In May 2004, PROFOR sponsored a policy workshop "Forests: A Resource for Development" in Tegucigalpa, Honduras.

The purpose of the workshop was to disseminate the experiences of recent forest sector reforms from other countries in Latin America and the world to policy-makers, legislators, academics, non-governmental organizations, private companies, and rural forest producers and their associations. The aim of the workshop was to aid the implementation of the new forest policy framework embodied in the proposed forest legislation by presenting successful experiences and lessons from decentralization of forest sector responsibilities.

Community forestry experiences from Guatemala, Mexico, Bolivia, and China were presented along with the new market context for forestry globally and from China, Central America, and several countries engaged in decentralization. The Honduran experience was presented by Dr. Jose Flores Rodas, a renowned forest specialist, and complemented by the participants' experience.

Forest Trends coordinated the selection, preparation, and presentation of case studies and lessons, and assisted the Rural Productivity and Forests Project (PBPR) in the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock and AFE-COHDEFOR, the National Forest Agency, in convening the workshop.

Discussion focused on four themes:

• global market trends and implications, including new markets for ecosystem services;
• community forestry enterprise experiences;
• lessons from decentralization;
• and designing more optimal policy and regulatory frameworks.

RESULTS

The participants endorsed a decentralized approach to forestry which gave greater roles and responsibilities (and resources) to municipal and community levels while targeting the role of government more clearly in forests with limited population and in enabling activities. A strong interest in community initiatives supported by tenure rights and capacity-building resources emerged in a number of different working group discussions. The historical instability of policies in the forest sector was seen as an important limitation to forest development, particularly given the lack of tenure security. Promising opportunities for partnering between rural producers and communities and a more vertically integrated and efficient private sector were seen as desireable and feasible to advance forestry in Honduras. There was a recognition that both private and community actors need to become smarter in pursuing their market advantages and that regulations need to play a supportive, rather than command and control role for which the state does not have the incentives or capacity. Participants observed that Honduras had started as a leader in community forestry approaches in the 1970s but had lost this edge in the ensuing decades.

The individual presentations and companion case studies from the workshop are available from the Forest Trends website: http://www.forest-trends.org/event.php?id=163

Support to Forest Sector Reform in Kenya, 2004-2005

CHALLENGE

A combination of corruption and illegal excisions in the latter half of the 1990s reduced the area of industrial plantations in Kenya government forest reserves from 160,000 hectares to about 120,000 hectares. These forest excisions have created major environmental, economic and social problems. Illegal logging in indigenous forests has mushroomed and is negatively impacting on the biodiversity and the vital water catchment protection functions of Kenya's remaining upland forests.

Further, uncertainties about the possibility to sustain the industrial round wood (IRW) requirements for Kenya's sawmilling, wood based panel and pulp and paper industries led to a government decision in the late 1990s to ban logging and to close down most sawmilling enterprises. As a result, many displaced forest workers are living in shanty townships, wood costs have soared, and the future survival of Kenya's pulp, paper and wood-based panel industries is under serious threat.

APPROACH

A new forest bill and revised forest policy aimed to buck this trend and shift the emphasis of forest management to local communities and the private sector. In this context, PROFOR worked in partnership with the IFC and other donors to improve opportunities for collaboration between the private sector, local communities and smallholders.

RESULTS

PROFOR helped to move the national dialogue forward by providing information on a range of partnership schemes and guidelines for engaging companies, communities, and stakeholders. A Forest Investment Workshop hosted by the World Bank and PROFOR in Nairobi in November 2004 identified several possible business-community or business-smallholder partnership-based approaches that could be suitable for pilot scale testing.

The following year, PROFOR continued to support the development of forest sector partnership in Kenya, by providing insights on three topics: 1) Kenya Forestry: Economics and Financial Viability; 2) Forestry Partnerships in Kenya A Review of Issues for business- farmer, and government community - business arrangements for wood production; and 3) Kenya Interim Industrial Wood Supply Strategy. The reports are available on this page.

