Tenure in Forest Lands: Global Challenges and Unfinished Business

Tenure in Forest Lands: Global Challenges and Unfinished Business

Augusta Molnar, RRI

Land Tenure TG-World Bank

November 20, 2007

William Sunderlin

"Marginal lands" is a technical term in Bank lingo. Perhaps define it on one of the first slides? Since your slide show seems to be about all forest lands in developing countries, by inference you are using the widest possible definition.

Two main points to convey in limited time slot

• Tenure reform in the forest is an unfinished agenda

• New pressures and demands make decisions in forest lands extremely important but interl community and policy makers are not prepared to actEjido Noh Bec-- post H. Dean

Forest tenure is in transition-why?WHAT IS THE STARTING POINT?

The state is the owner Industry has the most power

(small-scale is considered illegal extraction)

Usufruct rights, access rights, and rights to trade are limited for forest dwellers

1980 - 1990 the traditional model collapsed

– ¿why?extreme poverty, illegal logging, end of the primary forest, interest in conservation, decentralization, pressure ‘from below

77

4

7

12

Administered by Government

Reserved for Community and Indigenous Groups

Community / Indigenous

Individual / Firm

2015 ??

Total of 24 countries

2,803.2 Total

131.4 C-owned

246.3 C-admin

443.0 Commty

Forest Tenure Shifts since 1986

William Sunderlin

Apples and oranges. The slide title is about tenure but here you're talking about business models? Best not to conflate the two. Tenure and the model need to be linked, but it must be done clearly.

Forest Tenure is an unfinished agenda

• Tenure recognition of ancestral domains and territories of Indigenous Peoples

• Devolution of authority to local governments and to forest users, including traditional settlers and newcomers

• Industrial concession models combined with limited allocation of forests to CFM in the less productive areas -- abject poverty in some countries

• Environmental standards determine recognition of use or tenure rights of colonists or new settlers

Findings of the LLSL scoping effort (Ears to the Ground)

William Sunderlin

This repeats the heading of slide 5, and some of the items below repeat what is in slide 5.

Incomplete reforms in the forest areas

• Indigenous peoples have reserves or territories but incomplete reform has created a new “open access”

• Environmental regulations govern access and use and many uses are still “illegal” or determined by an “environmental agency”

• Individually ownership and use (agriculture) within communal areas not recognized or approved

• Cost of complying with regulation beyond outside the reach of recognized owners--not eliminating poverty

• Conservation and ecosystem service models (and now REDD) are promoting arrangements at scale and focused on government or private sector

• Social movements in flux post-reform; chaotic internal organization; legal pluralism; customary systems

William Sunderlin

This is perhaps the place to make Marcus's points: the lack of human, civic, citizenship, and gender rights are closely linked to the difficulties in securing property and tenure rights; completion of the reform process therefore require attention to the "big picture" of rights reform.

William Sunderlin

This is perhaps the right place to make Marcus's points:Land rights are only part of the problem;Human, civil, gender rights are violated and closely linked to the inability of many people to achieve tenure security;It's therefore necessary to look at the "big picture" of rights in order to make significant gains.

William Sunderlin

A linked point is that the costs of applying for land titles and for filing forest management plans (etc.) is often outside the reach of those who do not own land.

Resource Curse, Dutch Disease...

-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

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ual

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High Forest Countries* Low Forest Countries

William Sunderlin

The main topic of your talk is tenure, so it needs to be clear why you are leaping to the issue of the resource curse and Dutch disease. These are "economy-wide" phenomena that go well beyond forest tenure and business models.Also, be careful not to conflate "resource curse" and "Dutch disease" especially in a Bank crowd. They can be related, but they are very different. I can explain...

... or Failure of Governance

• Countries with focus on export of primary forest commodities under-perform in governance indicators (ITTO Producer Countries)

• ITTO Producer Countries lag behind other developing countries in growth (previous slide)

William Sunderlin

You're counterposing "the resource curse..." or "failure of governance." They can be (closely) related, so it does not make clear sense why you would say "either/or."

