East African experiences on negotiation and co-management for joint forest management (JFM)

Larwanou, M and Kowero, G

African Forest Forum (AFF) C/o World Agroforestry Center (ICRAF)

United Nations Avenue P.O.Box 30677 – 00100, Nairobi, Kenya

E-mail: m.larwanou@cgiar.orgWebsite: www.afforum.org

Introduction• Poor forest governance has cost East Africa dearly in terms

of reduced goods and services, lost taxes and royalties, and the erosion of livelihoods;

• The political response has been slow to unfold, but that is changing.

• A regional Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) process has been launched under the auspices of the East African Community (EAC) to implement the 2003 Yaoundé declaration on improving forest law enforcement and governance (FLEG).

• After two years of studies and consultations, the Forest Law Enforcement and Governance (FLEG) process is now at the crucial point of translating ideas into action.

• A regional workshop in October 2008 in Nairobi, Kenya, produced an outline and road map for a regional action plan.

• EAC member states (Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda) expect the plan to be ready during the first half of 2009.

Key FLEGT issues within the EAC region – the crimes

• Illegal/unauthorized occupation/acquisition or use of forest land for various uses;

• Illegal harvesting, transport, trade and smuggling of forest products within and between individual countries;

• Unsustainable forest management- lack of inventory data to facilitate planning;

• Inequitable distribution of forest resources;• Lack of transparency, inadequate information/awareness

and accountability in timber utilization, processing, marketing and trade.

Key FLEGT issues within the EAC region –Underlying causes

• Weak and/or inadequate policy, legislative and institutional frameworks- opening doors to poor governance, corruption and illegal practices – leading to deforestation and forest degradation;

• Short-sighted political decisions – an euphemism for corruption-excisions, political patronage, land grabbing- leading to deforestation;

• Weak forest law enforcement resulting in non-collection of revenue, lack of political good will and commitment, and distortion of market for timber products;

• Poverty and population pressure as drivers: the link between poverty and land degradation- high dependence on land resources for livelihood.

Key FLEGT issues within the EAC region –Proposed solutions

• Strengthen policy and legislative frameworks Coordination and harmonization of policy and legislative frameworks;Certification and verification, forest law and governance;Issue of livelihoods and link to participation of local population groups to secure collaboration on FLEG issues;Appreciation of the role of forests at national, regional and global level- economic, environment and social-cultural (integration into national strategic frameworks);

Solutions (cont.)

• Enhance mechanisms to promote sustainable forest managementUser-rights regimes, concessions;Transparency in issuing of concessions, licenses;Strengthen PFM;Criteria and indicators (definition) of sustainability;

Solutions (cont.)Strengthen capacity for monitoring, enforcement and compliance with FLEG

Awareness/civic education;Training on FLEGT issues through seminars, exchange

visits, postgraduate studies;Development of tools of controlling illegal logging and

timber trade (felling plans, standardized tarrifs, etc);

Promote cooperation and collaboration with bilateral and multilateral partnersEstablish agreements with multilateral and bilateral institutions to support FLEGT; Initiate regional agreements/Protocols through EAC.

Solutions (cont.)

Link national FLEG to international forest governance processes (UNFF, AFLEG, FLEGT)

Strengthen EAC forum on Forests to ensure harmonized position at Africa/international level;Utilize existing/proposed funding opportunities -GEF, the Prototype Carbon fund, carbon trading/REDD.

Solutions (cont.)

Information/awareness creation on FLEG Create awareness on stakeholder roles and responsibilities in PFM;Undertake and keep updated inventory on forest resources;Ensure access to information on available timber resources, trade agreements, concessions, and availability of opportunities in timber trade;

Solution (cont.)• Promote/streamline market and trade in forest products

through:Policies and regulations that protect local investors;Mechanisms for monitoring, certification and verification of cross-border trade in forest products;Access to information of available opportunities in timber trade;Simplification of trade regulations and code of conduct;Political good will and commitment –stakeholder participation.

Four priorities for regional action emerged from the Nairobi workshop

1) making the economic case for forests;

2) strengthening political will and awareness about forest issues and challenges;

3) increasing the resources available to forest administrations and participatory forest management initiatives;

4) strengthening the implementation of laws and policies.

Thank you