the transfers (local development) has not been an absolute priority. Though exceptions do exist, a swift evaluation of the undertakings in key places of the targeted communities, when data could be found, shows wide discrepancies between the amount allocated under the 40 percent and the actual value of implemented projects or activities.

For the purpose of analysis and comparison, the study calculated the theoretical amount of Annual Forestry Fee allocated per household annually in the three Rural Councils for 2005, based on the amount of the 10 percent actually received by the Rural Council. The resulting figures (18,000 FCFA/household in Mindourdou, 12,500 FCFA/household in Bibey, and 800 FCFA/ household in Gari Gombo) show that there exists asymmetry in the horizontal distribution of the Annual Forestry Fee (i.e., amongst forested Rural Councils) and that overall, the amounts of Annual Forestry Fee allocated per household are often extremely small in relation to median annual household income in Cameroon (340,000 FCFA). Thus, the amounts collected and redistributed annually do not guarantee by themselves that measurable impacts on the incidence of poverty or well-being are occurring.

This study found that the households interviewed perceived themselves as being poorer nowadays than a decade ago (i.e., comparison 1995–2005) in the study area. The perceptions of the local communities were put in context by data collected on basic social services and infrastructure. Results show that close to 96 percent of the villages visited are lacking electricity, 82 percent did not have health centers, 70 percent did not have wells installed and 30 percent did not have a primary school for all grades. In addition, the access that minority pygmy enclaves have to benefits of the Annual Forestry Fee remains marginal.

Furthermore, it is important to note that over the period of time considered by this study (2000-2005), the annual amount of the Annual Forestry Fee grew approximately by 25 percent, while other sources of governmental budget allocation (central government to regional) aimed at poverty reduction declined nationally by 17 percent. Though this inverse relationship would need a deeper analysis to be fully understood, it nonetheless shows that the Annual Forestry Fee not only boosted the budgets of many concerned councils, but it also replaced the money normally disbursed by other state agencies (i.e., the fee acted in part as a substitute and not wholly as additional funds).

The various actors involved in this process have different perceptions of the Annual Forestry Fee, according to interviews conducted across the study sites:

Policy-makers believe the actual system for decentralization of forest tax revenue is an effective tool for local development and poverty reduction;
Mayors generally see the distribution of the Annual Forestry Fee as justice more properly served to local communities who consider the surrounding forest resources to be their own. However, they criticize the many problems with the current Annual Forestry Fee distribution system, including: the delays in delivering the Annual Forestry Fee checks, the discrepancies between the amounts received and those published at the central level, and the inadequacy of the sums received at the Council level from the Annual Forestry Fee, given that all local development concerns fall henceforth to the Rural Councils;
Local administrative authorities have mixed perceptions. When limited to the approbation of council budgets (the 40 percent), their appraisal of the poor results of the forest revenue distribution process remains objective, and they have a negative opinion of the mayors; but when they are involved with the execution of the actual projects conceived, their opinion of the mayors switches to positive;
Local communities believe the distribution and utilization of the Annual Forestry Fee to be unfair and only contribute to increasing the wealth of the State, the mayors and the souspréfets;
Municipal authorities in the non-forested zones focus on equity issues at the national level. Since wood is a national resource, these authorities contend that all Cameroonians should be able to benefit, thus supporting a national realignment of the Annual Forestry Fee redistribution.

In order to address shortcomings in the Annual Forestry Fee distribution process, we propose the following structures and mechanisms:

Increase public information on the amount of Annual Forestry Fee distributed and its impacts;
Monitor the entire process of Annual Forestry Fee distribution and promote transparency in its management;
Improve the Annual Forestry Fee management process and focus on building capacity of those actors responsible for its execution (e.g., mayors, Rural Council members, Village Development Committee representatives);
Develop and implement structures for downward and upward accountability, including enforcement of sanctions, when necessary.

