Topic: honduras

RELEASE: 14 Latin American and Caribbean Countries Adopt an Ambitious Plan of Action to Improve Access Rights in the Region

Lauren Zelin — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 17:17:15 -0400

Fourteen Latin American and Caribbean countries adopted an ambitious Plan of Action to improve access rights in the region, including access to information, public participation, and access to justice. The plan, which was approved at a meeting in Guadalajara, Mexico, on April 16-17, 2013, seeks to implement the Latin American and Caribbean Declaration on Principle 10 that was signed at the Rio +20 Conference in June 2012, under which countries agreed to work towards a regional instrument to improve access rights.

The meeting began with Colombia and Honduras signing on to the LAC Declaration, a major accomplishment for all parties. The 14 countries that have now signed on include: Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Trinidad and Tobago, and Uruguay.

“The new Plan of Action shows political will to transform environmental justice and transparency in the region,” said Carole Excell, Senior Associate at the World Resources Institute and The Access Initiative. “It sets the pace and the agenda to tackle the challenges of negotiating a regional instrument to ensure access rights across Latin America and the Caribbean.”

Under the new 2013-2014 Plan of Action, the LAC countries have committed to:

Promote the Principle 10 Declaration and incorporate new signatories into the process;
Strengthen and highlight the progress made on rights of access to information, participation, and justice;
Promote active participation of civil society at the national level; and
Develop working groups to deliberate capacity-building and cooperation efforts, and determine the nature and scope of the regional instrument.

Ambassador Jose Balmaceda of Chile noted that the Plan of Action “is a strong political signal to the international community that we are responding in a responsible way to this commitment [to Principle 10] … It is the first time that government representatives from 14 countries and civil society sat down to debate – with transparency and trust – relevant issues for the future of the region. This is a testament to maturity in the region. We have been able to reach consensus on the Plan of Action that will allow us to move ahead on national processes and regional efforts. I am sure that this result will motivate other nations in the region to join the process.”

The Plan of Action includes a number of innovative provisions, including procedures for public participation in the regional process and its working groups. It will create opportunities for close South-to-South cooperation on rights to promote transparency, public participation, and access to justice, as well as a focus on increased support for effective implementation at the national level.

“We hope at the end of 2014 we can count on the development of an instrument on Principle 10 that establishes concrete actions to guarantee effective and informed participation to all citizens and communities of our region,” said Daniel Barragan, Ecuadorian Center for Environmental Law (Centro Ecuatoriane de Derecho Ambinental Ambiental), an environmental law NGO. “Soon we can have a voice and be a part of the decision making on the environment and natural resources.”

In addition to adopting the Plan of Action, members elected co-chairs to run the working groups. Costa Rica and Brazil were mandated to design the regional instrument on Principle 10 and Jamaica and Columbia were given the role to facilitate work on cooperation and capacity building.

Tuning In: Tracking Wood from Honduran Forests to U.S. Guitars

Sarah Parsons — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 13:30:14 -0500

Executive Summary

This study focuses on two supply chains for mahogany that originate in remote biodiversity-rich forests in Honduras. These supply chains were selected because they involve small forest community cooperatives that, compared with industrial operations, have a lower capacity to respond to market requirements for legal wood, including the U.S. Lacey Act.

The study describes two approaches used to minimize the risk of sourcing illegal wood. The first approach was to establish strong relationships with the suppliers and the second was to prefer certified wood. The main lessons from this study are:

