WRI Stories Feed: Forest Landscapes Initiative

How Can We Create Jobs, Reduce Food Prices and Boost Economies?

Nigel Sizer — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 11:23:14 -0400

The fate of heads of state across the globe is tied in large part to their ability to ensure employment, economic growth, and access to cheap food and clean water. Rising food prices have helped topple dictators across the Middle East. Europe,…

RELEASE: Leaders Announce Global Effort to Restore 150 Million Hectares of Deforested Land

Michael Oko — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 19:54:06 -0400

New Global Restoration Council to be led by former Swedish Prime Minister Persson

A global effort to restore 150 million hectares of degraded and deforested lands by 2020 is being launched in Bonn, Germany. The announcement comes during the Bonn Challenge Ministerial Roundtable, where a select group of government officials, business leaders, and international forest experts are gathering to catalyze support for global forest and landscape restoration.

At the meeting, Göran Persson, former Prime Minister of Sweden, will propose a new Global Restoration Council to help galvanize action for forest and landscape restoration and build support to achieve The Bonn Challenge. The Council will be facilitated by the World Resources Institute (WRI) and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

“Restoring 150 million hectares of degraded lands represents an exciting and largely untapped opportunity to create more jobs and economic growth, while also protecting our climate,” said Prime Minister Persson, who is also a member of WRI’s board of directors. “I am delighted to be announcing this new Council to raise attention and generate action to strengthen our forests, our economies, our climate, and our lives. I look forward to working with world leaders, businesses, and other colleagues in an effort that will send a strong signal that forest and land restoration must be pursued globally.”

The Bonn Challenge builds on a new global assessment identifying that more than 2 billion hectares of the world’s deforested and degraded lands are available for restoration. This assessment, carried out by WRI, the South Dakota State University, and IUCN on behalf of the Global Partnership on Forest Landscape Restoration, nearly doubles the previous estimate, reflecting greater precision and a better understanding of the conditions needed for forests to grow.

“Forest restoration is big idea that carries many benefits. It will improve food security, enhance biodiversity, protect our climate, and generate jobs,” said Manish Bapna, interim President for WRI. “With this new 150 million hectare target– and support from leaders like Mr. Persson— we have a great opportunity to take action that will enhance the resilience of people and nature.”

Restoring 150 million hectares of land reflects a significant contribution to implementation of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) Target 15 and the REDD-plus agreement of the UNFCCC. The CBD Target 15 calls for the restoration of at least 15 percent of degraded ecosystems by 2020, and the REDD-Plus goal is to slow, halt and reverse forest cover and carbon loss, including through the enhancement of forest carbon stocks.

Find maps and information behind the 2 billion hectare analysis.

Find out more about IUCN forests work.

Learn more about the Global Partnership on Forest Landscape Restoration.

The Forest Company of the Future

Janet Ranganathan — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 12:46:20 -0400

This story originally appeared in the Guardian.

Over the past 150 years, industrialization has taken its…

WRI and WBCSD Update Guide to Sustainable Procurement of Wood and Paper-Based Products

Ruth Nogueron — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 09:27:30 -0400

Today, WRI and the WBCSD release an update to the guide “Sustainable Procurement of Wood and Paper-Based Products.” The guide is meant to help…

Restoring Forests: An Opportunity for Africa

Nigel Sizer — Thu, 26 May 2011 14:27:21 -0400

New research shows that Africa offers some of the greatest opportunities globally for restoring forests.

This post originally appeared on Mongabay.

Tropical forest news last week was dominated by Indonesia and Brazil. Forest clearing has surged over the past year in parts of the Amazon, the Brazilian Government reported. Meanwhile, Indonesia’s President signed a moratorium on cutting some intact forest areas, as part of a landmark billion-dollar deal with international donors. But new research shows that Africa offers some of the greatest opportunities globally for restoring forests.

Investors are gathering this week in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, to learn more. The meeting, hosted by the World Agroforestry Center, together with the World Bank’s Program on Forests and others, aims to help mobilize private investment in trees and landscape restoration in Africa.

