Download 955 - USAID Natural Resource Management and Development

FORESTRY and USAID
I. FORESTRY: THE CHALLENGE AND THE US INTEREST
More than 1.6 billion people depend of forests for their livelihood, 1 billion depend almost
entirely on the medicines that come from the forest ecosystem, and nearly 3 billion people depend
on wood as their source of energy for heating and cooking. Although the international
community identified guiding principles to maintain and sustainable manage natural forests at the
1992 Earth Summit in Rio, forest cover continues to decline at a staggering 14.6 million hectares
per year and with an even greater area being degraded. The continuing loss and destruction of the
world’s forests is a global environmental problem, with serious social, economic, and
environmental costs. Forests are critically important for sustainable development because of the
renewable resources they contain and the environmental services they provide. The loss includes
not only commercial timber (globally valued at $125 billion per year) but also the food, medicine,
fuel and raw materials which are also critical to the lives of many the world’s poorest people.
The world’s forests serve an important role in the planet’s carbon cycle by storing a considerable
portion of the global carbon stock. Forest burning and unmanaged forest fires cause carbon to be
released back into the atmosphere, contributing directly to global greenhouse gas emissions.
Destruction of forests can result, not only in the loss of commercially marketed forest products,
but also increased pressures on scarce forest resources in meeting the growing demands of the
poor and landless. In some countries forests are also at the center of both local and regional
conflicts. Local conflicts arise due to competition over resources due to inequitable distribution
and access and alternatives are unavailable. Such conflicts can escalate and lead to political
instability. Illegal logging can also generate funds to support politically or culturally motivated
rebel activities or support well-connected corrupt, anti-democratic elite.
Loss of forests directly offset and undercut social and economic development investments due to
environmental damages that result. Environmental services provided by forests include their role
in protection of watersheds and reservoirs, preventing floods and mitigating global climate
change. Healthy forests provide essential ecological services of both national and global
significance, such as climate regulation, carbon sequestration, watershed protection, soil
conservation, storage and recycling of organic matter and mineral nutrients and they provide
habitats for a wide range of species. Thus loss of forest cover, due to land conversion,
fragmentation, and degradation of forests affects all sectors of human society.
This pattern of escalating loss has been very evident in recent years. In Asia for example,
numerous countries have experienced floods of unprecedented severity, with large life and
property losses due to clearing of forestlands on upland watersheds. The effects have also been
negative on downstream communities that rely on lakes, reservoirs, and irrigation systems and the
associated fisheries, due to siltation from the increase surface water run-off and soil erosion.
Such impacts can affect the U.S as well, in terms of costs associated with environmental and
economic refugees, disaster relief and reconstruction, and the economic repercussions of nations
defaulting on loans as they cope with the impacts and loss of trade and negative impact on the
global markets.
The United States has a profound interest in the health and maintenance of global forests for
several reasons. The U.S. is a major producer and consumer of forest products, adheres to high
environmental principals and recognises the strategic role forests play in promoting political and
economic stability, fair trade, and economic growth of developing countries. The U.S. is also the
largest world importer of forest products, valued at $22 billion per year in 1997, mostly from
1
Canada, and the world's second largest forest products exporter, with exports (including paper
products) totalling $17 billion in 1997. Illegal and destructive logging is a major factor in forest
degradation. This directly affects U.S. producers who cannot compete with under-priced forest
products, which have bypassed legal and sustainable production practices -- the U.S. has a vested
interest in promoting sound forest management and protection world-wide.
Over one-third of the U.S. wood exports market flows to non-oil producing developing countries.
In addition, the U.S. relies on many tropical forested countries for major imports of food
commodities – collectively valued at hundreds of millions of dollars annually – which are often
dependent on water supplied from upland forested watersheds. The U.S. also imports tropical
wood, food, medicinal plants, and natural products such as rubber, liquorice, Brazil nuts, and gum
Arabic. Many U.S. companies also maintain substantial investment overseas and thus are linked
to the economic health and welfare in those developing countries.
In addition, developing countries represent the fastest growing export market for the U.S. and
their purchasing power is affected by the health of their natural resource base and its loss. Forests
are part of the broader landscape and exert a major role in protecting surrounding and
downstream properties and agricultural communities. Thus their destruction has far-reaching
implications that influence human livelihoods both directly and indirectly. For example, loss of
upland forests can result in flash flooding and destruction of downstream infrastructure, decline in
surface and ground water, and loss of topsoil and nutrients that thus limit agricultural production.
II. EXPERIENCE AND IMPACT
The USAID forest program history can be characterized by two phases. The first phase began in
the mid-1970s when the program focused on addressing the demands for fuelwood, the principle
source of heating and cooking energy in developing countries. The program strategy included
promoting rural forestry in the form of communally and individually owned woodlots, and the
establishment of large-scale plantations of fast-growing exotic species such as Australian
eucalyptus or North American pine. Over time it became evident from the Agency’s work in the
Sahel, that the exotic trees in the plantations did not perform as well as expected, as costs soared
due to the lower than expected yields. The sustainability of this approach proved questionable as
governments were unable to meet recurrent cost requirements and staffing levels were
inadequate. Plantations were left without maintenance and protection once the USAID funding
ran out.