The Lacey Act requirements had little or no impact on the way the buyers managed risk for these specific supply chains, because the buyers established supply chain control systems prior to 2008 to (a) secure a long-term supply of the product, and (b) implement corporate environmental/ social responsibility policies.
Supply-chain control systems, such as barcode tracking and chain-of-custody certification, are useful tools for enhancing assurances of legality. Long-term relationships with suppliers and commitments from buyers have been important for the successful implementation of these approaches, and critical to minimizing the risk of illegal wood.
Intermediaries and facilitators play a key role in building and strengthening the technical and administrative capacity of the cooperatives to harvest and process timber.
The community cooperatives in these supply chains face various challenges: inadequate law enforcement, competing land-use pressures, drug trafficking, and competition with illegal logging. Yet the sustained demand for high-value species such as mahogany provides a powerful incentive to maintain and strengthen forest community operations.
The supply-chain control approaches highlighted in this study work, in part, because of the high value of the end product, and, because of the financial assistance of external donors that have invested in building the technical capacity and social development of the community cooperatives. In-depth analysis to understand the financial viability of the operations without such support is needed.
Although the long-term financial sustainability of the community cooperatives is unclear, the perceived community and biodiversity benefits, along with the buyers’ interest in securing a long-term supply of legal wood, are strong incentives for all stakeholders to ensure their continued viability.

This issue brief is based on a review of relevant documents, visits to the field sites and processing facilities, and a series of interviews with stakeholders. A complementary video is available at the Forest Legality Alliance website.

RELEASE: New Assessment Finds Management Efforts are Insufficient to Protect Mesoamerican Reef

Michael Oko — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 11:40:11 -0500

First-ever Eco-Audit of the Mesoamerican Reef Countries

Editor’s note: Online resources, including verification documentation, a description of the Eco-Audit indicators, summary results and more, are available at: www.wri.org/reefs and www.healthyreefs.org

The first-ever Eco-Audit of the Mesoamerican Reef (MAR) countries finds that despite some positive management efforts, more needs to be done to protect the region’s coral reefs. The evaluation, entitled “2011 Eco-Audit of the Mesoamerican Reef Countries,” was carried out by the Healthy Reefs Initiative (HRI), in collaboration with the World Resources Institute (WRI), and nearly 40 local organizations, government agencies and companies. The results are being launched simultaneously in Belize, Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico.

The evaluation scored overall reef management as Fair (2.7 out of 5) across the region and for all thematic areas. This score indicates that, in general, the MAR ecosystem is not being adequately managed. The scores by country are: Belize 3.3, Honduras 2.7, Mexico 2.7 and Guatemala 2.2.

“Our evaluation has documented some positive steps in protecting reefs throughout the Mesoamerican region. However, there are many actions needed to protect the reefs that have been under discussion for decades. It’s time to complete and implement these actions,” said Dr. Melanie McField, director of the Healthy Reefs Initiative. “Reefs are a vital part of this region, providing both economic and cultural value to people in this area. We hope that this information will help to ensure that reefs can thrive for generations to come.”

The Mesoamerica Reef extends over 1,000 kilometers (over 600 miles), from Mexico to Honduras, and includes the Western Hemisphere’s longest barrier reef, located in Belize. Economies in the region are highly dependent on marine resources, especially from tourism and fishing industries. In Belize alone, the reef is estimated to contribute approximately $395 to $559 million (U.S.) in goods and services each year.

The Eco-Audit was developed and implemented using twenty-two standardized management indicators across seven thematic areas. This includes: Research, Education and Awareness, Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), Global Issues, Coastal Zone Management, Sustainability in the Private Sector, Ecosystem-based Fisheries Management, and Sanitation and Sewage Treatment. Over 300 supporting documents were provided as verification of the results.

“Through this highly collaborative process, involving diverse stakeholders, we have developed a collective understanding of reef management efforts supported by robust data,” said Benjamin Kushner, research analyst, World Resources Institute. “We hope that our transparently verified and publicly available results help coastal and fisheries managers, tourism operators, and others make smart decisions to create a healthy environment for reefs.”

“Stakeholders are now demanding unprecedented levels of transparency from organizations and governments, since our current economic and social conditions have been affected by unethical practices and a lack of transparency,” said Antonio Grijalba of PricewaterhouseCoopers Costa Rica. “This initiative has been a challenging process for HRI, but is a very important step to improve the transparency and accountability of the MAR region, align efforts to address the most critical issues, and share best practices to improve performance.”