With about half of the world’s original forest cover lost or degraded, interest is growing in planting trees to absorb carbon and to help communities better prepare for climate change. Restoring forests has many potential benefits. In the tropics, farming that includes more trees can be more productive and resilient to changes in weather patterns. Trees are also the primary source of fuel for most of the world’s poor. Growing trees to produce charcoal and sell wood for fuel helps to pay the bills for millions of Africa’s farmers. Growing trees also absorb carbon dioxide and so contribute to global efforts to combat climate change.

A new analysis, carried out by the World Resources Institute (WRI) and South Dakota State University, in partnership with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the Global Partnership on Forest Landscape Restoration, found that about 450 million hectares of degraded land in Africa offer opportunities for forest restoration. This is an area the size of the entire European Union. Opportunities for Forest and Landscape Restoration in Africa

Restoration comes in various forms. Sparsely populated areas that are not intensively used may be suitable for wide-scale restoration. Here restoration may entail quite low investment, involving control of fire and grazing so that trees can naturally regenerate. Areas where land is more intensively used can be restored to tree cover in a patchwork pattern, known as “mosaic restoration”. Even intensively farmed and developed areas can benefit greatly from “protective restoration”, including the planting of trees to prevent erosion on steep slopes, along rivers and streams, to serve as windbreaks, and to provide shade along tracks and roads.

Recent experience from West Africa sees farmers putting the theory into practice. Niger, just a generation ago, was in the throes of mass famine, spreading deserts and entrenched poverty. Just 20 years later, over five million hectares of Niger has been restored to productive farmed woodland as the value of trees to enhance farm yield and provide income from fuel wood has caught on. Over 200 million new trees were planted, protected and managed as a result, and there is no sign of this movement stopping.

Others are being inspired to follow. Rwanda has committed to a nationwide effort to restore forests as a means to improve livelihoods, enhance food security, and safeguard water supplies and biodiversity. This dramatic move, supported by the United Nations Forum on Forests, and gaining donor interest, seems likely to be the first of several such efforts across Africa.

Leadership by national governments may be the key for catalyzing action and investment. In Rwanda, visionary efforts by the country’s leadership are leading to a pioneering process of policy reform to encourage tree planting. Niger’s greening partly followed a revision of the law to crucially give farmers ownership of the trees growing on their land. Prior to this, all trees had belonged to the state. As democratic currents gained force in the country it was possible to shift control to farmers and thereby give them an incentive to manage the resource as their own.

Despite these positive steps, many challenges remain. As resources become scarcer, economies grow and demand expands for timber, palm oil, soya beans, and other commodities, remaining intact forests will come under increasing pressure. Efforts to combat deforestation in Brazil and Indonesia will continue to grab the headlines and need long-term support. But it may be the emergence of a steady and sustained effort to help trees grow in places where they used to that gains greater traction and makes more progress toward meeting human needs. The policymakers and investors gathering in Nairobi this week may well be onto something big.

Restoring the World's Forests While Feeding the Poor

Nigel Sizer — Wed, 18 May 2011 09:35:43 -0400

Trees are being cut down for farming, but a new study shows that a lot of land already cleared could be used instead.

This piece originally appeared in The Guardian.

“We are one shock away from a full-blown crisis,” stated Robert Zoellick, the president of the World Bank, at a recent meeting of the bank and the IMF. He was referring to a critical increase in poverty, resulting from the escalating cost of food. The UN’s food price index has risen 37% since March 2010. Basic cereal prices are up 60% over this period. Wheat is up 63%, and maize 83%.

Roughly 1 million people slide into extreme poverty for each 1% rise in global food prices, the bank’s analysts calculate.

Availability of land for farming is a key factor in long-term food supply and prices. As the human population expands, the remaining forests, wetlands and other fragile ecosystems will come under greater threat as farmers push further into the frontiers of the Amazon, Borneo and the Congo, as well as intensifying production in North America, Europe and beyond. Feeding billions more and feeding the poor properly will be possible only if better use is made of available land.

About half the world’s forest has been cleared for farming or seriously damaged by logging, fires, drainage, pollution and other ills. But where forests once grew they can grow again.

