Forestry and Development E-News: March 2009
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.
US mobilising on global forest policy March 2009: The United States is re-emerging as a significant player in global forest policy. President Obama has already declared that he wishes to "make trade an important policy tool for achieving progress on national energy and environmental goals" in his Trade Policy Agenda for 2009. In Jakarta last month, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton applauded Indonesia for its efforts to "integrate deforestation into the broader climate negotiations". Democrat Senators Lugar and Kerry have introduced legislation in the Senate to reauthorise the Tropical Forest Conservation Act of 1998 (TFCA) for an additional three years. The Act was originally initiated by Lugar and current Vice-President Joe Biden over a decade ago. Under the Act, the United States and partner countries are permitted to undertake 'debt for nature' swaps, that is, swap sovereign debt to the United States for the implementation of conservation measures. Under the right circumstances this could be a positive thing. But if those measures threaten jobs and livelihoods in sustainable industries, it could have a damaging effect on economies in developing countries. Thus far, the agreements have only been signed with Latin American nations. But Clinton's visit to Indonesia heralded a new engagement with the Asia-Pacific region – and international environmentalism will be part of that engagement. The US has not been this deeply engaged with international forest policy since the first term of the Clinton Administration in the mid-1990s. Back then, the US was highly supportive of a global convention on forestry. This changed in Clinton's second term, after the Democrats had lost control of Congress. At around the same time that Hillary Clinton was in Indonesia, the Washington-based group AD Partners (Avoided Deforestation Partners) held a Capitol Hill briefing that it says urged the US Government to "prioritize ending tropical deforestation in domestic climate change legislation and U.S. climate change foreign policy". Among the featured speakers at the briefing were Senators Kerry and Lugar. One of AD Partners' major supporters is former Democrat Vice-President Al Gore. AD Partners' supporters are generally Green organizations such as Environmental Defense, Greenpeace and WWF. There is no involvement from the forestry sector. Private sector involvement is mostly confined to legal and financial firms – the forest-carbon industry's 'boosters'. But AD Partners has lined up a team that will carry significant influence with the current Obama Administration on international environmental issues. The White House and Congress will be receptive – as will many developing country governments that are promised foreign aid dollars.
World Bank "REDD"ying PNG March 2009: There are news reports that a World Bank team has visited PNG to assist with preparing PNG to receive funding to participate in proposed actions as part of the climate change negotiations to Reduce Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD). The original plan was that carbon credits would be created by ceasing deforestation and then sold on world markets. This would not offer PNG much. Global trading of carbon credits is most unlikely to be agreed to in the climate change negotiations. Developing countries, China and Brazil in particular, are not interested. And now Greenpeace and WWF also oppose this. PNG would benefit if the "REDD" programme recognized sustainable forestry management as an effective means for reducing emissions by increasing carbon sinks in forests. Until now, the World Bank has not entertained this idea, but very recently it announced a large development loan to Brazil through which the Bank agreed to finance promotion of sustainable forestry in native forests in return for a reduction, but not cessation, of deforestation in Brazil. New conservation area in PNG March 2009: The Papua New Guinean Government has declared a conservation area in Morobe Province. The YUS Conservation Area is named after the Yopno, Uruwa and Som rivers that run through the area. The area covers 76,000 hectares, extending from Morobe's interior mountains to the coast. The conservation area was finalised after 12 years of negotiations between local landowners and US-based conservation groups Conservation International and Woodlands Park Zoo. An agreement was struck whereby local landowners have agreed to prohibit mining or forestry activity in exchange for an initial pledge of US$1 million in conservation activities and health and education programmes for the area's 10,000 inhabitants – roughly US$100 for each member of the community. Conservation International hopes that this initial outlay will secure long-term financing for the conservation programmes. SFM, climate change a priority at World Forestry Week March 2009: The FAO is pushing for sustainable forest management (SFM) to be made a priority in global climate negotiations and in intergovernmental mechanisms designed to combat climate change at this month's World Forestry Week in Rome. The event coincides with the FAO's Committee on Forestry meeting, one of the most significant events on the international policy calendar. Concern has been expressed that "neither the lessons learned in SFM nor the experience of foresters has been sufficiently applied in the climate change negotiations". Moreover, the Committee has suggested that the delegates to the Committee consider how "political will and resources to implement SFM" can be "better mobilized by the forest sector".	WWF boycotts PEFC review March 2009: WWF has declined an invitation to join the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification schemes (PEFC) Stakeholder Forum. PEFC established its stakeholder forum as a response to its Governance Review in 2008 in order to provide a forum for NGOs, businesses and other groups to collaborate on the implementation and certification of sustainable forest management (SFM) – among other things. WWF has stated in very formal terms that it has declined the invitation because PEFC's stakeholder participation standards aren't up to its own internal standards. This raises two questions. First, wouldn't a stakeholder forum be precisely the right avenue for WWF to assist in raising participation standards? Second, if WWF is genuine about the improvement and implementation of SFM across the globe, wouldn't its technical expertise on conservation assist companies who choose PEFC? The tactic of boycotting other forest certification systems has been tried before. When the Australian Forest Standard (AFS) was being developed in Australia, local Green NGOs withdrew from the process – then claimed there was no input from environmental organizations. WWF then lobbied European Governments to boycott Australian paper and wood products certified as complying with the standard. Some, like the UK, agreed until the Australian Government put the facts in front of them. When SGS was designing the first comprehensive legality standard for forestry operations in PNG, local NGOs, including Greenpeace and WWF's affiliates in PNG, boycotted meetings and did not acknowledge efforts to engage them – and then complained they weren't consulted. PEFC should expect precisely the same treatment. PEFC endorses Russian certification scheme March 2009: PEFC has endorsed the Russian National Council for Forest Certification (RNCFC) certification system. The system was initiated in 2004 by the Russian Ministry of Natural Resources. The Ministry received funding under a World Bank programme to establish the system. The RNCFC system is one of two voluntary systems that have been developed in Russia; the other is the Russian State Forest Certification System. RNCFC has been supported heavily by Metsäliitto, one of Europe's largest forestry groups. According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), approximately 2.5 per cent of Russia's forests are currently certified – roughly 20 million hectares of a total forest area of 800 million hectares. Russia has the fourth-largest certified forest area, behind the US, Canada and Finland. Russian forest product exports have been increasing steadily over the past decade in all sectors - except for roundwood, which has declined slightly since 2007. Also on Forestry and Development News > About F&D > Contact Us >
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