To ensure the quality of the results, the financial and management auditing firm of PricewaterhouseCoopers Costa Rica reviewed the methodology and provided feedback on the processes and indicators, and the quality of the verification documentation.

The analysis revealed several key successes, including:

The extent of territorial sea included in MPAs is relatively high across the region;
Harmonization of regulations for the lobster fishery was a major regional success; and
There have been long-standing efforts to monitor reef health across the region, complemented by good availability of information on reef condition and threats.

However, it also showed key shortcomings, including:

A number of MPAs have been created, but their management is mostly inadequate;
Wastewater is not being treated at standards necessary to protect coral reefs; and
There is a lack of comprehensive coastal zone planning that has resulted in poorly planned and sited coastal developments.

This first Eco-Audit provides the foundation for subsequent Eco-Audits, which will be implemented every two years, assuring a routine accounting of efforts to improve the health of the MAR.

Read the analysis and find out more at: www.healthyreefs.org and www.wri.org/reefs

-END-

Contact:

Melanie McField, Director, Healthy Reefs Initiative (Belize City, Belize); email: mcfield@healthyreefs.org; tel: (501) 223-4898; or

Michael Oko, Director, Media Relations, World Resources Institute (Washington, D.C.); email: moko@wri.org; tel. (202) 729-7684

2011 Eco-Audit of the Mesoamerican Reef Countries

Maggie Barron — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 15:59:57 -0500

The Mesoamerican Reef (MAR) provides a diverse array of goods and services to the people of Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico. It is our shared heritage. Unfortunately, the health of the reef is declining, as documented by the 2008 and 2010 Report Cards published by the Healthy Reefs Initiative. The decline stems, at least in part, from inadequate management of threats to coral reefs. This Eco-Audit evaluates our efforts to protect and sustainably manage the region’s coral reefs; celebrates management success stories; and documents the extent to which recommended management actions have been implemented in Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico. It seeks to catalyze faster, more effective management responses and to increase accountability within the public and private sectors and among nongovernmental organizations (NGOs).

An Innovative, Rigorous Process

The Healthy Reefs Initiative (HRI), in collaboration with the World Resources Institute (WRI) and local partners, developed and implemented this first-ever multinational Eco-Audit of the Mesoamerican Reef Countries.

Evaluation criteria are comprehensive and inclusive.

Twenty-two standardized management indicators were developed across seven themes, such as fisheries management and coastal zone management. The Eco-Audit draws on input from a variety of NGOs, governmental agencies, and the private sector, and includes transparently verified and publicly available results. In September and October 2011, HRI and WRI convened four national workshops, whose purpose was for participants to collectively rank each indicator and to compile documents to verify the rankings.

Analysis is objective, science-based, and validated.

HRI and its regional partners are committed to maintaining audit standards that are unbiased, fact-based, transparent, and replicable. The financial and management auditing firm of PricewaterhouseCoopers Costa Rica (PwC) reviewed the methodology and provided feedback on the processes, indicators, and quality of the verification documentation.

Data quality will be enhanced over time.

This first Eco-Audit establishes a baseline regarding the status of reef ecosystem management efforts. The results are intended to guide data collection and compilation for future Eco-Audits, which will occur every two years. These biennial Eco-Audits and the biennial HRI Reef Report Cards will occur in alternating years, thereby providing a routine accounting of reef health and efforts to improve it. As data collection becomes more complete and the database grows, we anticipate that the Eco-Audit will evolve, becoming more quantitative and comprehensive in its evaluation of management efforts.

Slideshow

2011 Eco-Audit of Mesoamerica Reef Countries

View more presentations from World Resources Institute (WRI)

PRESS RELEASE: 75% of World’s Coral Reefs Currently Under Threat, New Analysis Finds

Michael Oko — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 21:55:53 -0500

“Reefs at Risk Revisited” report presents comprehensive analysis of threats to coral reefs

A new comprehensive analysis finds that 75 percent of the world’s coral reefs are currently threatened by local and global pressures. For the first time, the analysis includes threats from climate change, including warming seas and rising ocean acidification. The report shows that local pressures— such as overfishing, coastal development, and pollution— pose the most immediate and direct risks, threatening more than 60 percent of coral reefs today.