A new analysis, carried out by the World Resources Institute, South Dakota State University, the International Union for Conservation of Nature and the Global Partnership on Forest Landscape Restoration, found that more than 1bn hectares of land where forest once stood is now degraded, and could be put to more productive uses. This is an area larger than the entire United States.The World from a Forest Landscape Restoration Perspective

Some of this degraded and underused land could be used for food and tree crop production without cutting down another square inch of standing forest. In order to make this possible, governments and development agencies need to invest in more careful planning, incentives, investment and controls. Special care is needed to ensure that local communities that may be using parts of the land are respected and fully involved in decisions to intensify use or to restore forest.

The remainder of the 1bn hectares could be restored to forest and woodland. Once restored, it will also play a greater role in supporting nutrient cycling, reducing erosion, sequestering carbon,managing water and further supporting food production across the wider landscape downstream.

In Indonesia, the World Resources Institute, together with a local partner, Sekala, is putting these ideas to the test by working with the Indonesian government, communities and industry to shift new oil palm estates on to already cleared and burnt land instead of cutting species-rich rainforest. Indonesia has rapidly become the world’s largest producer of palm oil. The government plans to expand oil palm plantations by about a million hectares a year to meet surging global demand for vegetable oil and biofuel. Until now, it was assumed that most of this expansion would result in the clearing and burning of precious rainforest. With more careful mapping and analysis, a new vision has emerged. Top officials are proposing new plans to use degraded land for the expansion of plantations. Mapping has shown that there is more than enough such land potentially available to meet demand.

Brazilian groups are looking to the Indonesian experience as they struggle to find space for that country’s expanding beef, soya and sugar cane enterprises. Through a careful process of defining degraded land, mapping it, and consulting with existing landowners and local communities, plans and policies encourage a shift in future investment to this kind of land and away from the forests of the Amazon.

Development agencies, charities, national governments and business should transfer some of their attention to the opportunity of restoring already cleared and degraded land to more productive use. This needs to be done equitably and should be driven by the local communities, who have the most to gain from the long-term potential of these efforts to contribute to enhanced food production, ecosystem services and poverty reduction.

Global Well-Being: Rooted in the World's Forests

Jonathan Lash — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 13:25:40 -0400

This piece originally appeared in the Washington Post Environmental Leadership supplement on April 20, 2011, and is reposted with permission.

This year, 2011, has been declared the International Year of Forests, and while a few bright spots exist, forests today face a host of challenges. Mounting pressures from agricultural expansion, rapid economic development, and growing demand for products are leading to deforestation and degradation of forests at alarming rates. The expanding global population— expected to reach 9 billion people by mid-century—is increasing demand for food, encroaching on forests and the value they hold.

Globally an estimated 1.5 billion hectares have already been lost to deforestation. Countries like Brazil and Indonesia face critical situations as millions of acres of rainforest are felled or burned each year to make room for cattle ranches, soybean and oil palm plantations, and the production of pulp and paper. Closer to home, the United States Forest Service predicts that more than 30 million acres of forests in the southern U.S. could be lost to suburban sprawl in the coming generation.

Forests, which cover one-third of the world’s land, are a precious natural resource. They offer food, shelter and income for around a billion of the world’s poorest people. More than half of land-based animal and plant species live in forests. And trees absorb vast quantities of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and protect vital freshwater sources.

The challenges are clear, but solutions have been harder to find. Certainly there is no single magic bullet, but evidence is growing from remote corners of the world— Colombia, Brazil, Niger, Nepal, Indonesia, and beyond— that offer reasons for hope and hold the promise for further success.

In Niger, West Africa, tree cover has increased dramatically across a vast swath of the southern landscape. This turnaround came after political leaders and forestry officials began to recognize the property rights of local farmers to manage trees on their land. Now, forests are being restored, erosion is being reduced, water tables are rising, soil is becoming more fertile, and crop yields are increasing.

In Latin America, some governments, including those in Colombia and Brazil, have been handing back vast forest reserves to the descendants of their original owners, including indigenous Amerindians and other local communities. Evidence is emerging that forest cover is preserved when coupled with ancestral land rights.