Broken Promises: Forest Revenue-Sharing in Cameroon

Maggie Barron — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 14:37:32 -0500

Executive Summary

In Central Africa, most governments have introduced mechanisms to redirect more of the benefits from the extractive use of forests to the regions where logging is taking place. Several governments are in the process of designing or implementing forestry revenue tax/fee distribution schemes whose objectives are decentralization, poverty alleviation, and promotion of local development. Cameroon has been a leader in this endeavor, with a system that distributes half of its Annual Forestry Fee (referred to herein by its French acronym, RFA [redevance forestière annuelle]) revenues to decentralized public authorities (40%) and villages (10%) that are adjacent to exploited forests. These funds are targeted at furthering local economic development, poverty reduction, and conflict abatement in and among villages adjacent to forests, forestry companies, and the government.

Despite being considered progressive by global standards, Cameroon’s revenue-sharing system is failing to provide the expected benefits to the communities it targets.

This Forest Note summarizes findings from case studies of three rural councils (Bibey, Gari Gombo and Mindourou) and their constituent villages regarding implementation of the RFA revenue-sharing system from 2000-2002. Based on this information and an examination of the strengths and weaknesses of the revenue distribution system, the authors present recommendations to the Government of Cameroon on how to increase the system’s positive impacts on local livelihoods and poverty alleviation and, correspondingly, reduce conflict between villages and forestry companies.

The findings indicate that despite being considered progressive by global standards, in the rural councils addressed through this study, Cameroon’s revenue-sharing system is failing to provide the expected benefits to the communities it targets: those living adjacent to forest concessions. In some cases, revenues did not reach villages at all; in all cases, the amount received by villages was less than what was allocated to them at the national level. Of the almost US $7 million allocated to the three rural councils examined in this study, almost US $2 million is unaccounted for during the period 2000-2004, and of the US $1.7 million allocated for village development within these rural councils, almost US $1 million is unaccounted for during the same time frame. Furthermore, the projects funded were often not those requested by the village representatives, and villagers reported that the costs of these projects were often higher than the accepted cost of implementing such activities by local sources.

Monitoring of the use of revenues by the Ministry of Economy and Finance’s General Treasury and Budget Office was haphazard and made even more problematic by the absence of standardized, transparent accounting systems. Holding decision-makers accountable for the use of funds was difficult, not only because of weak accountability mechanisms but also because of weak law enforcement, lack of political will, capacity, and resources. These factors, among others, resulted in a system that depended primarily on the integrity of the mayor (the head of the elected rural council) and thus provided opportunities for the misappropriation of funds, cronyism, and other forms of corruption.

This study was unable to isolate what impacts, if any, the RFA revenues had on poverty reduction because of the relatively small amount of revenues that reached villages and the lack of comparative data. However, the findings indicate that there is an urgent need to strengthen the governance of the RFA revenue distribution system and the larger system of political representation in which it operates if revenues are to be used effectively for poverty alleviation. This brief builds on previous studies and on findings from three case studies to provide recommendations to the Government of Cameroon on how to improve the RFA revenue-sharing system’s ability to contribute to the government’s poverty reduction objectives.

Recommendations

The Forest Revenues Enhancement Program should set aside 5% to 10% of the total RFA revenues to develop and maintain effective transparency, monitoring, local participation, and accountability mechanisms as well as to build capacity at the various government, rural council, and village levels to implement those mechanisms. More specifically, funds should be provided by the central government from the 50% of the PSRF funds that is not earmarked for the rural councils to:

develop, implement, and enforce standardized accounting systems set up by the Ministry of Economy and Finance. Implemented through the PSRF, these systems would be used by the rural councils and villages to track RFA revenues and expenditures.
strengthen existing auditing systems and build operational capacity to audit rural council RFA expenditures annually (to be implemented by the Ministry of Economy and Finance).
increase the capacity of local villagers to engage effectively in the decision-making process by:
- defining a democratic process for selecting village representatives;
- developing decision-making procedures that ensure effective consideration of village representatives’ priorities;
- providing training in development planning, basic budgeting, and accounting;
- increasing local representation on Forestry Fee Management Committees that determine project funding; and
- establishing Forest Fee Management Committees in villages where they do not exist (to be implemented by the rural councils through their engagement with local nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and the Ministry of Economy and Finance).
build transparency into the use of RFA funds at the rural council and village levels through the posting of RFA revenues and expenditures in public gathering places, printing them in local newspapers and periodicals, and annual meetings with villagers to present and explain expenditures financed by the RFA (to be implemented by the Ministry of Economy and Finance together with the Ministry of Forests and Wildlife). In addition, mayors should be required to publish annually a full list of the projects funded under the RFA with their locations and costs.