“Reefs at Risk Revisited,” the most detailed assessment of threats to coral reefs ever undertaken, is being released by the World Resources Institute with the Nature Conservancy, the WorldFish Center, the International Coral Reef Action Network, Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network, and the UNEP-World Conservation Monitoring Center, along with a network of more than 25 organizations. Launch activities are taking place in Washington, D.C., London, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Caribbean, Australia, and other locations around the world.

“This report serves as a wake-up call for policy-makers, business leaders, ocean managers, and others about the urgent need for greater protection for coral reefs,” said Dr. Jane Lubchenco, under secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and NOAA administrator. “As the report makes clear, local and global threats, including climate change, are already having significant impacts on coral reefs, putting the future of these beautiful and valuable ecosystems at risk.”

Local pressures – especially overfishing and destructive fishing – are causing many reefs to be degraded. Global pressures are leading to coral bleaching from rising sea temperatures and increasing ocean acidification from carbon dioxide pollution. According to the new analysis, if left unchecked, more than 90 percent of reefs will be threatened by 2030 and nearly all reefs will be at risk by 2050.

“Coral reefs are valuable resources for millions of people worldwide. Despite the dire situation for many reefs, there is reason for hope,” said Lauretta Burke, senior associate at WRI and a lead author of the report. “Reefs are resilient, and by reducing the local pressures we can buy time as we find global solutions to preserve reefs for future generations.”

The report includes multiple recommendations to better protect and manage reefs, including through marine protected areas. The analysis shows that more than one-quarter of reefs are already encompassed in a range of parks and reserves, more than any other marine habitat. However, only six percent of reefs are in protected areas that are effectively managed.

“Well managed marine protected areas are one of the best tools to safeguard reefs,” said Mark Spalding, senior marine scientist at the Nature Conservancy and a lead author of the report. “At their core, reefs are about people as well as nature: ensuring stable food supplies, promoting recovery from coral bleaching, and acting as a magnet for tourist dollars. We need apply the knowledge we have to shore up existing protected areas, as well as to designate new sites where threats are highest, such as the populous hearts of the Caribbean, Southeast Asia, East Africa and the Middle East.”

Reefs offer multiple benefits to people and the economy – providing food, sustaining livelihoods, supporting tourism, protecting coasts, and even helping to prevent disease. According the report, more than 275 million people live in the direct vicinity (30 km/18 miles) of coral reefs. In more than 100 countries and territories, coral reefs protect 150,000 km (over 93,000 miles) of shorelines, helping defend coastal communities and infrastructure against storms and erosion.

For the first time, the report identifies the 27 nations most socially and economically vulnerable to coral reef degradation and loss. Among these, the nine most vulnerable countries are: Haiti, Grenada, Philippines, Comoros, Vanuatu, Tanzania, Kiribati, Fiji, and Indonesia.

“The people at greatest risk are those who depend heavily on threatened reefs, and who have limited capacity to adapt to the loss of the valuable resources and services reefs provide,” said Allison Perry, project scientist at the WorldFish Center and a lead author. “For highly vulnerable nations – including many island nations – there is a pressing need for development efforts to reduce dependence on reefs and build adaptive capacity, in addition to protecting reefs from threats.”

The report is an update of “Reefs at Risk,” released by WRI in 1998, which served as an important resource for policymakers to understand and address the threats of reefs. The new report uses the latest data and satellite information to map coral reefs— including a reef map with a resolution 64 times higher than the original report.

“Through new technology and improved data, this study provides valuable tools and information for decision makers from national leaders to local marine managers,” said Katie Reytar, research associate at WRI and a lead author. “In order to maximize the benefits of these tools, we need policymakers to commit to greater action to address the growing threats to coral reefs.”

