International%20Forest%20Policy%20Helsinki,%20August%208th,%202006

1
International Forest Policy Helsinki, August
8th, 2006

• Sustainable Forest Management Need for
  International Policies
• Markku Simula
• University of Helsinki
• Department of Forest Economics

2
Outline of the Presentation

• 1. Global perspectives
• 2. Need for international policy on forests
• 3. Policy instruments
• 4. International regulatory framework
• 5. Governance
• 6. Problems and barriers to international policy
  development
• 7. Need for national action
• 8. Conclusions

3
Some Basic Global Facts

• About 48 of the worlds forest cover is in
  Europe, North America and Oceania, the rest in
  developing countries
• About 73 of the industrial roundwood removals
  are produced in developed countries
• About 74 of the world imports of wood-based
  products go to developed countries, about 81 of
  exports come from there
• ? But the latter figures are bound to change (as
  a result of plantations)

4
Globalization and Forestry - Selected Aspects

• Global awareness of environmental and forestry
  problems, greening of values
• Weakening role of nation state
• Increasing international regulation
• Liberalization and expansion of international
  trade
• Increase in foreign direct investment (FDI),
  relocation of processing
• Concentration of ownership of industry and
  distribution channels
• Global standardization of global actors
• Monitoring of financial flows and increased
  transparency
• Increasing role of stakeholder groups (NGOs,
  industry, forest owners, etc.) through global
  networking

5
Forest Policy Idiosyncracies

• Genuine conflicts of interest between
  stakeholders (environmental, social and economic
  interests) calls for more protection but also
  for poverty reduction, income and employment
  creation
• Need for land agricultural expansion based on
  forests as the land reserve
• Calls for increased international regulation but
  also for increased liberalization
• Calls for public support to SFM but also for
  reduced public funding to SFM
• Transfer of ownership and management to private
  sector and communities and calls for better
  control
• Diverging interests between investors and nations
• Many conflicts have an international dimension
  (incl. use of foreign card)
• Idiosyncracy characteristic peculiarity

6
Need for International Policy Public Goods

• Forests provide public goods (biodiversity
  maintenance, watershed protection, mitigation of
  climate change, amenity)
• Public goods are not compensated by the market
• They are non-excludable, non-rivalry
• They are outcomes rather than goods (or
  services)
• Beneficiary dimensions
• intergenerational
• nations
• income levels
• Key problems
• maintenance
• free riders
• trade-offs

7
Types of Policy Instruments

• 1. Substantive policy instruments (direct
  government intervention)
• Legislation and other regulation (e.g. taxation)
• Legally binding commitments (e.g. EU emissions)
• Non-legally binding commitments (e.g. UNCED
  Forest Principles)
• Financial (taxation, subsidies, etc.)
• Informational (training, communication,extension)
• 2. Procedural policy instruments (indirect impact
  by government)
• Criteria Indicators (CI) for SFM
• National Forestry Programmes
• 3. Voluntary instruments by the private sector
  Certification (voluntary market
  based) Codes of conduct

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International regulatory framework
Sustainable Development
9
International regulatory framework

Sustainable Development
Trade (WTO) - tariffs - non-tariffs
barriers - intellectual property rights
- phytosanitary measures - public
procurement - subsidies
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International regulatory framework
International regulatory framework

Sustainable Development
Trade (WTO) - tariffs - non-tariffs
barriers - intellectual property rights
- phytosanitary measures - public
procurement - subsidies
Environment - biodiversity (CBD) -
climate change (UNFCCC) - desertification
(CCD) - wetlands (Ramsar)
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International regulatory framework

Sustainable Development
Forests - CITES - ITTO
Trade (WTO) - tariffs - non-tariffs
barriers - intellectual property rights
- phytosanitary measures - public
procurement - subsidies
Environnement - biodiversity (CBD)
- climate change (UNFCCC) - desertification
(CCD) - wetlands (Ramsar)
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Summary of Instruments and Processes
13
Governance Change

• Shift from OLD governance (command and control
  approach) largely failure
• to NEW governance (coordination and coherence
  among a wide variety of private and public actors
  with different purposes and objectives) because
  of complexities
• Likely optimum mixture of OLD and NEW problem
  of finding the balance
• Broadening the range of policy makers
• Policy learning becomes important through
  networking, accountability and responsiveness

14
Forest Governance Concepts

• International forest deliberations
• National forest programmes
• Third-party auditing, forest certification and
  related instruments to address market and public
  demands
• Decentralization
• Devolution of public rights (privatization,
  community management)
• Self-organization

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Problems of Current International Framework

• Multitude of instruments and forums with specific
  objectives
• Fragmentation of the international forestry
  regime
• Weak central forest policy forum (UNFF)
• Ad hoc initiatives to fill the vacuum
  continuously changing agenda (IFM, SFM, ecosystem
  management, landscape restoration, etc.)
• Lack of adequate funding mechanism for SFM

16
International Financing of SFM

• Weak information private sector about USD10
  billion, official development assistance (ODA)
  about USD 1.8 billion per year
• ODA flows through bilateral agencies, development
  financing agencies, international organizations
• Fragmented financial architecture NFP Facility,
  PROFOR in World Bank, ITTO Bali Partnership Fund,
  GEF (OP 15), etc.
• Calls for Global Forest Fund from new and
  additional resources but limited support among
  sources of funding
• ? More important than ODA volume is
  effectiveness in its use and how private sector
  flows can be directed to SFMs

17
Additional Barriers to International Policy
Development

• Sovereignty issues
• Equity issues
• Special case USA
• Stakeholder conflicts of interest
• Political will, vested interests

18
National Action for International Policy

• International agreements/commitments are to be
  implemented and progress to be reported
  (compatibility with national priorities and
  situations)
• Need for interagency coordination (different
  agencies responsible for different
  instruments/processes)
• Integration of action through NFPs
• Continuous reworking of comparative advantage and
  carving of market niches at national level

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Conclusions

• Need for stronger international forestry regime,
  continuous challenge
• Need for a strong, coordinating policy forum
• Poverty linkage
• Stakeholder education and participation
• What next in fashion? (post-MDG)

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• Thank You and
• Good Luck with the Course
• markku.simula_at_ardot fi