The Environmental Committee in the Cameroonian Parliament, in partnership with civil society organizations, should take the lead in ensuring increased accountability in the expenditure of RFA revenues by:

acting as an ombudsman for villages with complaints of RFA revenue mismanagement;
investigating specific cases of the misuse of RFA funds;
holding public hearings, if an RFA audit fails, that involve all the villages in the rural council area so that the leaders can be sanctioned for their failure to use the funds according to existing laws.
commissioning a study of the enforcement chain to identify actions to increase sanctions for the misuse of RFA revenues and to strengthen the enforcement chain.

Bridging the Information Gap: Combating Illegal Logging in Indonesia

Tim Herzog — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0400

Spanning around 100 million hectares, the forests of Indonesia constitute 10 percent of the world’s remaining tropical forests and provide people with a variety of benefits or “ecosystem services.” For instance, local communities rely on the forests for food, medicine, fresh water, and building material. The global community relies on them for carbon sequestration, timber, and tourism. In addition, the forests of Indonesia are a biodiversity “hotspot,” with new species discovered every year.

In view of the importance of its forests, Indonesia—both on its own and in partnership with donor countries and world experts—has incorporated themes of “sustainable forest management” and “combating illegal logging” into its forest governance since the mid-1990s. Despite these efforts, during the first half decade of the new millennium, deforestation rates increased year on year (from 0.2 million hectares in 2000/2001 to 1.2 million hectares in 2004/2005, the last year such data were reported).

The causes of Indonesia’s forest loss are diverse, but it is widely recognized that illegal logging is a major contributor. Estimates of the scale of this illegal activity vary widely. One study found that three quarters or 40 million out of the 53 million cubic meters of logs consumed by Indonesia’s mills (and mostly exported in the form of moldings, sawn timber, plywood, pulp, and paper) in 2003, came from unknown and/ or illegal sources. This equated to $1.4 billion in lost revenue to the government in 2003 alone. Moreover, this estimate did not include the additional volume of logs illegally exported from Indonesia, which another study estimated at 10 million cubic meters per year.

In order to pinpoint the identity of the actors perpetrating these crimes, and thereby reduce illegal trade, better information is needed in areas such as: changes in forest cover; timber concession and plantation boundaries; administrative boundaries; and sources of raw material for timber mills. Many stakeholders have recognized the importance of such information and several experts and policymakers have tried to develop such databases. However, forest data continues to be scattered throughout the archipelago and across different government departments and non-government organizations. Where information exists, much of it needs to be updated and improved.

Closing the Information Gap

The core purpose of this Forest Note is to put forward a systematic approach to analyzing the Indonesian forestry sector in order to identify which forest laws and regulations are being disobeyed and where. We introduce a matrix that provides simple step-by-step guidance on how to use existing data to understand the physical status of and changes in the nation’s forests, in the forest production (logging) sector, and in the forest products manufacturing (milling) sector. Armed with this information, experts, policymakers, and citizens can have a more informed dialogue on the precise sources of threats to Indonesia’s forests and what can be done to remove them.

This note builds on a gap analysis of forest information carried out in 2006 by WRI as part of the East Asia and Pacific Forest Law Enforcement and Governance (EAP-FLEG) initiative led by the World Bank and the Indonesian Ministry of Forestry. At the end of this note is an extended glossary, which explains the important terms and concepts utilized in the matrix and their importance for law enforcement.

Atlas Forestier Interactif du Congo - Interactive Forest Atlas of Congo (version 1.0)

admin — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 00:00:00 -0400

ATLAS PRINT VERSION AND CD-ROM AVAILABLE IN FRENCH, ONLY.

ATLAS ONLINE. You can access the map server for the Interactive Forestry Atlas of Congo online! This interactive map allows the user to create personalized maps, query information, zoom in on areas of interest and download underlying spatial data.

The Interactive Forestry Atlas of the Republic of Congo, through the overview report and online interactive atlas, allows the user to access up-to-date spatial data and attributes, as well as, understand the context and utility of this information for Congo’s forestry sector.