By the mid-1980s, USAID was able to evaluate its earlier attempts and concluded that future
demands for fuelwood were thus unlikely to be achieved with large-scale planting schemes.
Furthermore, not only were the fuelwood demands unfulfilled, but as a result of natural forest
being cleared and converted to plantations, indigenous people were also losing a wide range of
other forest products important to meeting household needs and contributing to the rural
economy. The lessons learned, bolstered by scientific studies that illustrated the complexity of
natural ecosystems and the resulting ecological damage and loss of biological diversity associated
with simplified man-made habitats such as plantations, launched the second phase of forestry
programming. This phase shifted focus to improving the management of natural forest
ecosystems and conserving biological diversity by promoting local community participation in
the use and management of natural forest areas. The program was expanded from its initial
limited focus on wood production, to consider the multiple benefits of maintaining natural forests
and to promote effort to support sustainable natural forest management and protection.
2
Today the Agency works to promote sustainable forest management on a global level by
engaging a range of interest groups in planning and implementing forest programs. USAID
works through collaborative partnerships with other Government agencies; non-Governmental,
private, and voluntary organizations; and multilateral organizations in areas where deforestation
is of major concern. The following is a summary of USAID’s recent experiences in protecting
and sustaining forest cover in developing countries around the world.
Tropical Forests: USAID implements 44 tropical forest programs in 70 countries located in
three geographic regions: Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa, and Asia. In Latin America
and the Caribbean Bureau had the highest total expenditure on forestry activities of any region in FY2001,
at 42 percent of total USAID forestry spending. Programs such as the Bolivia Sustainable Forest Program
(BOLFOR) and the Parks in Peril Program demonstrate USAID’s commitment to sustainable management
of forest resources for rural economic empowerment, as well as protection and conservation of some of the
world’s most important biodiversity-rich tropical forests. Central Africa and Madagascar’s rich tropical
forests and biodiversity make the Africa region critically important to Agency efforts to manage and protect
tropical forests. Africa, as a region, was responsible for 32 percent of the Agency’s FY 2001 forestry
sector spending. In the Asia Near East region Mission offices have worked successfully to gain the
recognition of communities’ rights to manage forests. The results of such rights include an increase in
forest cover in Nepal, a decrease in illegal logging in the Philippines, and the protection of forests from
fires in Indonesia.
Temperate and Boreal Forests: Additionally, USAID forestry programs are working in the vast
temperate and boreal forests of Europe and Eurasia. Russia’s forests comprise approximately 22% of
the world’s forests making them critical globally for mitigating climate change impacts. USAID invests $2
million per year on the Forest Resources and Technologies (FOREST) project to address fire prevention,
pest management, biomass energy potential and improvement of value-added processing for timber and
non-timber forest products by regional enterprise associations in Siberia and Russia’s Far East, where
forestry is a vital part of the economy. Bulgaria’s forest agencies are working with USAID in forest fire
prevention and management activities to support programs that address fire prevention. In FY 2001, the
Agency’s Mission in Bulgaria spent $250,000 on fire management support activities. The Mission has also
spent almost $1 million annually in strengthening the management of forested protected areas in key
watersheds.
III. PROVEN APPROACHES
The Agency’s approach in promoting development in the forest sector includes: building
institutional capacity to support and promote sustainable forest use and management; transferring
appropriate technologies related to the technical aspects of forestry including enterprise
development and marketing; fostering education and awareness of local groups and individuals as
well as policy makers; and supporting policy reform of natural resource policies to provide a
legal, economic, and social environment supportive of local forest stewardship.
Since the 1990s, several lessons have emerged in terms of project design; calculating costs and
benefits; monitoring and assessing performance and impact, and the level of commitment
required in achieving desired long-term results.
Project Design: Because countries are at different stages of development, it is critical to first
assess the country in terms of its biological and socioeconomic and political setting. Design
interventions must be appropriate to meet the needs of each local and national setting, i.e.,
correspond to the specific stage of social, political, and economic development. In addition, it is
important to review the full range of sectoral and non-sectoral policies that can affect forest
management, identify changes necessary to enable project success, and assess the feasibility of
achieving the changes. Project sites must be selected giving priority to areas where the value of
3
biological resources is high, where host government actions indicated a commitment to
sustainable forest management, and where significant local participation and opportunities for
sustainable economic return from natural resources exist.
Costs and Benefits: Promoting a sense of ownership by maximizing local responsibility and
authority for the management of natural resources, as well as ensuring a fair distribution of both
the costs and benefits, is essential for success. An assessment of costs and benefits of forest
management compared with other land use options is necessary for planning appropriate
interventions. Benefits should be clearly linked to the conservation activity. Programs must
address the fact that local participants encounter costs associated with their involvement: land is
restricted from other uses, funds are needed to buy (materials and equipment), and labor is
required to plant trees and to protect against encroachment. These must be offset with
opportunities to generate early income. Possible ventures include sustainable timber (lumber,
fuelwood, charcoal, pulpwood), non-timber products (nuts, honey, rattan, tree and plant
nurseries), and tourist concessions.
