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ImprovIng forest governance In afrIca, the carIbbean and the pacIfIc

The state of knowledge and initiatives on forest law enforcement, governance and trade in the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States

D. Gilbert/FAO

The aim of the European Union’s Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT)

Action Plan is to tackle the global problem of illegal logging and related trade. Approved by the European Council in October 2003,

the FLEGT Action Plan sets out a package of measures to be taken in the European Union and producer countries.

To help implement the FLEGT Action Plan, the European Union is supporting a global network of FLEGT-related technical assistance. Part of this network is the Africa, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) FLEGT Support Programme, a four-year

initiative implemented by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). The Programme aims to:

» help improve forest governance in ACP countries by providing technical assistance

» strengthen the ability of stakeholder groups – government, civil-society and private-sector – to put priority elements of the FLEGT Action Plan into place

» support pilot projects that add value to or bridge critical gaps in processes to improve forest law enforcement, forest governance and the legal timber trade

» make information and knowledge on forest law enforcement, forest governance and the timber trade available to stakeholder groups.

This brochure introduces aspects of forest law enforcement, forest governance and the timber trade, summarizes a rapid assessment of related issues in ACP countries, and outlines nine thematic areas in which the ACP FLEGT Support Programme is assisting stakeholder groups to improve forest governance.

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R. Faidutti/FAO

Bulai/SPC

R. Faidutti/FAO

M. Noebauer/FAO

Leonard Newell, USDA Forest Service, Bugwood.org

©TFT/E. Parker/CIB

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Policy drivers of change

The policies and socially accepted standards governing the production and global movement of forest products are changing rapidly. Many consumer markets are becoming increasingly sensitive about the environmental credentials of timber products. New trade-related legislation, procurement policies and buyer preferences for legally verified timber are being developed and enforced.

Such policies are having a profound impact on the forest sector. Timber producers, government institutions and civil-society organizations need to understand this dynamic environment, and they need to participate actively in shaping it.

Forest illegality

Forest illegality takes place when forest products are harvested, transported, processed, bought or sold (domestically or internationally) in violation of national laws. It might also involve illegal deforestation or other uses of forests that contravene the law. Forest illegality is related to wider issues of governance, such as corruption. The topics of forest law enforcement, forest governance and timber trade legality are sometimes grouped under the acronym FLEGT.

the euroPean union’s Flegt action Plan

On the producer (‘supply’) side, the FLEGT Action Plan is supporting:

» development-led processes in tropical timber producing countries – e.g. governance support, timber licensing and forest legislation

» voluntary partnership agreements (VPAs).

On the consumer (‘demand’) side, the FLEGT Action Plan is supporting:

» green procurement policies (public and private), due diligence legislation and trade promotion

» the role of the public and private sectors.

Laws on imports

In 2010 the European Parliament approved the Illegal Timber Regulation, which prohibits the sale of timber in the European Union if it has been logged illegally according to the laws of the country of origin. In addition, companies must use a system of ‘due diligence’ to ascertain that the timber they sell in the European Union was harvested legally. The law will come into effect in March 2013.

In 2008, the United States Congress amended the Lacey Act to (among other things) prohibit commerce in plants – including timber products – originating in any country if they have been harvested illegally according to the laws of that country. The Lacey Act requires importers to provide a declaration of legality with each shipment of timber and timber products.

©TFT/E. Parker/CIB

Why Fight Forest illegality?

Forest Illegality can have far-reaching environmental, social and economic consequences, contributing to the loss of biodiversity and habitats; the emission of greenhouse gases; political instability; increased income disparities; conflict with indigenous and local populations; corruption; and market distortions.

Although the extent of illegal forest activities is difficult to quantify, their economic cost is likely to be large. The World Bank estimates, for example, that illegal logging alone causes annual losses in global market value of more than US$10 billion and in government revenue of as much as US$5 billion.

Public procurement policies

Government purchases – ‘public procurement’ – accounts for about 20% of all timber products sold in the European Union. Several countries now have procurement policies (or are developing them) that require any timber and timber products bought by government bodies to be verified as legal (with some stipulating that it should also be sustainable). There are also public procurement policies in the United States, Japan, Norway, Australia and New Zealand.

Private-sector procurement policies

Timber trade federations in many key consumer markets now have responsible purchasing policies requiring members to take action to reduce the risk of importing illegally produced or traded timber products. They encourage legal verification and, often, the certification of sustainability.