The Interactive Forestry Atlas of Congo (version 1.0), is one of the principal products from the ongoing collaboration between WRI, Congo’s Ministry of the Forest Economy (MEF) and the Centre National d’Inventaire et d ’Aménagement des Ressources Forestières et Fauniques (CNIAF).

In one source, this Atlas contains much of the relevant spatial data for forest management and governance in the Republic of Congo, including:

updated forest concession and protected area boundaries,
a roads dataset created from satellite imagery, and
useful attribute data
- management plan status,
- name of operator,
- year of attribution, and
- wood volume production.

The Atlas also includes an overview document highlighting its contents and utility and placing the work in the greater forestry sector context in Congo.

Through this Atlas and related products, MEF, CNIAF, WRI and partners seek to increase knowledge about the state of Congo’s forests, and to enable better decision-making by providing data in accessible forms for use by government, industry, and the public.

Legality Standards and Stepwise Approaches to Sustainable Forest Management in Central Africa

admin — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 00:00:00 -0400

There is increasing demand by individual consumers and national governments for wood products that have been harvested in a legal, socially responsible and sustainable manner, particularly in the US and European marketplaces. While some countries and individual private timber companies operating in Central Africa are moving towards increased legality and sustainability of operations, most are years away from being able to implement procedures that would satisfy traditional forest certification legality and sustainability criteria. Rather than effectively prohibiting importation of wood from the Central Africa region and other developing countries, where the industrial forest sector represents important sources of revenue for national economies and the rural poor, some have proposed a stepwise approach to certification that would allow time for committed companies to show that they are on the road to sustainability.

There are a number of initiatives ongoing in Central Africa that aim to increase the supply of sustainable harvested and legally produced wood products. With so many actors and initiatives it is at times hard to make sense of it all. This brief outlines some of the issues and ongoing initiatives associated with the stepwise approach to sustainable forest management in Central Africa, and provides some insights and lessons learned from WRI’s collaborative efforts to set up an independent and voluntary forest concession monitoring system in the Congo Basin.

Interactive Forestry Atlas of Cameroon (version 2.0)

admin — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 00:00:00 -0500

ATLAS ONLINE. You can also access the map server for the Interactive Forestry Atlas of Cameroon online! This interactive map allows the user to create personalized maps, query information, zoom in to areas of interest, and download underlying spatial data.

The Interactive Forestry Atlas of Cameroon (version 2.0) is the second (updated and expanded) version of this atlas, originally published by WRI in 2005.

This interactive atlas tool allows users to access, through a map viewing application, the most complete and up-to-date information on the Cameroon forest sector, including:

timber extraction area boundaries and attributes,
forest concession management plan status,
volume of timber logged by concession areas
and many others.

New information/themes in the second version include:

forest concession boundaries and attributes,
concession Annual Allowable Cut (AACs) boundaries and volumes,
location and capacity of sawmills and
managed hunting zone boundaries.

Its target audience includes members of government in Cameroon, the private forest sector, NGOs, community associations and concerned private citizens.

This accompanying overview report presents the new and updated content contained in this second version, in addition to discussing actions which have been facilitated by the first version and potential uses and applications of this updated and expanded version. The document also describes the current situation, terminology and legislation relating to the forestry sector in Cameroon.

This overview and associated interactive atlas are a product of the collaboration between WRI, the Cameroonian Ministry of Forests and Fauna and other partner institutions.

Mapping Undisturbed Landscapes in Alaska: Overview Report

admin — Sat, 02 Sep 2006 00:00:00 -0400

This report presents an analysis and geographical representation of relatively large landscapes free of visual evidence of human disturbances across the State of Alaska, USA.

These undisturbed landscapes, classified and mapped as

Intact Forest Landscapes (IFLs) and
Forest Landscape Fragments (FLFs),

were mapped using methods similar to other Global Forest Watch (GFW) mapping efforts in Russia, Canada, and Chile.

IFLs and FLFs were mapped for Alaska’s boreal and coastal temperate rainforest. Additional analysis for identified IFLs and FLFs includes ownership, protection status, forest composition, and fire disturbance.