“Seeing People through the Trees”“Seeing People through the Trees”“Seeing People through the Trees”“Seeing People through the Trees”Recognizing Rights, Advancing Development and

Addressing Major Global Challenges

Andy White

Trondheim Conference “Ecosystems and People – Biodiversity for

Development”

Wednesday, 31 October 2007

Introduction

• MDGs overtaken by politically pressing issues of security security security security – energy, national, environmental (climate and water)

• Problems behind MDG’s are same (in many cases) as those behind insecurityinsecurityinsecurityinsecurity – political marginalization, poverty, inequity, lack of respect for human rights and democratic processes

• Challenges converging on 30% of earth’s surface that is considered “forest” – poor and poorly governed

• Rights and democratic governance –not only moral moral moral moral imperative but social social social social and economic, and ecological and economic, and ecological and economic, and ecological and economic, and ecological imperativeimperativeimperativeimperative

• Prospects never been so daunting, real opportunities never so great

What is so Daunting?

• Biggest transition in

human history

• Risk of:

• Expanded civil conflicts,

• Continued deforestation and

increased carbon emission

• Further social and political

marginalization of rural and

forest peoples

• Haven’t dealt with past,

not equipped for the

future.

Outline

• Rights, governance and major global challenges

– Human and Civil Rights• Marcus Colchester (Forest People’s Programme)

– Poverty• William Sunderlin (Rights and Resources Group)

– Conflict• Doris Capistrano, Ruben de Koning, Yurdi Yasmi (CIFOR)

– Climate Change• Juergen Blaser, Carmenza Robledo (Intercooperation)

– Conservation• Gill Shepherd, Bob Fisher, Stewart Maginnis, Jeff Sayer (IUCN)

• Implications

• Ways forward

Rights and Governance(Marcus Colchester)

’Own, control, use and peacefully enjoy their lands, territories and other resources’• Own - property rights

• Control – civil and political rights

• Use – economic rights

• Enjoy – social and cultural rights

• Peacefully – Basic human rights

The Problem

Exclusionary models of ‘Scientific Forestry’• Empowered corporate and

dominant political interests at the expense of forest peoples

• Denied the rights of communities and indigenous peoples

• Made much customary use illegal or insecure

• Caused resentment, cultural loss• Forced people out of forests, • Restricted their access and use of

forests and farms• Allocated lands and forests to

other interests thus undermining livelihoods

• Exacerbated poverty• Generated poor governance

The Scale of the Problem

• 100s of millions live in forests

• Maybe over half of these regulate their use and access by customary law

• Poor people & poor data, lack of censuses, a symptom of their political marginalisation

• Unfinished business!!!

Poverty(William Sunderlin)

• Approximately 1 billion people depend on fuelwood; far fewer depend on other forest products (food, forage, wood, medicines)

• Hundreds of millions of people live in forested areas and many are “poor”

• The vast majority of forest dwellers do not have secure tenure to forest lands and resources

• Women are especially disadvantaged because of both legal and cultural exclusion in property rights

• Indigenous peoples and ethnic minorities often live in forested areas and are often the “poorest of the poor”

• Poverty rates high in dense forest, though poverty density low

• Poverty density higher in open forest

“Bottom Billion” - Resource Curse

-1.00%

-0.50%

0.00%

0.50%

1.00%

1.50%

2.00%

2.50%

3.00%

3.50%

Africa Asia & Oceania L America & Caribbean Developing World

Ave

rag

e A

nn

ual

GD

P P

er C

apit

a G

row

th 1

975-

2004

High Forest Countries* Low Forest Countries

... failure of governance

Countries with focus Countries with focus Countries with focus Countries with focus on export of primary on export of primary on export of primary on export of primary forest commodities forest commodities forest commodities forest commodities underunderunderunder----perform in perform in perform in perform in governance governance governance governance indicatorsindicatorsindicatorsindicators

(ITTO producer (ITTO producer (ITTO producer (ITTO producer countries)countries)countries)countries)

Forests in conflict zones since 1990(Doris Capistrano, Ruben de Koning, Yurdi Yasmi (CIFOR)

1272.429Total

-104Europe/ Central

Asia/ N America

63521South/ Southeast

Asia

13504Latin America

521.300Africa

Population

threatened (x

1.000.000)

Sq km of forest

threatened

(x 1000)

Continent •9% of all forest, 20 % of forest in the tropics threatened, spread over 29 countries.