After decades of deforestation, Nepal has also begun to reverse course, especially in areas where local “community forests” have been established. Community forests account for approximately 20 percent of forested land in Nepal, where decision- making is accomplished locally by empowered villagers and supported by the national government. Over 12,000 Community Forest User Groups have engaged local communities in the business of protecting, rejuvenating and managing forested landscapes to produce fodder, wood and other products to use and sell.

Increased rights and recognition of land tenure can be a win-win, benefitting both people and forests.

Local control and decisionmaking is the common thread connecting these stories. Nearly a decade ago, the authors Andy White and Alejandra Martin proposed that the recognition of indigenous rights and community ownership offer “an historic opportunity for countries to dramatically improve the livelihoods of millions of forest inhabitants.” While there is still a long way to go to fulfill this vision, growing evidence suggests that increased rights and recognition of land tenure can indeed be a win-win, benefitting both people and the forests on which they depend.

Creative thinking around governance is also playing a hand in one of the best and most innovative opportunities to restore forests. In West Kalimantan, Indonesia, the World Resources Institute is working with local partners to encourage the restoration and reuse of degraded lands, including for palm oil production. By some estimates, more than half of oil palm expansion in Indonesia since 1990 occurred at the expense of forests. This project, which has growing support from the Indonesian government, would help divert some planned oil palm plantations away from natural rainforests and toward degraded lands instead.

Recent analysis by WRI and its partners shows that about three billion acres worldwide—an area larger than Brazil—of previously forested land ~~have become deforested or degraded over the last decade~~ provide opportunities for restoration. While some of these areas could be restored as healthy forests, other areas could be converted to food production. This, in turn, can bring a multitude of benefits, such as creating jobs, easing pressure to clear more forests, reducing carbon emissions, and protecting biodiversity.

While none of the actions alone is enough, together they offer strategies that would help restore and protect forests for future generations. Governments, international development agencies, and nongovernmental organizations—together with local communities—must now build on these approaches and expand the number of success stories in the years to come.

New Map Viewer Shows Development in the Forests of the Democratic Republic of Congo

Susan Minnemeyer — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 08:11:50 -0400

WRI and the Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) Ministry of Environment, Nature Conservation, and Tourism (MECNT) are pleased to announce the release of the interactive map viewer for the Forest Atlas of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

En Français

The Government of DRC faces many challenges in developing comprehensive forest management and zoning processes, as well as the day-to-day monitoring of forest-based activities such as logging, mining and agriculture. In 2006, MECNT partnered with WRI to develop the Interactive Forest Atlas as a freely and publicly available resource. The interactive map viewer provides a way to explore the Atlas in detail online.

Interactive Map

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).

Covering two-thirds of the country’s territory, the forests of the DRC are home to a wealth of biodiversity and serve as one of the planet’s major forest carbon sinks. These forests also support the livelihoods of tens of millions of Congolese citizens, including many of the poor.

The map viewer features data on roads, logging and mining concessions, protected areas and detailed forest change. Map layers are arranged into a menu of options that allow users to view the information by themes such as forest zoning, timber production, mining and forest cover change.

MECNT and WRI collaborated to produce the map layers on forest development, while forest change data was provided by the project Forêts d’Afrique Centrale Evaluées par Télédétection (FACET), an initiative of the Observatoire Satellital des Forêts d’Afrique Centrale (OSFAC), South Dakota State University (SDSU), the University of Maryland (UMD) with support from USAID’s Central African Regional Program for the Environment (CARPE). The FACET data can also be viewed on the UMD CARPE Mapper website.

Users can click on forest concessions or protected areas for further information. The transparency of map layers is adjustable to view the base map data underneath; for example, logging concessions may be made transparent to view logging roads visible on satellite imagery beneath them. Any of the map themes can also be viewed in Google Earth, and GIS datasets used in the map are available for download.

For users with online connectivity, this interactive map viewer is a simplified and easy-to-use version of the more exhaustive information found in the Interactive Forest Atlas of DRC - version 1.0, CD and overview report.

The interactive map shows FACET forest change data from 2000 to 2010 for the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Easier access to current forest land allocation in the DRC will help the government improve land use planning, monitoring, and resolution of conflicts over resources in areas of overlapping claims. It will also help local NGOs and communities understand government actions and defend their access rights.