Besides contributing to a reform process which eventually culminated in the creation of a forest service in Kenya, PROFOR's work in Kenya informed a larger Eastern and Southern Africa Region Forest Investment Forum in South Africa in 2006.
 

Support to Forest Sector Reform in Kenya, 2004-2005

CHALLENGE

A combination of corruption and illegal excisions in the latter half of the 1990s reduced the area of industrial plantations in Kenya government forest reserves from 160,000 hectares to about 120,000 hectares. These forest excisions have created major environmental, economic and social problems. Illegal logging in indigenous forests has mushroomed and is negatively impacting on the biodiversity and the vital water catchment protection functions of Kenya's remaining upland forests.

Further, uncertainties about the possibility to sustain the industrial round wood (IRW) requirements for Kenya's sawmilling, wood based panel and pulp and paper industries led to a government decision in the late 1990s to ban logging and to close down most sawmilling enterprises. As a result, many displaced forest workers are living in shanty townships, wood costs have soared, and the future survival of Kenya's pulp, paper and wood-based panel industries is under serious threat.

APPROACH

A new forest bill and revised forest policy aimed to buck this trend and shift the emphasis of forest management to local communities and the private sector. In this context, PROFOR worked in partnership with the IFC and other donors to improve opportunities for collaboration between the private sector, local communities and smallholders.

RESULTS

PROFOR helped to move the national dialogue forward by providing information on a range of partnership schemes and guidelines for engaging companies, communities, and stakeholders. A Forest Investment Workshop hosted by the World Bank and PROFOR in Nairobi in November 2004 identified several possible business-community or business-smallholder partnership-based approaches that could be suitable for pilot scale testing.

The following year, PROFOR continued to support the development of forest sector partnership in Kenya, by providing insights on three topics: 1) Kenya Forestry: Economics and Financial Viability; 2) Forestry Partnerships in Kenya A Review of Issues for business- farmer, and government community - business arrangements for wood production; and 3) Kenya Interim Industrial Wood Supply Strategy. The reports are available on this page.

Besides contributing to a reform process which eventually culminated in the creation of a forest service in Kenya, PROFOR's work in Kenya informed a larger Eastern and Southern Africa Region Forest Investment Forum in South Africa in 2006.
 

Support to Forest Sector Reform in Kenya, 2004-2005

CHALLENGE

A combination of corruption and illegal excisions in the latter half of the 1990s reduced the area of industrial plantations in Kenya government forest reserves from 160,000 hectares to about 120,000 hectares. These forest excisions have created major environmental, economic and social problems. Illegal logging in indigenous forests has mushroomed and is negatively impacting on the biodiversity and the vital water catchment protection functions of Kenya's remaining upland forests.

Further, uncertainties about the possibility to sustain the industrial round wood (IRW) requirements for Kenya's sawmilling, wood based panel and pulp and paper industries led to a government decision in the late 1990s to ban logging and to close down most sawmilling enterprises. As a result, many displaced forest workers are living in shanty townships, wood costs have soared, and the future survival of Kenya's pulp, paper and wood-based panel industries is under serious threat.

APPROACH

A new forest bill and revised forest policy aimed to buck this trend and shift the emphasis of forest management to local communities and the private sector. In this context, PROFOR worked in partnership with the IFC and other donors to improve opportunities for collaboration between the private sector, local communities and smallholders.

RESULTS

PROFOR helped to move the national dialogue forward by providing information on a range of partnership schemes and guidelines for engaging companies, communities, and stakeholders. A Forest Investment Workshop hosted by the World Bank and PROFOR in Nairobi in November 2004 identified several possible business-community or business-smallholder partnership-based approaches that could be suitable for pilot scale testing.

The following year, PROFOR continued to support the development of forest sector partnership in Kenya, by providing insights on three topics: 1) Kenya Forestry: Economics and Financial Viability; 2) Forestry Partnerships in Kenya A Review of Issues for business- farmer, and government community - business arrangements for wood production; and 3) Kenya Interim Industrial Wood Supply Strategy. The reports are available on this page.