Find out more at: www.wri.org/reefs

# # # #

The World Resources Institute (WRI) is a global environmental think tank that goes beyond research to put ideas into action. We work with governments, companies, and civil society to build solutions to urgent environmental challenges. (www.wri.org)

The Nature Conservancy(TNC) is a leading conservation organization working around the world to protect ecologically important lands and waters for nature and people. The Conservancy and its more than one million members have protected more than 480,000 sq km of land and engage in more than100 marine conservation projects. The Conservancy is actively working on coral reef conservation in 24 countries, including the Caribbean and the Coral Triangle. (www.nature.org)

WorldFish Center is an international, nonprofit, nongovernmental organization dedicated to reducing poverty and hunger by improving fisheries and aquaculture. Working in partnership with a wide range of agencies and research institutions, WorldFish carries out research to improve small-scale fisheries and aquaculture. Its work on coral reefs includes ReefBase, the global information system on coral reefs. (www.worldfishcenter.org)

International Coral Reef Action Network (ICRAN) is a global network of coral reef science and conservation organizations working together and with local stakeholders to improve the management of coral reef ecosystems. ICRAN facilitates the exchange and replication of good practices in coral reef management throughout the world’s major coral reef regions. (www.icran.org)

United Nations Environment Programme-World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC) is an internationally recognized center for the synthesis, analysis, and dissemination of global biodiversity knowledge. UNEP-WCMC provides authoritative, strategic, and timely information on critical marine and coastal habitats for conventions, countries, organizations, and companies to use in the development and implementation of their policies and decisions. (www.unep-wcmc.org)

Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network (GCRMN) is an operational unit of the International Coral Reef Initiative (ICRI) charged with coordinating research and monitoring of coral reefs. The network, with many partners, reports on ecological and socioeconomic monitoring and produces Status of Coral Reefs of the World reports covering more than 80 countries and states. (www.gcrmn.org)

Reefs at Risk in the Atlantic/Caribbean

Maggie Barron — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 14:07:01 -0500

More than 75 percent of the coral reefs in the Atlantic region are at risk from local threats (i.e., coastal development, overfishing/destructive fishing, marine-based pollution, and/or watershed-based pollution), with over 30 percent in the high and very high threat categories. The least-threatened reefs are almost entirely in areas remote from large land areas, such as the Bahamas, the southern Gulf of Mexico, and the oceanic reefs of Honduras and Nicaragua. The insular Caribbean is particularly threatened: from Jamaica through to the Lesser Antilles, more than 90 percent of all reefs are threatened, with nearly 70 percent classified as high or very high threat.

Download hi-res version (JPEG, 2149 x 1575 px, 797 Kb)
View reefs at risk in Brazil
View global map of threats to coral reefs

Tropical Americas (Reefs at Risk Regional Map)

Richard Waite — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 12:45:02 -0400

About 9 percent of the world’s mapped reefs are found in this region, most of which are located along the Central American coast and off the Caribbean islands.

Our results indicate that almost two-thirds of reefs here are at risk (about one-third at high risk). Sedimentation from upland deforestation, poor agricultural practices, coastal development, pollution, and overfishing are major threats to many reefs here.[1][2]

Most reefs of the Antilles and Lesser Antilles (including Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Dominica, and Barbados) are under high potential threat.

Virtually all of the reefs of the Lesser Antilles are at risk.

Almost all reefs of the Florida Keys are at moderate threat, largely from coastal development, inappropriate agricultural practices, overfishing of target species such as conch and lobster, and pollution associated with development and farming.

Those of the Bahamas and the Yucatan Peninsula and the remoter reefs off Belize, Honduras, and Nicaragua are largely at low risk from mapped human activity.