Many large companies have their own purchasing policies. For example, the policy of DLH, the world’s second-largest timber trader, is that, by 2025, 100% of its tropical hardwood purchases will be covered by legal verification or certification.

REDD-plus

Proposals have been made under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to encourage reduced greenhouse-gas emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries (REDD-plus) through improved forest management and conservation, which could involve the payment of significant financial incentives. Countries wishing to obtain such payments will need to ensure that they have an effective system of forest governance.

© J. Blaser

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Drivers of illegal logging

At least five factors are usually involved in a lack of law compliance and governance in the forest sector. They are:

» An inconsistent forest policy and legal framework. Laws that are incoherent, unrealistic and unenforceable and fail to address forest tenure and use rights create conditions for illegality. In many cases, an inability to comply with cumbersome or unrealistic laws means that small-scale operators are forced to operate outside the law.

» Insufficient enforcement capacity is often due to institutional weaknesses coupled with a lack of transparency and accountability. Deficiencies in coordination within and between forest law enforcement and judicial bodies increase the likelihood that wrongdoers will slip through the enforcement net. A lack of deterrence also increases the likelihood that wrongdoers will continue their illegal activities.

» Insufficient information about the condition of the forest resource and its change over time makes it difficult to monitor what is happening in forests and along the supply chain. Knowledge gaps and the insufficient training of forest law enforcement personnel are additional stumbling blocks.

» Corruption in government institutions and the private sector and among local decision-makers is linked to a lack of transparency in policy implementation, the marginalization of rural people, and a lack of public scrutiny. Of particular concern are corruption and inequities related to the allocation of forest-use rights, including timber licences, forest concessions and the collection of related fees.

» Distortions can occur in domestic and export timber markets where there are ready outlets for low-priced, illegally harvested products. Markets often provide inadequate incentives for producers who can demonstrate the legality and sustainability of their operations; legal producers struggle to compete with illegal operators.

M. Noebauer/FAO

the rapid assessment

The overall objective of the ACP FLEGT Support Programme is to provide technical assistance to ACP countries to improve governance in the forest sector, with consequent benefits for poverty reduction and sustainable forest management. The aims of the rapid assessment, which was completed in early 2010, were to:

» help focus programmatic interventions on priority themes

» provide an overview of the state of forest law enforcement, forest governance and timber trade in each country.

The rapid assessment was carried out using desk-based research and supporting interviews. It highlighted the strengths and weaknesses of selected ACP countries in their approach to forest law enforcement, forest governance and timber trade and made recommendations for thematic-based actions that could be applied in each ACP sub-region.

There are 79 countries in the six ACP sub-regions. A subset of 27 countries was selected on the basis of the relative contribution of the forest sector to GDP, overall timber production and exports, the volume of logs shipped to the European Union, and the level of interest in the FLEGT Action Plan and in negotiating a VPA. The countries selected were:

» West africa – Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone

» central africa – Cameroon, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon

» east africa – Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, United Republic of Tanzania and Uganda

» south africa – Mozambique, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe

» caribbean – Cuba and Suriname

» Pacific – Fiji and Vanuatu.

Sub-regional summaries

In many of the 27 countries assessed, forests are under increasing pressure. Common threats include expanding populations, competing land uses, armed conflict, perverse incentives that lead to illegality or over-extraction, and a lack of financial and human resources in key enforcement agencies and forest departments. Many countries in West, Central and East Africa are recovering from conflict; often, people displaced by war exert pressure on both forest governance and forest resources. There are also many differences between the sub-regions, as outlined below.

In West africa, high population densities increase competition for forest resources. In most countries in the sub-region, many land-

Leonard Newell, USDA Forest Service, Bugwood.org

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tenure problems are unresolved. Industrial processing capacity often outstrips supply, increasing pressure on domestic and sub-regional resources. The informal sector is generally much larger than the formal sector, with chainsaw operators a common (although often illegal) aspect of the industry.

In much of West Africa, over-harvesting initiates a process of forest degradation that is often completed by wildfire and illegal land-use change. Liberia has the largest intact forest in the sub-region but there is also considerable economic and political pressure to create employment through forest resource extraction.

There has been significant recent improvement in forest laws in central africa, but problems remain in their implementation due to a lack of resources and confusing institutional arrangements. Moreover, such laws, while improved, recognize the rights of community groups (such as Pygmies) to only a limited extent.