Forests, Economic Growth and Development History

Problems Not Unique to Developing Countries

• Europe and North America – underwent similar transitions

• Developing countries - in transition from colonial and imperial era

• Need to question development models and direction of development assistance

William Sunderlin

It seems like this item logically falls under the title of this slide, but it's not evident to me why the other two do. Perhaps reword to make that more clear?

Key Forces Shaping Future (1)

• 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

(Index M

arc

h 2

000=100)

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

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

.

Key Forces Shaping Future (2)

• Declining Relative Authority of Central Governments

• Increased Access: Information, Transparence, Empowerment

• Continued Poverty: More Pain, More Peril

• Continued Threat and Changing Nature of Violent Conflict

• Climate Change: More Heat and More Uncertainty

Source: Economist; iAfrica

William Sunderlin

By this point I had forgotten that almost everything before was under "key forces...(1)." You need to make the structure of the presentation clearer on slide no. 2.

Emerging Consensus Lessons learned from the challenges:• Need to rethink and reform public

forest domain • Centrality of recognition of rights, of

tenure, and improvement of governance in forest landscapes

Failure to implement those changes would mean:

• Greater violations of human rights;• Reinforce poverty and spatial

inequalities• Render mitigation schemes

inequitable and inefficient• Enhanced conditions for protracted

conflicts in forest areas• Conservation will become more

contentious• Reversion to resource curse

William Sunderlin

One of the most powerful elements of the consensus is that resource tenure security is a crucial prerequisite for rural economic growth and poverty reduction. If you want language on this see the first page of my background paper.

William Sunderlin

I would omit this because this implies the resource curse has been surmounted.

Trade Offs and Tensions

1. Equity versus scale and economic growth

2. Strengthened forest rights vs. entrenched interests

3. Conventional conservation vs. forest rights

4. Efficiency vs. equity in carbon and environmental service markets

5. Addressing symptoms versus facing fundamentals

William Sunderlin

basic causes

General Directions

1. Recognize the challenge, the opportunity and the urgency

2. Rethink forest development and prioritize the strengthening of rights, voice and governance in all forest development interventions

3. Look beyond the conventional “forestry” and “development” sectors and encourage the active participation of all relevant players

4. Base donor strategies on a realistic reflection of what is and is not working and from whose perspective

Specific Actions (1)

• Actively promote the recognition of local rights and the broader strengthening and clarification of forest ownership and access

• Assist communities to map and negotiate their forest areas

• Assist governments in recognizing land claims, resolving land conflicts, and rethinking the organization of the public forest domain -- social audits needed

• Develop alliances with low-income producer organizations and their associations and support their capacity building


• Craft tenure and rights-friendly institutional arrangements at the global and national levels

• EITI expanded to forestry sector and implmented

• Phasing of reforms and transition needs to be better understood by decision-makers

• Review certification and voluntary partnership agreements for pro-poor standards/approaches

• Clarify the property rights to ecosystem services and devise new climate regimes in a manner that supports the recognition and strengthening of tenure rights

• Make tenure work by reforming policies and regulations to level the playing field for communities and small-holders and their enterprises and providing enabling support

• Give rights of citizenship to the many indigenous peoples and other residents of the forests

• Remove regulatory barriers and encourage voluntary compliance

• Level the playing field in forest markets

• Design practical and enforceable standards for responsible corporate and industrial practice


• Devise and implement economic and environmental strategies that are consistent and goals of strengthening tenure and rights

• Carry out social audits of government and donor investment and grant projects

• Revisit conservation models and natural resource extraction in the forests and “marginal lands”

• Redirect governments subsidies away from industrial plantations


• THANK YOU

• www.rightsandresources.org

• Augusta Molnar• [email protected]

Documents

Tenure in Forest Lands: Global Challenges and Unfinished Business