Monitoring and Assessing Impact: Monitoring is a critical element in evaluating the overall
state of forests and effectiveness of interventions. Programs need to establish benchmarks,
monitor change and measure impact to determine if adjustments are needed. Their impact,
effectiveness, sustainability, and replicability should gauge the overall performance of programs.
Impact can be measured at four levels: programmatic impacts (changes in knowledge,
institutions, technical know-how, and economic policies that encourage environmentally
responsible forestry use and management); impacts on practices (adoption of environmentally
sound forest use and management practices); biophysical impacts (changes in tree cover, quality
of soils, and diversity of plant and animal species in forest habitats); and socioeconomic impacts
(changes in income, employment, and well-being of forest users and user groups).
Level of Commitment: Forest programs must budget sufficient time and resources to ensure
activity will be sustainable after funding supports ends…particularly when institutional capacity
needs building and natural resource policies need reform. Also, community forestry programs
require considerable effort over a period of years to set up new government structures, erode
bureaucratic resistance, test technical approaches, organize existing (or form new) local groups,
and build trust among farmers and communities.
IV. PRIORITIES AND FUTURE DIRECTIONS
USAID supports forest conservation and sustainable management activities around the world. At
the field or Mission level, the Agency supports activities that can be grouped into three broad
categories: national or macro-level, project or forest-level, and addressing the underlying causes
of deforestation. An illustrative list is provided below of the countries with on-going or recently
completed activities in these categories. The Agency is also directing its future efforts to
addressing global forestry issues and Mission support. The USAID Washington-based Forestry
Team, managed within the Environment Office of the Bureau for Economic Growth, Agriculture,
and Trade (EGAT) will lead this effort.
National or Macro-level (legal and institutional)
-
Democracy and Governance: promoting grass-roots democracy through community-based
forest management (Indonesia, Philippines, Nepal, Ecuador, Guatemala, Albania);
Policy Reform: promoting economic and financial analysis to support policy reforms that
recognize the value of forests in terms of both goods and services (Nicaragua, Indonesia,
Uganda, Bolivia, Central America); and
4
-
Institutional Strengthening: encouraging efforts to strengthen of national institutions,
policies, laws and administrative mechanisms (Bolivia, Indonesia, Russia Far East).
Project or Forest-level
-
-
-
-
-
Improved Forestry Practices: supporting the development of new technologies and practices
such as reduced-impact logging, pest management, and watershed assessment using
geospatial technologies (Brazil, Bolivia, Indonesia, Cameroon, Russia Far East) and applied
research and demonstration (Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Russia Far East);
Technical assistance and Training: providing technical assistance, training to facilitate
transfer of appropriate and environmentally sound technology such as use of remote sensing
data to monitor forest health and illegal logging, improved planning using forest inventory,
economic analysis and mapping (Kenya, Tanzania, Indonesia, Cameroon, Eastern Europe and
Eurasia);
Forest Enterprises: strengthening forest-related enterprises and associations by promoting
processing efficiency, better business practices, and improved marketing of wood and nontimber forest products(Russia Far East, Albania, Bolivia, Guatemala);
Protected Areas: assisting governments and communities to designate, monitor, and manage
areas such as biosphere and ecological reserves, national parks, wildlife refuges and multipleuse forests or extractive reserves (Indonesia, Bolivia, Brazil, Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa,
Madagascar, Guatemala, Mexico);
Information and Communication: disseminating information and enhanced public and
community education and training (South Africa, Ecuador, Panama, Kenya, Tanzania).
Addressing Underlying Causes of Deforestation
-
-
Threats and Land Conversion: addressing the underlying causes of forest fire (Mexico,
Russia Far East, Siberia, Brazil, Bolivia), natural disaster (e.g., such as hurricanes -previously in Haiti, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador), and land
conversion or deforestation (e.g., alternatives to slash-and-burn, agricultural expansion,
distorted economic and environmental policies, land tenure and land title disputes);
Illegal Logging: helping to combat illegal logging through international meetings and
workshops to discuss the problem, identify challenges and strategies to address the issue, and
to raise public awareness (Atlanta, Washington).
Global Forestry Issues and Mission Support
-
-
-
-
New White House Forestry Initiative on Illegal Logging: A $50 million program that will
focus on (a) destructive logging information and monitoring; (b) illegal trade policy; and (c)
innovative conservation financing;
International Investment: encouraging international investment for private and public capital
which stimulates and rewards sound management practices and efficient forest resource use
and social equity (e.g., help link communities and developing country timber and non-timber
forest product industries to certified products markets);
Conservation Finance: promoting creative funding mechanisms to support conservation and
sustainable use of natural forests (e.g., debt-for-nature swaps and the Tropical Forest
Conservation Act debt reduction program);
Mission Support: serving as an information clearing house -- producing outreach materials
on lessons learned, US policy, and forestry practices based on the latest research;
International Dialogue: supporting USG international dialogue and negotiations both
bilateral and multilateral channels, to increase sustainable forest use and management.
5
USAIDForesry-Paper-to-PPC-June01
6