In both Central and West Africa, the assessment indicated that further legal reforms, the formalization of markets, the creation of more legal employment in rural areas, and accurate information on forest resources are all needed. The capacity of forest-related institutions needs boosting, and the strong push towards forest certification, especially in Central Africa, should be supported and encouraged.

The east africa sub-region has the world’s highest number of refugees and internally displaced persons, a problem compounded by poverty and high population densities. In many countries, ethnic minorities are discriminated against and not recognized under the law. On the other hand, advances have been made in several countries in participatory forest management, which has helped to clarify tenure and use rights and to reduce forest illegality.

In southern africa, one country – South Africa – stands out as the dominant player. Despite a relatively strong forest governance framework, South Africa’s forest sector faces significant challenges, including those associated with land tenure, an unequal distribution of wealth, water resource scarcity, and competition in the furniture processing sector. South Africa is a regional trade hub and a key importer of timber from Zimbabwe.

In both the East Africa and Southern Africa sub-regions, policymakers and other stakeholders are relatively unfamiliar with the FLEGT Action Plan and would benefit from awareness-raising initiatives. The development of small and medium-sized forest enterprises could be supported through training and by improving access to microfinance. The wider uptake of participatory forest management should also be encouraged.

Most timber produced in the Pacific sub-region is exported to processing countries such as China, Indonesia and Malaysia;

©TFT/E. Parker/CIB

therefore, trade to the European Union is largely indirect. Many Pacific countries have significant social issues, with complex indigenous societies and a strong tradition of customary ownership. Conflicts over land tenure and use rights are common.

It is difficult to extrapolate information from Suriname and Cuba to the whole of the caribbean sub-region. In the two countries assessed, regional trade, and trade with China, is more important than trade with the European Union.

Of all the countries surveyed, those in the Pacific and the Caribbean have expressed the greatest concern over climate change, which could lead to a significant loss of territory in many island countries. For many ACP countries, improving forest governance to ensure the legality of the timber trade and address climate change emerged from the rapid assessment as priorities. There was also interest in developing stronger regional markets and improving inter-regional communication on sustainable forest management.

Thematic areas for support

Drawing on the findings of the rapid assessment, the ACP FLEGT Support Programme has established nine thematic areas in which it is assisting stakeholder groups to improve forest governance. The need for and focus of such support vary between countries and sub-regions, reflecting issues such as the relative importance of timber trade with the European Union and the nature of the issues affecting forest governance.

Capacity building/training

A key obstacle to the implementation of FLEGT-related activities is the lack of capacity in government ministries to administer forest laws. The aims of this thematic area are to strengthen the capacity of government agencies to detect and prosecute breaches of forest laws, and to build awareness of the costs of forest illegality and therefore of the need to reduce it. Possible activities include:

» Building understanding of the laws governing the forest sector within the police, the legal profession, public prosecution services and the judiciary, and building the public and political support needed to tackle corruption

» Supporting actions to improve revenue collection in the forest sector

» Promoting the exchange of knowledge and experience at the sub-regional and regional levels

» Training relevant ministries on international best-practice enforcement systems.

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Transparency and independent monitoring

A lack of reliable, independent information on forests, and a lack of transparency in forest-related decision-making, are major impediments to good forest governance. Possible activities in this thematic area include:

» Developing independent monitoring and auditing systems to verify timber legality

» Encouraging policies of transparency in the forest sector

» Promoting awareness among decision-makers of the benefits of timely, accurate forest-related information

» Improving forest information, including on timber production, trade statistics and markets.

Voluntary partnership agreements

The negotiation and implementation of VPAs requires broad stakeholder involvement. In this thematic area the aim is to support stakeholders to participate in VPA processes through:

» National and regional FLEGT/VPA workshops to share information, knowledge and lessons learned

» Feasibility studies on VPA-related issues

» Support for national multi-stakeholder committees in charge of VPA negotiations and for the participation of local stakeholders

» The design, testing and implementation of legality assurance systems

» Improving national law enforcement and patrol systems.

action under way – example

In Cameroon, the ACP FLEGT Support Programme is providing technical assistance to enable the Ministry of Forests and Fauna to review current forest law enforcement procedures, improve those procedures based on best practices, and provide staff with rigorous, hands-on field training.

action under way – example

In the Solomon Islands, the ACP FLEGT Support Programme is assisting the Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Meteorology to improve forest governance through the development of a multi-stakeholder planning process. Among its aims are to establish a national FLEGT/REDD-plus Working Group; develop, through stakeholder engagement, a ‘road map’ for improved forest governance; improve the quality of forest-related information; and put in place a comprehensive REDD-plus communication and education programme.