During review of these final threat classifications, coral reef experts provided the following observations:

The Florida Keys reefs are classified as under medium threat from marine pollution and coastal development. This is regarded as a potential underestimate of threat.
The reefs off southern Belize are classified as being under high threat, largely from inland pollution and erosion. This is regarded as a potential overestimate of threat, relative to other reefs in that region.
The reefs off western Costa Rica were estimated to be under high threat from coastal development and inland pollution and erosion. One researcher suggested that this overestimates threat in that area.
Bermuda’s reefs are classified as being under high threat from overexploitation. This is an overestimate of current threat since the pot fishing industry was closed in 1990.

NOTES

S.C. Jameson, J.W. McManus and M.M. Spalding, State of the Reefs: Regional and Global Perspectives (Washington, DC) ICRI, U.S. Department of State, 1995), 6-7.
Jorge Cortes, “Status of the Caribbean Coral reefs of central America,” in Proceedings of the 8th International Coral Reef Symposium (Balboa, Panama, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, 1997), 339.

Maya Nut Trees Make A Comeback

Karen Bennett — Fri, 16 May 2008 12:43:07 -0400

In Central America, the Maya Nut is making it clear that trees are worth more standing than cut down.

Photo by elliebrown/Flickr

Trees are critical to the well being of forest inhabitants in Central America. Ironically though, many forest dependent communities find it pays more to cut trees down than to keep them standing. That’s because timber can be used for firewood, building material, or sold internationally, and cleared land can genreate income from agricultural products. Unfortunately, deforestation eliminates other ecosystem services that forests provide, such as climate regulation, soil retention, and water regulation. As current deforestation rates attest, many of these forest benefits have received little recognition.

That is starting to change. For the past few years, 56 women in Ixlu, Guatemala, which is located on the border of the Maya Biosphere Reserve, have discovered the financial potential of many of the forest’s often overlooked services. They founded a business to market the Maya Nut, also known as the Breadnut or Ramón. Dried and roasted, the Maya Nut can taste like chocolate or coffee and can be used to make cereal, cookies, cakes and other foods.

The Maya Nut is native to the rainforests of Central America, but it is currently endangered by unsustainable practices. But Alimentos Nutri Naturales, the business owned by the Ixlu women, recognizes that the Maya Nut has the potential to be one of the world’s most profitable non-timber forest products. They employ more than 650 people from the community, providing them with food and a steady income. The women of Ixlu have partnered with their local government to have Maya Nut given to schoolchildren as a nutritious snack.

The formation and success of this company is one outcome of work by the Equilibrium Fund, a non-profit organization dedicated to gathering indigenous knowledge on the value and uses of the Maya Nut tree and distributing that knowledge to local women in Central America. The Equilibrium Fund works with hundreds of villages in Nicaragua, Guatemala, and Honduras to provide them with the knowledge and incentives to maintain and replant Maya Nut forests. As a result, locals have planted 200,000 Maya Nut trees, with plans for many more. In the process they have conserved 90,000 hectares of existing forest. With this preservation comes increased food (one tree alone can be the source of up to 400 pounds of food every year), income, and stability (through climate regulation, erosion regulation, and other services) for the residents of these countries.

Value from the Maya Nut tree’s other ecosystem services is also being captured. The Equilibrium Fund recently started a project to reforest Maya Nut trees to offset carbon dioxide emissions. And women in Chinandega, Nicaragua are working with their local government to plant tens of thousands of trees to protect watersheds.

Maya Nut trees now provide a sustainable source of food and income to local populations while safeguarding Central American communities by regulating natural processes. According to one participant, Juan Jose Interiano, “I cut four huge Maya Nut trees this year because I thought they were worthless, now I am reforesting because I know how valuable they are.”

Poor in Senegal Denied Benefits of Forest Resources

Jesse Ribot — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 17:33:22 -0400

In many developing countries, forestry policies systematically exclude the poor from the wealth of the forests around them. Senegal provides an interesting example of how even good policies can fail to deliver the benefits they are intended to provide.

I wrote about this phenomenon as it occurs in both Senegal and Nicaragua (with reference to Mali, Honduras, Cameroon, Uganda, Brazil and India) in a study co-authored with Anne Larson of the Center for International Forestry (CIFOR), and published in the Journal of Sustainability Science.