Besides contributing to a reform process which eventually culminated in the creation of a forest service in Kenya, PROFOR's work in Kenya informed a larger Eastern and Southern Africa Region Forest Investment Forum in South Africa in 2006.
 

CHALLENGE

Forests along Vietnam’s extensive coastline help promote adaptation and resilience against the impacts of climate change, including by reducing coastal and inland flooding, regulating water flow and quality, stabilizing hillsides, and sequestering carbon. These are all services that have the potential to generate revenue and leverage finance for larger-scale action.

Vietnam’s investments in forest rehabilitation over the last few decades have resulted in increased forest cover and an expanded timber industry. However, a primary focus on aforestation for wood supply has reduced the emphasis on natural forests and the range of ecosystem services that they provide. As a result, forest quality has declined and deforestation has deteriorated many natural coastal defenses, affecting the lives and livelihoods of forest-dependent communities.

APPROACH

PROFOR and the World Bank are supporting the Government of Vietnam in implementing the country’s 2006-2020 Forestry Development Strategy, which envisions the widespread delivery of ecosystem services for sustainable development, livelihoods and growth. To achieve this, there is a need to strengthen the planning, governance and management of forest resources to promote inclusion of local government and communities in forest management.

Specifically, this activity will support the Vietnam Forest Administration (VNFOREST) in developing two sets of guidelines for further policy actions: one guideline on the restoration, conservation and management of coastal forest within selected coastal areas; and another for reviewing the forest types in coastal provinces and the development of appropriate monitoring frameworks

RESULTS

CHALLENGE

Forests along Vietnam’s extensive coastline help promote adaptation and resilience against the impacts of climate change, including by reducing coastal and inland flooding, regulating water flow and quality, stabilizing hillsides, and sequestering carbon. These are all services that have the potential to generate revenue and leverage finance for larger-scale action.

Vietnam’s investments in forest rehabilitation over the last few decades have resulted in increased forest cover and an expanded timber industry. However, a primary focus on aforestation for wood supply has reduced the emphasis on natural forests and the range of ecosystem services that they provide. As a result, forest quality has declined and deforestation has deteriorated many natural coastal defenses, affecting the lives and livelihoods of forest-dependent communities.

APPROACH

PROFOR and the World Bank are supporting the Government of Vietnam in implementing the country’s 2006-2020 Forestry Development Strategy, which envisions the widespread delivery of ecosystem services for sustainable development, livelihoods and growth. To achieve this, there is a need to strengthen the planning, governance and management of forest resources to promote inclusion of local government and communities in forest management.

Specifically, this activity will support the Vietnam Forest Administration (VNFOREST) in developing two sets of guidelines for further policy actions: one guideline on the restoration, conservation and management of coastal forest within selected coastal areas; and another for reviewing the forest types in coastal provinces and the development of appropriate monitoring frameworks

RESULTS

CHALLENGE

Indonesia has a long history of poor forest management resulting in high levels of deforestation and forest degradation. To address this challenge, the Government is in need of an operational approach to knowledge management and information system (KMIS). This PROFOR activity involves a rapid stocktaking in the use of global good practice in modern information and communication technology (ICT), in development of a comprehensive KMIS in Indonesia.

APPROACH

Expected outcomes include:

• Improved awareness of relevant modern datasets, ICT tool and systems, and global good practice in integrating these into sustainable forest management;
• Improved visualization of, and public access to, available data related to forests;
• Support for the design of the proposed KMIS to support work in Indonesia and elsewhere.

Key Outputs includes a review of global ICT good practices, with short case studies; a primer of relevant public-domain datasets; the integration of case studies and spatial information into the World Bank’s “Spatial Agent” App (mobile and web versions); an electronic atlas of useful maps for Indonesia; an online mapping portal; a mobile app; and distance learning demonstrations for representatives in the Ministry of Forestry in Indonesia.