©TFT/E. Parker/CIB

Community-based FLEGT initiatives

In many ACP countries, the (lack of) recognition of the rights of indigenous peoples and minority groups is a key issue in forest governance. The participation of forest-dependent groups in forest management can be promoted through activities such as:

» The dissemination of lessons learned from community-based initiatives

» Support for stakeholders to ensure that key underlying factors, such as land tenure and access to forest resources, are addressed

» Encouraging local participation in actions aimed at reducing illegal logging

» Building capacity in forest-dependent communities to produce and trade timber legally and sustainably.

Verification systems

Many producer countries do not have reliable, cost-effective log monitoring systems to enable the verification of legality. Possible activities in this thematic area include:

» Building or strengthening the ability of government institutions, civil society and the private sector to develop, implement and manage verification systems

» Supporting innovative approaches to the monitoring of harvesting operations and the tracking of timber

» Developing methods for data reconciliation and improvement along the supply chain

» Supporting the development of systems to monitor, verify and reconcile contract requirements, management plans and production data.

Policy/regulatory frameworks

Many ACP countries have made significant advances in forest-policy reform, but further improvements may be required. The aim of this thematic area is to support stakeholder groups to review and, where necessary, reform policies, laws and regulations through activities such as:

» Establishing participatory processes for dialogues on reform

» Supporting reforms that, for example, improve access to forests for forest-dependent communities, increase transparency in the forest sector, encourage small-scale operators, and improve market efficiency.

action under way – example

In Gabon, the Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the ACP-FLEGT Support Programme is supporting civil-society platforms to facilitate stakeholder participation in VPA negotiation processes. These platforms are also reviewing the consistency of forest laws in their countries and proposing measures to strengthen accountability and transparency in the forest sector.

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Private-sector support

To achieve widespread change it is essential to engage companies and their representative organizations through dialogue, training and capacity building. In this thematic area, possible activities include:

» Applying the lessons learned from corporate social responsibility in the forest sector

» Supporting private-sector organizations to develop and adopt codes of conduct, improve transparency and undergo independent monitoring

» Supporting the private sector to participate in supply-chain management systems

» Supporting audits to test company compliance with legality assurance systems.

Domestic and regional market issues

In this thematic area, possible activities include:

» Research on domestic timber and fuelwood markets

» Establishing systems to improve information on domestic markets

» Supporting the development of policies, laws and regulations to improve the governance of domestic markets

» Strengthening sub-regional, regional and international dialogue, information and cooperation.

Communication, outreach and information assistance

Increasing awareness and understanding of the issues around forest law enforcement, forest governance and the legal timber trade is critical for improving forest governance. Possible activities include:

» Supporting regional and sub-regional knowledge-sharing opportunities

» Assisting stakeholder groups at the national level to assess their current FLEGT knowledge and possible needs

» Supporting communication initiatives and outreach, including to key forest-dependent communities.

action under way – example

The ACP FLEGT Support Programme has partnered with the Forest Products Association of Guyana to help build capacity within the Guyanese forest sector to meet European Union due diligence requirements. Activities being undertaken in this pilot project will increase awareness of the FLEGT Action Plan within the Guyanese forest sector, assist logging companies to initiate processes to develop and implement third-party verification, and help develop a ‘legality checklist’.

R. Faidutti/FAO

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More information and profiles of each of the 27 assessed countries are available at www.fao.org/forestry/acp-flegt/en/, or contact Robert Simpson at Robert.Simpson@fao.org.

Further reading

FAO and ITTO (2005). Best practices for improving law compliance in the forest sector. FAO Forestry Paper 145.

FAO and ITTO (2009). Forest governance and climate-change mitigation. Policy brief prepared by ITTO and FAO.

FAO and ITTO (2010). Forest law compliance and governance in tropical countries. Policy brief prepared by ITTO and FAO.

This publication has been produced with the assistance of the European Union. The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of FAO and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of the European Union.

R. Faidutti/FAO

P. Durst/FAO

R. Faidutti/FAO

M. Loyche Wilkie/FAO

C. Palmberg Lerche/FAO

Photo credits for front cover, from top: R. Faidutti/FAO; ©TFT/E. Parker/CIB; ©TFT/E. Parker/CIB; Tony Pernas, USDA National Park Service, Bugwood.org; Bulai/SPC