INCORPORATING CERTIFICATION INTO A PROPOOR FORESTRY AGENDA: LESSONS FROM, AND OPTIONS FOR, THE ASIAP

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INCORPORATING CERTIFICATION INTO A PRO-POOR
FORESTRY AGENDA LESSONS FROM, AND OPTIONS FOR,
THE ASIA-PACIFIC REGION

• Henry Scheyvens, Kazuhiro Harada, Kimihiko
  Hyakumura
• Institute for Global Environmental Strategies
• Paper delivered at the International Conference
  on Poverty Reduction and Forests Tenure, Market
  and Policy Reforms, Bangkok, Thailand, 3-7
  September 2007

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BACKGROUND

• public policies fail to control illegal logging
  or check rates of forest loss and degradation
• forest certification emerges as a market-based,
  voluntary instrument to identify products sourced
  from forests managed according to a set of
  minimum sustainability standards
• remarkable expansion in global certified forest
  area and growth in number of certification
  schemes

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(No Transcript)
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PROBLEM STATEMENT

• forest certification has favoured developed over
  developing countries, temperate over tropical
  forests and large over small forest enterprises
• certification has reached less than 1 of
  community forests and that, without major changes
  to the certification schemes, is unlikely to
  reach more than 2 of community forests in the
  next decade (Molnar 2003 )

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Certification of forests managed by small forest
enterprises in the Asia Pacific region
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RESEARCH QUESTIONS

• Under what conditions is certification of forests
  managed by small forest enterprises a
  cost-effective means to promote sustainable
  forest management?
• What models are effective for small forest
  enterprises in developing countries to achieve,
  maintain and utilise forest certification?
• How can certification be made more accessible to
  small forest enterprises?

Eco-label hammer marker, FPCD, PNG
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ANALYTICAL FRAMEWORK

• Case study analysis of three innovative
  certification models
• Analytical Framework
• Assessment of prevailing conditions
• Assessment of the effectiveness of the model to
  achieve, maintain (sustainability) and utilise
  forest certification
• Analysis of how the effectiveness and
  sustainability of the model might be strengthened
  and its potential for replication
• Comparative analysis

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CASE STUDY METHODOLOGY AND LOGISTICS

• Site observations
• Semi-structured interviews with participants and
  other forest stakeholders at local, provincial
  and national levels
• Document/literature review
• Collaborators Papua New Guinea - Foundation for
  People and Community Development Indonesia,
  Faculty of Forestry, Gadjah Mada University
  Laos, Faculty of Forestry, National University of
  Laos

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CASE STUDY MODELS

• Foundation for People and Community Development
  (FPCD) Community Forestry Approach (CFA), Madang
  Province, Papua New Guinea (PNG)
• Innovation Stepwise approach complex set of
  professional inputs
• PERSEPSI model for implementation of PHBML,
  Wonogiri Regency, Java, Indonesia
• Innovation National standard for community-based
  forest management certification
• Sustainable Forestry and Rural Development
  Project (SUFORD) Participatory Sustainable Forest
  Management model (PSFM), Khammouane and
  Savannakhet Provinces, Laos
• Innovation sustainable forest management groups
  in each province include forestry staff and
  village representatives

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CASE STUDY 1 FPCD COMMUNITY FORESTRY APPROACH,
MADANG PROVINCE, PNG
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BACKGROUND BASIS OF CERTIFICATION IN PNG

• Conceptual foundation Eco-forestry
• Technological foundation portable sawmill

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FPCD OVERVIEW

• Papua New Guinean non-government, not-for-profit
  organisation
• Objectives
• To train and build the capacity of forest
  resource owners to manage and develop their own
  forest resources.
• To establish models of good forestry practices in
  the various aspects of forestry work as a
  showcase and
• To promote and advocate good forestry practices
  at national, regional and international levels.

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ELEMENTS OF THE COMMUNITY FORESTRY APPROACH (CFA)
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FPCDS STEPWISE APPROACH TO FOREST CERTIFICATION

• Step 1 trees milled from areas cleared for
  gardens or from trees left on the ground after
  the logging of concession areas in line with ITTG
  standard
• Step 2 eco-timber under the ITTG label produced
  from set-ups in the resource owners forests
• Step 3 forest management is audited by a
  certification body and timber from the set-ups is
  sold as certified timber

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ACHIEVEMENTS

• Retained small team of highly competent
  professional Papua New Guinean foresters
• Developed sophisticated model sustainable
  management of ecologically complex moist natural
  tropical forests by indigenous resource owners
• Built awareness and capacity of resource owners
  to harvest and mill timber according to
  international standards and market demands
• Exported several containers of eco-timber
• Supported development of strong landowner
  association, with its own business arm
• Provided guidance for constructive use of income
  from eco-timber sales
• Acquired FSC group certification in 2007 for
  Indigenous Community Forest Group Scheme

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CHALLENGES

• Making portable sawmills available to resource
  owners
• Developing innovative means to transport timber
• Full costing of inputs and appropriate assignment
  of costs
• Passing over responsibilities to CBO
• Expansion of number of certified producers

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CASE STUDY 2 PERSEPSI MODEL TO IMPLEMENT PHBML
IN CENTRAL JAVA, INDONESIA
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BACKGROUND

• Lembaga Ekolabel Indonesia (LEI) established in
  1996
• LEI introduces scheme (PHBML) for certifying
  community-based forest management in 2002
• 1st PHBML certificates granted to two villages
  (Sumberejo and Selopuro ) in Wonogiri Regency,
  Java in October 2004

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VILLAGES CONDUCIVE TO CERTIFICATION, BUT . . .