•Good news: armed conflicts are declining.

•Bad news: human rights violations continue at the same rate.

But where does the forest come in?

•Most threatened forest in Africa, most of 127 million forest dwellers potentially affected live in Asia.

Role of the forest and forest rights• In 25 out of 29 countries with considerable overlap, the forest played

a role.• In 15 of 25 forest was used as cover (Sierra Leone, Myanmar). • In 7 of 15 armed groups used forest for finance (Liberia, Cambodia).• In 9 out of 25 countries disputed forest access/ownership added to

grievances that motivated armed conflict, almost 40% (Philippines, Mexico).

• Equally, disputed tenure underlies about 40 % of localised low intensity forest related conflicts (118 Cases across the globe).

• Localised conflicts scale up (Indonesia/Kalimantan) and get tied up in war (Ivory Coast). Civil war leaves messy tenure situation and many local conflicts (Cambodia).

So what to do about it?

Preventing and mitigating forest related conflicts: Key lessons and actions

• Forest policies will not end war, and conflict is not always bad.

• Conflict prone countries and remote forests within these countries likely to lag behind.

• Donors need to adapt forestry agenda to high risk contexts, e.g.- Offer immediate technical assistance to push forestry reforms - Promote and insure high risk investment of well-intending enterprises

- Establish and fund independent service authorities in remote forests

• Rights based reforms are easier to achieve with regards to forests than other natural resources.

• Rights based forestry reforms can prevent conflict escalation. - Ownership clarification and negotiated access arrangements

- Support to community and smallholder forest enterprises - Local conflict management capacities and access to justice

- Unbiased forest law enforcement and increased public scrutiny

- Overall socio-economic and infrastructure investment

Forests play a central rolein climate change

Forests play a central rolein climate changeForests are vulnerable

Forests emitGHG

Forests can increase resilience,

fix and maintain carbon

Who owns the resource, who suffers from the impacts of CC and who benefits from addressing CC?

Who owns the resource, who suffers from the impacts of CC and who benefits from addressing CC?

Forest tenureForest tenure inin favourfavour ofof

local stakeholderslocal stakeholders

Public sector

• Clarified ownership andaccess to environm. services

• Participation in negotiations• Impact on national and local policies

Private sector

• Sharing benefits• Sharing responsibilities• Access to new businessopportunities

Civil society

• Sharing knowledge• Participatory decision-making• Empowerment• Capacity Building• Association forms

RecommendationsRecommendationsRecommendations

�� Seek spaces for dialogue among public sector, private sector andSeek spaces for dialogue among public sector, private sector and civil civil

society actors for governing the forests and addressing climate society actors for governing the forests and addressing climate change change

within the sectorwithin the sector

�� Support initiatives aimed at clarifying land tenure and use righSupport initiatives aimed at clarifying land tenure and use rights in favor of ts in favor of

local stakeholders (including local stakeholders (including envenv. . servserv. and C pools). and C pools)

�� Within the UNFCCC process, facilitate a better understanding of Within the UNFCCC process, facilitate a better understanding of the the

opportunities and constraints to address forestry issues in a maopportunities and constraints to address forestry issues in a manner nner

beneficial for local stakeholders, promote flexibility in existibeneficial for local stakeholders, promote flexibility in existing mechanism ng mechanism

and those to be negotiated post 2012and those to be negotiated post 2012

�� Promote pilot actions and design suitable adaptation and mitigatPromote pilot actions and design suitable adaptation and mitigation options ion options

simultaneously improving governance in the forest sectorsimultaneously improving governance in the forest sector