RESULTS

In reviewing global best practices of ICT systems and their application to Indonesia, this study found a wealth of global experience to draw from. There is a range of relevant public-domain datasets, including several datasets on forestry, plantations, protected areas, deforestation estimates, biodiversity, forest fires, watersheds, climate, land cover, population distribution, agriculture, and more. These include both datasets accumulated over time by national and global institutions, but also increasingly powerful products from Earth observation. There is a scope for harmonizing these resources and promoting public access to them.

Moreover, there is a need to find innovative ways to keep the information in the ICT review and the datasets/maps up-to-date and easily accessible.  Traditional publications with a sequential approach and “frozen” content do now allow these.  A younger, more connected generation also wants more accessible digital information.  This led the research team us to use innovative approaches such as e-books and apps to provide just-in-time interactive and customizable experiences to access information.

This work has significantly influenced the design of the Indonesia Promoting Sustainable Community-Based Natural Resource Management and Institutional Development Project on the integration of ICT, and could have much broader significance for a number of similar programs.  The activity also helped develop and integrate ICT aspects into the project, including support for a forest KMIS.

In addition, the activity supported improved visualization of forest data for Indonesia from a variety of global and national sources, including an ICT in Forestry e-book and an e-Atlas for Indonesia.  The inputs have been incorporated into the Indonesia Forest Investment Program (FIP) design and project documents.  The e-Atlas highlights information on population, sub-national perspectives, land cover, oil palm plantations, carbon storage, concessions, forest loss, infrastructure etc. to see major activities in the Forestry sector.  Spatial Agent and the Spatial Agent Data Primer were also enhanced to include this information.

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Challenge

In the last two decades the impacts of natural disasters have been devastating, affecting over 4 billion people and killing more than 1 million, while causing around $2 trillion in economic losses. Natural disasters promote inequity and affect the poor and vulnerable the most.

Disaster risk management focuses on the fact that by taking action to reduce vulnerability and strengthen resilience, countries can protect lives and assets from known risks. At the same time, countries can also control the creation of new risks by implementing the right policies and interventions. In this context, there is growing demand for nature-based solutions to better manage exposure to natural hazards and climate change while supporting efforts to build resilience in a sustainable manner in vulnerable developing countries. Forest play a crucial role in this, not only in mitigating risks but also in providing other benefits for communities in terms of income and resilience. The new Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (2015–2030) underlines ecosystem-based solutions for reducing disaster risk. The Sustainable Development Goals also highlight the importance of ecosystems services as an effective disaster risk tool.

To that end, the main objectives of the DRM and forestry program are to promote the use of forest-related ecosystem-based approaches in DRM in order to increase resilience of vulnerable communities while also harvesting social and economic benefits, to enhance the protection of forest areas by mainstreaming DRM approaches in wildfire protection and forest management, and to promote the use of forest cover information in identifying hazard- and risk-prone areas.

Approach

The PROFOR-DRM and forestry window will be structured under three pillars:

• Risk identification and risk assessment—to identify or develop methodologies and tools for quick identification in areas prone to natural hazards, in particular landslides and floods, based on the use of land cover information (e.g., coverage type and deforestation).
• Risk reduction via ecosystem-based approaches and reforestation—to increase the resilience of vulnerable communities by reducing the risk to disaster that they are exposed to while also harvesting social and economic benefits.  
• Preparedness and forest protection—to reduce the impact of wildfires on forests and those communities whose livelihoods depend on those forests by promoting the use of risk-informed fire management.

To produce practical guidelines and case studies, this program will adopt a hands-on approach. In addition to harvesting lessons from the Bank and other projects, it will also learn from the technical assistance for projects such as mangroves coastal protection in Jamaica and managing the risks of forest fires in Indonesia and Serbia. It will also use the guidance on coastal and marine ecosystem accounting developed by WAVES.

Results

This activity has been completed. As a result of this activity, new ASAs were started in Madagascar, Mozambique, Panama, and Sri Lanka, and several WB teams have considered or incorporated NBS in their approach. In Madagascar, a GCF proposal is being developed that would apply nature-based solutions in an urban setting following the guidelines produced under this activity.