The DRC Forest Atlas map viewer is the first in a series of interactive maps focusing on forest developments and change. Over the coming months, additional map viewers will be available for other central African countries and Indonesia.

The map viewer was developed with the generous support of USAID CARPE, the MacArthur Foundation, ESRI and ERDAS.

Développement d’un nouvel outil de visualisation cartographique pour les Forêts de la République Démocratique du Congo

WRI et le Ministère de l’Environnement, Conservation de la Nature et Tourisme (MECNT) de la République Démocratique du Congo (RDC), ont le plaisir d’annoncer la sortie de l’outil de visualisation de la carte interactive de l’Atlas Forestier de la République Démocratique du Congo.

Carte interactive

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).

Recouvrant les deux tiers du territoire du pays, les forêts de la RDC abritent une riche biodiversité et fait office d’un des plus grands puits de carbone forestier de la planète. Ces forêts assurent également les moyens de subsistance de dizaines de millions de citoyens congolais, y compris les plus pauvres d’entre eux.

Le Gouvernement de la RDC relève de nombreux défis quant au développement de la gestion forestière globale et du processus de zonage, ainsi que du suivi au jour le jour des activités telles que l’exploitation forestière, minière et l’agriculture. En 2006, le MECNT a établi un partenariat avec WRI pour développer l’Atlas Forestier interactif en tant que ressource disponible librement et publiquement. La visualisation cartographique interactive permet d’explorer en détail l’Atlas en ligne.

L’outil de visualisation de cartes présente des données sur les routes, sur les concessions forestières et minières, les zones protégées et le détail de l’évolution forestière. Les couches cartographiques sont disposées dans un menu d’options qui permet aux utilisateurs d’afficher les informations par thèmes tels que le zonage forestier, la production de bois, les mines et l’évolution du couvert forestier.

Le MECNT et le WRI ont collaboré pour produire les couches de la carte du développement forestier, tandis que les données sur l’évolution forestière ont été fournies par le projet Forêts d’Afrique Centrale Evaluées par Télédétection (FACET), une initiative de l’Observatoire Satellital des Forêts d’Afrique Centrale (OSFAC), l’Université d’État du Dakota du Sud (SDSU), l’Université de Maryland (UMD) avec l’appui de l’USAID via le Programme régional pour l’environnement en Afrique centrale (CARPE). Les données FACET peuvent également être consulté sur le site Internet cartographique de l’UMD CARPE.

Les observateurs de la carte peuvent cliquer sur les concessions forestières ou sur les zones protégées pour de plus amples renseignements et peuvent choisir entre différentes options telles que l’affichage en fond d’images satellites récentes ou une carte routière. La transparence des couches de la carte peut être facilement ajustée pour afficher les données cartographiques de base en dessous, par exemple, les concessions d’exploitation forestière peuvent être rendues transparentes pour afficher les chemins d’exploitation visible sur les images satellite. Tous les thèmes de la carte peuvent être visualisés sur Google Earth à l’aide d’un simple clic bouton. Nous avons également mis à disposition en téléchargement l’ensemble des données SIG utilisées dans la carte.

Pour les utilisateurs connectés en ligne, cette carte interactive est une version simplifiée et facile d’utilisation de l’information exhaustive de l’Atlas Forestier interactif de la RDC - la version 1.0, CD-Rom et rapport de synthèse.

Un accès simplifié à l’attribution en cours des terrains forestiers en RDC aidera le gouvernement à améliorer l’aménagement du territoire, le suivi et la résolution des conflits sur les ressources dans les zones de chevauchement des revendications. Il aidera également les ONG locales et les communautés à comprendre les actions du gouvernement et de défendre leurs droits d’accès.

L’outil de visualisation de l’Atlas Forestier interactif est le premier du genre à mettre l’accent sur le développement et l’évolution forestière. Au cours des prochains mois, d’autres visionneurs cartographique en ligne seront disponibles pour d’autres pays d’Afrique centrale et l’Indonésie.

L’outil de visualisation cartographique a été développé avec le soutien généreux de l’USAID-CARPE, la Fondation MacArthur, ESRI et ERDAS.