• Possessed rich planted forests
• Located in dry, stony upland areas with thin
  topsoils 30 years ago began tree planting to
  stabilise hill slopes and for income source
• Established farmers groups
• Were managing forests sustainably
• But
• Lacked knowledge of certification
• Lacked capacity to meet certification standards
• Lacked the necessary institutional set-up
• Lacked financial resources
• Lacked links to international markets

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PERSEPSI MODEL FOR PHBML IN WONOGIRI

• Preliminary study
• Socialisation programme - Multi-stakeholder
  process (PERSEPSI, LEI, WWF, local people)
  including workshops
• Formation of farmer organisations
• Training on
• Community forest management
• Community forest mapping
• Inventory of the community forest, including
  potential wood supply
• PHBML
• Community forest mapping
• Forest inventory
• Assessment of the forest management unit
• Submission of documents for certification
• Linkage with buyers
• Introduction of micro-finance

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ACHIEVEMENTS

• All private forests in the two villages certified
  under PHBML in Oct. 2004
• I sale of certified timber
• Enlisted local government support
• Local sense of pride

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CHALLENGES

• Matching timber supply with demand
• Winning market recognition for the PHBML standard
• Providing support for villagers not to cut trees
  on a need-for-cash basis
• Including cost recovery for annual auditing and
  5-yearly reassessments

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CASE STUDY 3 SUSTAINABLE FORESTRY AND RURAL
DEVELOPMENT PROJECT (SUFORD) PARTICIPATORY
SUSTAINABLE FOREST MANAGEMENT MODEL (PSFM), LAOS
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BACKGROUND

• Laos gradually moving towards decentralized,
  participatory approach to sustainable management
  of natural forests for production since early
  1990s
• Village Forestry model piloted under Forest
  Management and Conservation Project (FOMACOP,
  1995-2000)
• Village forest associations (VFA) granted 50-year
  forest lease
• VFA develops 10-year Forest Management Plan and
  Annual Operational Plan for sustained-yield
  logging implement with technical advice from
  district/provincial forest offices
• villagers have right to harvest/sell timber
• proportion of log sales placed in village fund
• SUFORD Participatory Sustainable Forest
  Management model for production forests informed
  by Village Forestry and aims for forest
  certification in two Provinces

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PARTICIPATORY SUSTAINABLE FOREST MANAGEMENT MODEL

• Province establishes Group Management
  Certification Unit
• Provincial forestry offices (PFO) plan/administer
  production forest areas
• SUFORD provides technical advice mainly to PFO,
  which trains district forestry office and
  villagers
• Village groups representing several villages are
  established
• Under PFO supervision, District Agriculture and
  Forestry Extension Offices (DAFEO) and village
  groups make agreement on forest management
  activities
• DAFEO and village groups jointly manage certified
  forest
• DAFEO and village groups conduct survey and
  timber harvesting
• Profits from log sales shared 30 - government
  tax 20 - forest development fund (all of forest
  management activities) managed by PFO 25 -
  production forest management activities managed
  by PFO 25 - rural development fund managed by
  village groups

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ACHIEVEMENTS AND CHALLENGES

• Achievements
• Both Group Management and Certification Units
  acquired FSC group certification for
  Participatory Sustainable Forest Management in
  2005/2006
• Challenges
• PFOs supported by SUFORD effectively manage the
  certified forests and the DAFEO and the village
  groups follow their instructions
• Cost recovery needs attention - still too much
  reliance on the project budget and external
  funders
• No certified timber sold
• Log tracking and marking system do not meet FSC
  requirements claims of illegal harvesting
• Forest management plan does not meet FSC
  requirements for high conservation value forest

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SELECTED FINDINGS OF COMPARTIVE ANALYSIS

• Economic benefits are potentially significant,
  but not assured
• Impacts can be wide-ranging and unexpected
• Producing volumes/quality demanded by
  international markets is a major challenge
• Certification-plus models needed
• Concrete policy support necessary
• Cost assignment/recovery needs attention
• Space for national schemes to thrive required
• Stepwise approaches need to be explored
• Regional platform for information sharing
  desirable
• Forest certification should not be pursued before
  weighing against alternative instruments

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THANK YOU

• Eco-timber, PNG
• PSFM, Laos