Rural populations in Senegal lose out because they are denied access to forests and access to commercial trade. To be allowed to manage their own forests, rural communities must develop and use management plans approved by the National Forest Service (NFS). These plans are expensive to develop and require great labor to implement. It’s also not clear that they are ecologically necessary.

Meanwhile largely urban-based merchants hire migrant laborers to produce charcoal using traditional kilns, without having to present management plans. As a result, they can produce at lower cost, and without the responsibility for forest management.

Until 1998, the system of forest management in Senegal remained highly centralized, involving a system of licenses, permits, and quotas allocated by the NFS. The NFS fixed annual quotas for charcoal production, allocating them to their urban-based merchant allies. The 1998 forestry code eliminated the quotas as of February 2001, passing production decisions to local governments and rural councils. But despite the legal changes, the NFS continues to control forest access, issuing quotas and permits—as if no laws had changed.

NFS officials and agents claim that the quotas are based on national charcoal demand and available forest supply. But they do not really have sufficient data to know. The NFS has steadily lowered quotas as a “forest protection” measure, despite continued high demand, giving rise to illegal production to satisfy the shortages.

Meanwhile, rural communities continue to be excluded from forest management and policy development, not to mention being subject to double standards and arbitrary enforcement. As a result, their poverty continues, and they do not share in the benefits that the changes in law were nominally intended to provide.

Unfair Forestry Policies Abet Poverty, Finds New Study

Jon Talbot — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 11:41:00 -0400

Unfair government policies fail to benefit poor people who live in the forests of many developing countries. Those same policies fail even to protect forests, according to a new study.

Double standards and arbitrary enforcement are the main culprits. In Senegal, for example, rural communities must produce and follow detailed forestry management plans, while corporations need only a simple permit. In Honduras, authorities ensure that community groups follow certain regulations, while ignoring the activities of corporations bound by the same laws. Similar stories have played out in Mali, Honduras, Cameroon, Uganda, Brazil, Nicaragua and India, according to the study.

“People in poverty are not just left behind by government policy. They are excluded,” said Jesse Ribot of the Institutions and Governance Program of the World Resources Institute and co-author of the report. “Deliberate policy choices, including some environmental laws and decisions by environmental agencies, are a major cause of that exclusion.”

With an estimated 80 percent of the world’s forests on state-owned land, and 1.6 billion people dependent on forests for their livelihoods, government decisions about the use of forests are all-important to the effort to eradicate poverty.

“History shows us that the traditional model of ‘scientific forestry’ management focuses on maximizing profit for a few,” said Anne M. Larson of the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), the study’s other co-author. “Governments have the ability – and we would argue the obligation – to use these resources to combat poverty by first reexamining their forest policies.”

Forestry laws in many countries have changed very little since European colonists emphasized control of natural resources with no safeguards for the forest dwellers and few for the health of the environment. More participation in drafting forest policies by the people who live in the forested areas might help reduce poverty and the natural landscape, the study concludes.

“The poverty of forestry policy: Double standards on an uneven playing field” is published in Volume 2, Number 2 of the Journal of Sustainability Science, and is also available at www.wri.org.

The Poverty of Forestry Policy: Double Standards on an Uneven Playing Field

Jesse Ribot — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 18:15:02 -0400

Can policies designed to maximize exploitation by elites benefit the people who live in forests? Forestry policy throughout the developing world originates from European “scientific” forestry traditions exported during the colonial period. These policies were implemented by foreign and local elite whose interest was to maximize and extract profit. In spite of reforms since the end of the colonial period, policies on the environment usually remain biased against rural communities. Even when more recent policies are fair, the rural poor face severe biases in implementation. In addition, they must compete on an uneven playing field of ethnic and other social inequities and economic hurdles. This article examines how forestry policy and implementation maintain double standards on this uneven playing field in a manner that permanently excludes the rural poor from the natural wealth around them—producing poverty in the process. Change that would support poverty alleviation for forest-based communities requires a radical rethinking of forest policy so as to counterbalance widespread regressive policies and structural asymmetries.