Generous support for these projects has been provided by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

New Interactive Atlas Will Help Democratic Republic of Congo Manage Forests

Scott Thompson — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 13:29:48 -0500

The government and people of the Democratic Republic of Congo can now track and monitor forests and logging concessions in the world’s second largest rain forest.

En Français

In January, WRI and the Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) Ministry of Environment, Nature Conservation, and Tourism (MECN-T) launched the first-ever DRC Interactive Forest Atlas - a unique GIS-based mapping and information system designed to shed light on the country’s logging activities.

Interactive Map

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).

Covering two-thirds of the country’s territory, the forests of the DRC are home to a wealth of biodiversity and serve as one of the planet’s major terrestrial carbon sinks. In addition to supplying valuable wood products on the international market, the DRC’s forests support the livelihoods of tens of millions of Congolese citizens. Historically, the DRC has experienced low levels of industrial deforestation, primarily due to the high cost of transporting forest resources out of the country and decades of warfare. However, with peace and relative political stability returning to the region, local and international eyes have turned to the wealth of forest resources available within the DRC’s borders.

Buoyed by a rebound in international demand for wood products, particularly from Asian markets, industrial logging activities are again expanding across the DRC and the greater Congo Basin. Infrastructure improvements designed to increase rural accessibility and economic integration have accelerated forest degradation in even the most remote areas of the DRC. Access roads for extractive purposes and tracts cleared for local agricultural activities have fragmented large parts of the forest canopy, and significant charcoal demand from the urban centers, combined with a growing subsistence agrarian population, have made smallholder land a primary threat for forest degradation.

These factors, combined with increasing demand for forest conversion to industrial plantations for palm oil and other products, means that the integrity of the DRC’s forests hangs in a critical balance.

Recognizing the important role of – and demands on – its forest ecosystems, the DRC has partnered with the international community to improve forest sector governance and management. In 2002, the government enacted a new Forest Code that mandated a broad list of environmental, management and social requirements that would now apply to all logging operation titles in the DRC. In 2005, the DRC launched a multi-stakeholder forest title conversion process, or legal review, designed to evaluate the compliance of existing logging titles (allocated under the previous regulatory framework), in view of converting those “compliant” titles into new forest concessions, in line with the new Forest Code. Monitored by WRI, national NGOs and other international actors, this conversion process culminated in the cancellation of 91 out of the 156 titles submitted for conversion¹. The process was carried out with an unprecedented degree of transparency and broad multi-stakeholder participation in the DRC’s forest sector.

La République Démocratique du Congo: Portrait extensif de l’affectation du Domaine Forestier de l’État: This map from the Interactive Forest Atlas shows where forest concessions, protected areas, and geographic features are located throughout the DRC.

Despite these advances, the DRC government still faces a myriad of challenges in developing a comprehensive forest management and zoning process, as well as in the day-to-day monitoring of its forest-based activities such as logging, mining and agriculture. Among the principle obstacles is the lack of sufficient and accessible forest information, in combination with limited technical forest management capacity at national and local levels.

To begin to fill this gap, MECN-T partnered with WRI in 2006 to develop the Interactive Forest Atlas. Produced with support from USAID, the Atlas is freely and publicly available to any party working or interested in the DRC’s forest sector – affirming the governmnet’s new commitment to transparent resource management.

Stephen Haykin, two representatives from the Ministry of Environment, Nature Conservation, and Tourism, and Pierre Methot at the Atlas launch in Kinshasa.

Using a combination of GIS-based interactive maps and data sets, the Atlas and accompanying report provide an accurate presentation of activities occurring within the DRC forest sector. More specifically, the Interactive Forest Atlas begins to meet the needs of both the Congolese administration and non-governmental actors by integrating forest sector information into one, user-friendly, publicly available resource. As a “one stop shop” on logging activities, logging operator information, concession boundaries, and protected areas, the Atlas serves as a vehicle to help all stakeholders – from government ministries and private operators to NGOs and local communities – enforce regulations and defend their rights.

