Forest financing in SIDS: Feedback from Background

PapersBenjamin Singer

United Nations Forum on Forests

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Objectives• Immediate objective: to improve the

understanding of SFM and related financing policies and mechanisms for SFM in LFCCs and SIDS

present financing flows demand for financing problems, challenges and opportunities in mobilizing financing enabling environment for enhanced forest financing recommendations

• Ultimate objective: to facilitate additional financing for forests in LFCCs & SIDS, and to reverse the decline in official development assistance for SFM

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Study covered 49 LFCCs and 38 SIDS; total 87 countriesIncluding 7 case study countries of which 4 were LFCCs - a reasonably representative set:

• Jordan • Kyrgyzstan • Mali • Uruguay • Cape Verde • Fiji • Trinidad and Tobago

Scope

Methodology

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• Data mining: available documents, reports and statistics

• Email survey for 87 countries• In-depth country case studies (7) using broad cross-sectoral consultations

• Analyzing and summarizing collected information• Products: 11 papers

– 4 macro level papers– 7 case study papers

Challenges• Survey response rate was very low

Serious capacity constraintsForests simply not a priority issue in political

agenda in many of the countries• Earlier reports in study countries not available• Specific data on SIDS not available (e.g.

agriculture and forest linkages, livestock and forest linkages)

• Cross-sectoral coordination and even information exchange a serious problem in many countries

• Collecting relevant cross-sectoral information at country level requires patience and dedication

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Forestry ODA in SIDS 2002-2008

SIDS share of total forestry ODA 2002-2008

Forestry ODA contributions by donor in SIDS 2002-2008

Percentage forestry ODA by country in SIDS 2002-2008

Allocation of forestry ODA for SIDS by theme 2002-2008

SIDS face several challenges...• Small surface area

= competition for land • Hotspots of endemicity and biodiversity • Economic and ecological vulnerability• Forests not considered a major source

of income• Heavy reliance on ODA

... But also have opportunities

• Need to reach out to other sectors• Full range of forest products and

services needs to be recognized • Integrated approach to finance

planning • Greater focus more on education

and training

Thank you for your attention!

UN Forum on Forests Secretariat1 UN Plaza, DC1-1245, New York, NY 10017email: unff@un.org web: http://www.un.org/esa/forests