Key outputs inlude:

1) An internal knowledge platform under the DRM Solution Groups (accessible by typing “NBS” [nature-based solution] in the browser);

2) An external web platform that includes dozens of NBI projects from around the world (www.naturebasedsolutions.org);

3) A guidance note on nature-based flood protection;

4) A video on the program;

5) A blog on the program.

Challenge

In the last two decades the impacts of natural disasters have been devastating, affecting over 4 billion people and killing more than 1 million, while causing around $2 trillion in economic losses. Natural disasters promote inequity and affect the poor and vulnerable the most.

Disaster risk management focuses on the fact that by taking action to reduce vulnerability and strengthen resilience, countries can protect lives and assets from known risks. At the same time, countries can also control the creation of new risks by implementing the right policies and interventions. In this context, there is growing demand for nature-based solutions to better manage exposure to natural hazards and climate change while supporting efforts to build resilience in a sustainable manner in vulnerable developing countries. Forest play a crucial role in this, not only in mitigating risks but also in providing other benefits for communities in terms of income and resilience. The new Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (2015–2030) underlines ecosystem-based solutions for reducing disaster risk. The Sustainable Development Goals also highlight the importance of ecosystems services as an effective disaster risk tool.

To that end, the main objectives of the DRM and forestry program are to promote the use of forest-related ecosystem-based approaches in DRM in order to increase resilience of vulnerable communities while also harvesting social and economic benefits, to enhance the protection of forest areas by mainstreaming DRM approaches in wildfire protection and forest management, and to promote the use of forest cover information in identifying hazard- and risk-prone areas.

Approach

The PROFOR-DRM and forestry window will be structured under three pillars:

• Risk identification and risk assessment—to identify or develop methodologies and tools for quick identification in areas prone to natural hazards, in particular landslides and floods, based on the use of land cover information (e.g., coverage type and deforestation).
• Risk reduction via ecosystem-based approaches and reforestation—to increase the resilience of vulnerable communities by reducing the risk to disaster that they are exposed to while also harvesting social and economic benefits.  
• Preparedness and forest protection—to reduce the impact of wildfires on forests and those communities whose livelihoods depend on those forests by promoting the use of risk-informed fire management.

To produce practical guidelines and case studies, this program will adopt a hands-on approach. In addition to harvesting lessons from the Bank and other projects, it will also learn from the technical assistance for projects such as mangroves coastal protection in Jamaica and managing the risks of forest fires in Indonesia and Serbia. It will also use the guidance on coastal and marine ecosystem accounting developed by WAVES.

Results

This activity has been completed. As a result of this activity, new ASAs were started in Madagascar, Mozambique, Panama, and Sri Lanka, and several WB teams have considered or incorporated NBS in their approach. In Madagascar, a GCF proposal is being developed that would apply nature-based solutions in an urban setting following the guidelines produced under this activity.

Key outputs inlude:

1) An internal knowledge platform under the DRM Solution Groups (accessible by typing “NBS” [nature-based solution] in the browser);

2) An external web platform that includes dozens of NBI projects from around the world (www.naturebasedsolutions.org);

3) A guidance note on nature-based flood protection;

4) A video on the program;

5) A blog on the program.

CHALLENGE
Developing countries are expected to suffer the most from changes in climatic patterns. The effects of climate change, including higher temperatures, changes in precipitation patterns, rising sea levels and increased frequency of weather related disasters are bound to create risks for agriculture, food, and water supplies. International and national discussions on forests and climate change have largely been focused on reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation and enhancing carbon stocks (REDD+).

Less obvious, yet equally important, is the role of forests in enhancing landscape resilience to climate change—for example at the scale of a watershed. Forests and trees provide environmental services ranging from increasing water quality and quantity in well defined areas, reducing soil erosion, creating micro-climatic conditions that maintain (or in some cases improve) productivity. The sustainable management of forests can also strengthen social resilience, by offering a diversification of revenue sources and product supplies, and building the capacity of local and national institutions.

Forest and tree management could provide a low-cost approach to enhancing resilience of local landscapes to climate change but needs to balance production, livelihood, adaptation and mitigation goals.