Future versions will expand upon the 2009 data included in this premier version. Through these updates, as well as continuous training of government, civil society, and private actors on how to use the Atlas to address their needs, WRI and MECN-T aim to ensure that the DRC economy develops on a sustainable track – for the benefit of the country’s fragile forests and the livelihoods dependent upon them.

The DRC Interactive Atlas is part of WRI’s suite of country-specific Atlases in the Congo Basin. WRI, through support from USAID’s CARPE program and in cooperation with local ministries and organizations, has produced and continues to update Atlases in the following countries:

Un atlas interactif aidera la République Démocratique du Congo à mieux gérer ses forêts

Le gouvernement et la population de la République Démocratique du Congo peuvent désormais suivre et surveiller les forêts et les concessions d’exploitation forestière de la deuxième forêt tropicale du monde.

Carte interactive

Ce mois-ci, WRI et le Ministère de l’Environnement, Conservation de la Nature et du Tourisme (MECN-T) de la République Démocratique du Congo (RDC) ont lancé le premier Atlas Interactif Forestier de la RDC– un système d’information basé sur le SIG (Système d’Information Géographique) et la cartographie qui vise à mettre en lumière les activités d’exploitation forestière du pays.

Couvrant les deux tiers du territoire du pays, les forêts de la RDC abritent une forte richesse en terme de biodiversité et possèdent l’une des plus forte réserve de puits de carbone de la planète. En plus de fournir des produits de bois précieux sur le marché international, les forêts de la RDC apportent les moyens de subsistance de dizaines de millions de citoyens congolais. Historiquement, le pays a connu de faibles taux de déforestation industrielle, causé par le coût élevé du transport des ressources forestières en dehors du pays et des décennies de guerre. Cependant, avec la paix et une stabilité politique relative retrouvées dans la région, des regards locaux et internationaux se sont portés vers les ressources forestières disponibles au sein des frontières de la RDC.

Porté par un rebond de la demande internationale de bois de production, en particulier des marchés asiatiques, les activités industrielles d’exploitation forestière sont maintenant en expansion à travers la RDC et le bassin du Congo. L’amélioration des infrastructures destinée à accroître l’accessibilité en milieu rural et l’intégration économique ont accéléré la dégradation des forêts, même dans les zones les plus reculées de la RDC. Les routes d’accès à des fins d’extraction et pour les activités agricoles locales ont fragmenté une grande partie du couvert forestier. De plus, une grande demande de charbon de bois provenant des centres urbains, combinée avec une population de subsistance de plus en plus agraires, ont fait des petits exploitants agricoles la principale menace pour la dégradation forestière.

Ces facteurs, combinés à une demande croissante pour la conversion des forêts en plantations industrielles de palmiers à huile et autres produits, signifie que l’intégrité des forêts de la RDC est menacé.

Reconnaissant le rôle important des écosystèmes forestiers et les menaces auxquelles ces derniers sont confrontés, la RDC a conclu un partenariat avec la communauté internationale pour améliorer la gouvernance et la gestion dans le secteur forestier. En 2002, le gouvernement a adopté un nouveau Code forestier, duquel a émané une liste étendue d’exigences environnementales et sociales qui s’appliquent désormais à tous les titres d’exploitation forestière du pays. En 2005, la RDC a lancé un processus de conversion des titres forestiers, ou un examen juridique, qui visait à évaluer la conformité des titres d’exploitation forestière existants (attribué en vertu de l’ancien cadre réglementaire), en vue de la conversion des titres « conforme » aux nouvelles concessions forestières, découlant du nouveau Code forestier. Surveillé par WRI, les ONG nationales et d’autres acteurs internationaux, ce processus de conversion a annulé 91 titres sur les 156 titres soumis à conversion. Le processus a été réalisé avec un degré de transparence sans précédent avec une large participation de multiples parties prenantes du secteur forestier.

Malgré ces progrès, le gouvernement est toujours confronté à une myriade de défis pour le développement d’une gestion forestière globale et d’un processus de zonage, ainsi que dans le suivi au jour le jour de ses activités forestières, telles que l’exploitation forestière et minière et l’agriculture. Parmi les principaux obstacles, se trouvent le manque d’information et l’accessibilité des massifs forestiers, en combinaison avec une capacité limitée de la gestion technique forestière au niveau national et local.