�� ““Unless robust and proactive steps are taken to clarify and strenUnless robust and proactive steps are taken to clarify and strengthen gthen

property rights of rural and forest peoples CC initiatives will property rights of rural and forest peoples CC initiatives will benefit the benefit the

relatively wealthy relatively wealthy –– reinforcing economic disparities reinforcing economic disparities

Emerging Consensus

There are detailed recommendations in background papers but two major lessons that emerge are:

• First is the centrality of recognition of rights, establishment of democratic processes and laying basic conditions for development; and

• Second is to put the current thinking on its head:

- focus on development in forest areas not on forests;

- establish rights and democratic processes -conservation etc. along with and part of process

- it is not to protect forests per se but establishing basic conditions for development that will protect forests

But there are reasons for hope

• Rural people are organizing

• (Some) governments are reforming

• Markets shifts provide more economic opportunity

• Conservation - rethinking

• Historic opportunity to build social and economic development in forests

• Development assistance can be much more effective

• Shift in thinking that forests are not landscapes that happen to have people but are humanscapes that happen to have trees

Examples of major tenure shifts underway (this year):

– China – collective forest reform, starting to reform public forests - priority of new Minister (SFA)

– Brazil – new law, regulations and agency– Indonesia – devolving 3-6 million hectares of

degraded forests to communities – India – Tribal forest rights Act enacted– Russia – devolving 100 million hectares to

concessions – private?– Canada – increasing access by indigenous and

other communities

Countries are beginning to act…This train is moving.

Key Forces Shaping Future: Increasing Pressure on Forest Lands

• Growth of the BRICs

• Growing Demand from Developing Economies

• Energy: Big Changes and Big Unknowns

• Forest Industry and Trade: From North to South, and back North?

50

100

150

200

250

300

Mar

-00

Mar

-01

Mar

-02

Mar

-03

Mar

-04

Mar

-05

Mar

-06

Mar

-07

(Ind

ex M

arch

200

0=10

0)

(USA) Ethanol (USA) Gasoline (Brazil) Non-Conifer Roundw ood

(USA) Corn Palm Crude oil (MYR/ton)

.

What to do - General Directions

1. Recognize the challenge, the

opportunity and the urgency

2. Look beyond the conventional

“forest” “conservation” and

“development” sectors and

encourage the active participation

of all relevant players (interior,

trade, military)

3. Base donor strategies on a

realistic reflection of what is and

is not working and from whose

perspective

Recommendations for Each Category

• Set in motion new thinking and Set in motion new thinking and Set in motion new thinking and Set in motion new thinking and

institutional reforms by adding value to institutional reforms by adding value to institutional reforms by adding value to institutional reforms by adding value to

learning and sharinglearning and sharinglearning and sharinglearning and sharing

• ExchangesExchangesExchangesExchanges

• CapacityCapacityCapacityCapacity

• DialoguesDialoguesDialoguesDialogues

• StudiesStudiesStudiesStudies

• InstitutionsInstitutionsInstitutionsInstitutions

• MarketsMarketsMarketsMarkets

• Assist implementation by establishing Assist implementation by establishing Assist implementation by establishing Assist implementation by establishing

mechanisms formechanisms formechanisms formechanisms for

• Transparency (e.g. EITI)Transparency (e.g. EITI)Transparency (e.g. EITI)Transparency (e.g. EITI)

• Mapping/ArbitrationMapping/ArbitrationMapping/ArbitrationMapping/Arbitration

• Marketing knowledge Marketing knowledge Marketing knowledge Marketing knowledge

• Encouraging investmentEncouraging investmentEncouraging investmentEncouraging investment

• Review/revise international trade and Review/revise international trade and Review/revise international trade and Review/revise international trade and

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Thank You

www.rightsandresources.org