Watershed Analysis for the Mesoamerican Reef

Richard Waite — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 00:00:00 -0500

En Español

Under the Watershed Management Theme of the ICRAN MAR partnership, WRI led a two-year, collaborative effort to evaluate the land-based threats posed to the Mesoamerican Reef (MAR) from human alterations of the landscape.

The analysis quantifies sediment and nutrients coming from over 400 watersheds that discharge along the MAR. The analysis seeks to inform land-use planning, agricultural policy and practice, conservation priorities, and coastal threat mitigation efforts. It is the first of this scope and level of detail for the MAR region.

Specifically, the analysis evaluates the amount of sediment and nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorous) coming from each plot of land; the amount of eroded sediment and nutrients reaching the river mouth; and the amount of sediment reaching the reef. It also provides estimates of the increases in sediment and nutrient delivery that have resulted from human activities, and predictions of future sediment and nutrient delivery in 2025 based on varying land-use scenarios.

The results provide a preliminary overview of regional patterns of sediment and nutrient runoff and delivery, and indicate how human alteration of the landscape can influence these patterns.

To ensure that the project’s results and analytical methods support concrete action, WRI has made the underlying data, analytical methods, and modeling tools publicly available, and has conducted extensive training sessions in the region. Policymakers can implement targeted analyses in smaller areas, calibrating them to local conditions.

Watershed Analysis for the Mesoamerican Reef Data CD – The CD contains all data used in the analysis, with accompanying metadata as well as all of the model results. To order the CD, please contact reefsatrisk@wri.org or lagudelo@icran.org.

En Español

Bajo el componente de Manejo de Cuencas de la Alianza ICRAN-MAR, el Instituto de los Recursos Mundiales (WRI) lideró un esfuerzo colaborativo de dos años para evaluar las amenazas sobre el Arrecife Mesoamericano (MAR) provocadas por alteraciones humanas al paisaje terrestre.

El análisis cuantifica el sedimento y los nutrientes provenientes de 400 cuencas que descargan en el MAR. El propósito de este análisis es proporcionar información para los planes ordenamiento territorial, las políticas y prácticas agrícolas, las prioridades de conservación y los esfuerzos de mitigación de amenazas costeras. Este análisis es el primero de este alcance y nivel de detalle para la región del MAR.

El análisis evalúa la cantidad de sedimento y nutrientes (nitrógeno y fósforo) que se originan en cada parcela de tierra, la cantidad de sedimento erosionado y nutrientes que drenan a la desembocadura de los ríos, así como la cantidad de sedimento que llega al arrecife. Adicionalmente, el análisis proporciona un valor estimado de los incrementos en sedimento y descarga de nutrientes que han resultado como consecuencia de actividades humanas; también entrega varias predicciones de descarga de sedimento y nutrientes para el año 2025, basadas en diferentes escenarios de uso del suelo.

Los resultados proporcionan una visión general de los patrones regionales de escorrentía y descarga de sedimentos y nutrientes, e indican cómo la alteración humana del paisaje puede influir sobre estos patrones.

Para garantizar que los resultados del proyecto y los métodos analíticos apoyen acciones concretas en la región, WRI ha dispuesto que los datos de base, los métodos analíticos y las herramientas de modelación estén disponibles al público en general, y ha efectuado extensas sesiones de entrenamiento en la región. Los encargados de desarrollar políticas pueden realizar análisis más específicos en áreas más pequeñas, calibrando estas herramientas a sus condiciones locales.

Análisis de Cuencas para el Arrecife Mesoamericano CD – contiene todos los datos utilizados en el análisis, así como los metadatos de acompañamiento y los resultados de la modelación. Para ordenar el CD, por favor contácte reefsatrisk@wri.org o lagudelo@icran.org.

Topic: honduras

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