Pour commencer à combler cette lacune, le MECN-T a lancé un partenariat avec WRI en 2006 pour développer l’Atlas Interactif Forestier. Cet Atlas, réalisé avec le soutien de USAID, est disponible librement et publiquement à toutes les parties prenantes du secteur forestier de la RDC – ce qui confirme l’engagement du nouveau gouvernement congolais quant à la gestion transparente de ses ressources.

Par l’utilisation de données de provenances diverses et combinées à un SIG, l’Atlas et le rapport d’accompagnement donnent une présentation exacte des activités qui se déroulent au sein du secteur forestier en RDC. Plus précisément, l’Atlas interactif commence à répondre aux besoins de l’administration congolaise et des acteurs non-gouvernementaux en intégrant l’information du secteur forestier dans une seule ressource conviviale et accessible au public. Comme un “guichet unique” sur les activités d’exploitation forestière, l’information sur les opérateurs forestiers, les limites des concessions, et les aires protégées, l’Atlas est un véhicule pour aider toutes les parties prenantes - des ministères et des opérateurs privés aux ONG et communautés locales – à faire respecter les règlements et défendre leurs droits.

Les futures versions élargiront les données de 2009 inclus dans cette première version. Grâce à ces mises à jour, ainsi que la formation continue du gouvernement, la société civile, et les acteurs publics et privés sur l’utilisation de l’Atlas pour répondre à leurs besoins, le WRI et MECN-T visent à veiller à ce que l’économie de la RDC se développe sur une trajectoire durable - pour les bénéfices des forêts fragiles du pays ainsi que pour les citoyens qui en dépendent pour leur survie.

L’Atlas interactif de la RDC fait partie d’une collection d’Atlas spécifiques aux pays du Bassin du Congo. WRI, grâce au soutien du programme d’USAID CARPE et en coopération avec les ministères et organisations locales, a produit et continue de mettre à jour des atlas dans les pays suivants :

16 titles were appealed since the date of this publication and the DRC government is in the process of deeming a number of them “legal” forest concessions ↩

The Year in Illegal Logging: A Look Back

Craig Hanson — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 11:13:09 -0500

2010 was a significant year for global efforts to tackle illegal logging. Here’s a look back on some of that progress.

Long a problem in many of the world’s forests, illegal logging has unsustainable impacts. It deprives governments of tax revenue. It puts law-abiding companies at a competitive disadvantage. And it negatively impacts forest-dependent peoples, not to mention the world’s biodiversity and climate.

But 2010 brought encouraging news on the illegal logging front, and from both ends of the supply chain.

Let’s start with wood-producing countries. In July, the world learned from a Chatham House report that illegal logging fell by 50-75 percent during the past decade in Indonesia, Cameroon, and the Brazilian Amazon, three forest-rich nations. Better law enforcement, improved forest monitoring and increased focus on the issue all contributed to these improvements. More recently, Indonesia announced that it will deliberate a bill to toughen penalties for those involved in illegal logging, while Malaysia revised its Forest Act to stiffen penalties for illegal logging.

These are significant reductions and actions. Governments, many in the private sector, and civil society should be congratulated for their respective roles in these accomplishments.

2010 brought good news from wood-consuming countries, too. The United States indicated that it is serious about using the amended Lacey Act to curtail trade in illegal wood. For instance, reports came to light of a U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service seizure of tropical hardwoods from Peru and of movement on the investigation into Gibson’s alleged purchase of illegal wood from Madagascar.

Likewise, the European Union (EU) approved the EU Illegal Timber Regulation in 2010. Similar to Lacey, the law prohibits the sale in Europe of timber logged illegally under the rules of the country of origin. Furthermore, the Australian government recently announced plans to introduce a Lacey-like ban on illegal timber products.

Climate agreements regarding “Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation in developing countries” (REDD+) have the potential to reinforce existing efforts to curtail illegal logging. The same is true for the visionary forest-climate bilateral agreements between forest-rich countries such as Indonesia or Brazil and nations such as Norway.

The groundwork, therefore, appears to be laid for another year of progress. If so, 2011 would take a further cut out of the illegal cut.