Transcript The Forest Dialogue Maidenhead, October 20

International Forest Policy
Helsinki, August 8th, 2006
Sustainable Forest Management:
Need for International Policies
Markku Simula
University of Helsinki
Department of Forest Economics
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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
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Some Basic Global Facts
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About 48% of the world’s 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)
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Globalization and Forestry - Selected Aspects
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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
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Forest Policy Idiosyncracies
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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
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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
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They are non-excludable, non-rivalry
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They are outcomes rather than “goods” (or “services”)
Beneficiary dimensions:
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intergenerational
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nations
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income levels
Key problems:
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maintenance
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free riders
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trade-offs
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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 (C&I) 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
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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
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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
Trade (WTO)
Forests
- tariffs
- non-tariffs barriers
- intellectual property
rights
- phytosanitary
measures
- public procurement
- subsidies
- CITES
- ITTO
Environnement
- biodiversity (CBD)
- climate change (UNFCCC)
- desertification (CCD)
- wetlands (Ramsar)
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Summary of Instruments and Processes
Instrument/Process
United Nations Forum on
Forests (UNFF)
Convention on Bioslogical
Diversity
UN Framework Convention
on
Climate
Change
(UNFCCC), Kyoto Protocol
(KP)
Convention on Comabting
Desertification (CCD)
Ramsar Convention
Convention on International
Trade in Endangered Species
(CITES)
International Tropical Timber
Organization (ITTO)
World Trade Organization
(WTO)
Forest Law and Enforcement
and
Governance
(FLEG/FLEGT)
Forestry focus
Holistic SFM, Millenium Development Goals, deforestation,
Monitoring and reporting, NFP, financing, etc.
Conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, financing
(GEF), Work Programme on Forests
Sinks (forest and harvested wood products), energy
substitution (bioenergy)
Afforestation, reforestation, avoided deforestation, forest
management
Arid and semi-arid lands management (afforestation,
reforestation)
Wetland management and conservation
Trade in endangered tree species
Trade based on SFM of tropical forests, market transparency
and access, value addition to the resource, financing
Tariffs and non-tariff barriers (certification and labelling),
subsidies, phytosanitary measures,
Illegal logging and associated trade, corruption, fiscal revenue
loss
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Governance Change
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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
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Forest Governance Concepts
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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
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International Financing of SFM
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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
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Additional Barriers to International Policy
Development
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Sovereignty issues
Equity issues
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Special case: USA
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Stakeholder conflicts of interest
Political will, vested interests
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National Action for International Policy
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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
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Need for stronger international forestry
regime, continuous challenge
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Need for a strong, coordinating policy forum
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Poverty linkage
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Stakeholder education and participation
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What next in fashion? (post-MDG)
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Thank You and
Good Luck with the Course
markku.simula@ardot fi
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