Forestry and Development E-News
Forestry and Development (F&D) is an online resource on sustainable forestry. It supports commercial forestry as a viable source of economic growth which is compatible with sustainability.
Bali Roundup A number of key developments related to forestry took place at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference in Bali, Indonesia, from 3 to 14 December. UNFCCC – role of sustainable forestry as tool to reduce carbon emissions recognised Forestry was a hot topic at the UNFCCC meeting. There was a keen awareness among Green NGOs that if they couldn't walk away with commitments to binding emissions cuts from developed nations, they could try to force their anti-forestry agenda under the Convention. The results were mixed. On the one hand, the UNFCCC peak body, the Conference of the Parties, agreed to consider policy approaches and positive incentives for reduced emissions from deforestation in developing countries as part of its mitigation activity, which could have a detrimental impact on the forestry industry. However, it also agreed to recognise the role of sustainable forestry and enhancement of carbon stocks in developing countries when formulating mitigation strategies. This reflected advice from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) that expanding sustainable forestry was one of the most effective steps that could be taken to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide. World Bank – fails to recognise sustainable forestry The World Bank wasted another opportunity to take positive action on forestry, growth and climate change, with the launch of its Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) at the UNFCCC Conference. The Bank's concept paper and presentations on the FCPF have been publicly available since July of this year. The presentation at Bali hardly moved on this position. The professed aim of the Facility is to fund deforestation measures in developing countries in a way that may help to create carbon credits which these countries can trade in an international system after 2012. Yet it is unlikely that a system of global trading will be agreed upon. The Fund looks like an offer of money to developing countries to adopt Bank policies on deforestation. Until last year, the Bank would only provide project finance to forestry in tropical developing countries if those projects were certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), WWF's forest certification body. There were reports last year that the Bank intended to end the formal "Forestry Alliance" with WWF. "Alliance" executives, however, were still seen at Bali. The new Facility looks very similar to the "Forest Conservation Partnerships" that the Bank unsuccessfully tried to use in recent years to encourage developing countries to adopt mechanisms that put NGOs in control of forest conservation policies in developing countries. During Bali, Greenpeace unveiled a complicated proposal that would require industrialised economies under a Mark Two version of the Kyoto Protocol to agree to earmark a share of the emissions that they will abate for purchase of emission credits from developing countries for avoiding deforestation. Put simply, this would be grant money which would be payable only if deforestation was avoided. This aligns with WWF's position that land which was once forested should not be converted to any other use. The World Bank had an opportunity to promote sustainable forestry as a means to reduce greenhouse gases. Instead, it once again seems to have crafted policy to suit the interests of Western-based environmental NGOs. Indonesia Host nation Indonesia made some major announcements regarding forestry and climate change at the UNFCCC conference. The Indonesian Government announced that it will select four forestry projects for the World Bank's proposed Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) scheme. The four forestry projects are to be located in South Kalimantan, South Sulawesi, North Sumatra and Southeast Sulawesi. The Indonesian Government also launched the 'Orangutan Conservation Strategy and Action Plan', which was widely supported by NGOs and governments within the region for attempting to preserve orangutan habitat and reducing climate change emissions. The Indonesian province of Papua also announced that it will review all forestry operations in the province. The Governor of Papua, Barnabas Suebu, announced that the province's 'conversion forests' – forest areas earmarked for conversion to palm oil and plantations – will be set aside as carbon sinks. Papua signed a number of agreements with carbon investment companies in return for financial assistance. Suebu outlined the review at an event organised by Greenpeace (see below). However, Indonesia's central government has criticised the move to trade carbon outside a national framework, saying that Papua was "selling our forests at a discount". NGOs A large number of NGOs were present at the UNFCCC Conference – and a large number had the forest industry in their sights. Greenpeace launched its "Tropical Deforestation Emission Reduction Mechanism", which aims to raise funds to avoid deforestation, but which opposes any commercial forestry activity. One participant asked if Greenpeace was more interested in carbon reductions or avoided deforestation, to which Greenpeace responded that it was only interested in avoided deforestation. A number of NGOs expressed positions that were highly critical of the World Bank's REDD initiative, including Conservation International and Friends of the Earth, who issued a press release entitled "World Bank Hands Off Forests".
ITTO funds PNG governance project 10 November: The International Tropical Timber Organisation (ITTO) has funded a governance project in PNG to the tune of almost US$500,000. The project aims to enhance forest law enforcement in PNG and support sustainable forest management activities. Forest law enforcement in PNG has been heavily criticised by NGOs operating in the area who are unfamiliar with capacity and resource constraints within PNG that severely limit the ability of forest authorities to enforce forest law. Instead, NGOs simply accuse the forest industry of being corrupt. The project is the second major project in PNG funded by the ITTO this year; the first was a timber legality traceability and verification project in conjunction with forestry company Saban Enterprises.	Greenpeace unscrupulously attacks certifiers Greenpeace has attacked Swiss-based auditing organisation SGS by launching a letter-writing campaign against the company over its recent FSC inspection of Spanish industrial plantation company NORFOR. SGS was engaged by NORFOR to conduct Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification for its forestry operations. The FSC has since requested a small number of remedial actions for the certification following stakeholder complaints – one of which was made by Greenpeace. The Greenpeace attack comes after a report released by the FSC indicated that Greenpeace no longer wished to communicate with SGS - despite SGS needing to engage Greenpeace to resolve the problem. Greenpeace is one of the founders and one of the current members of the FSC. Prince Charles takes anti-development position 24 October: In a speech at a WWF event in London, Prince Charles launched a private-sector initiative aimed at protecting old growth rainforests for their "services to humanity". He said that the value of living forests would need to out-compete other drivers of forest destruction - some of which were the demand for palm oil, beef and soya from rich countries. The Prince of Wales fails to understand that soya and beef are essential foodstuffs and income sources for people in developing countries. Also on Forestry and Development News > About F&D > Contact Us >
You have permission to forward this email newsletter to other interested persons provided it is passed on in its entirety. Forestry & Development E-News is published monthly by ITS Global (http://www.itsglobal.net/). ITS Global are accredited assessors for the International Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification Schemes (PEFC) Questions and feedback can be sent to forestrydevel@bigpond.com If you no longer wish to receive this newsletter, please click here. © 2007. All rights reserved | Forestry & Development Website | Contact |