Which policy, institutional and governanceaspects are fostering or else hampering forest

cover growth? A Latinamerican perspective

Daniella Schweizer, Paula Meli, Pedro H.S. Brancalion and Manuel RGuariguata

Laboratory of Tropical Forestry

INTRODUCTIONSeveral international commitments and funding for restoration in place:

Bonn Challenge, Aichi Biodiversity targets, New York Declaration on Forests, 20 x 20 Initiative.

Image source: WRI website

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

Internationalcommitments

Domestic policies andinstitutions

- How are current policy instruments according to predetermined ecological, social and financial indicators?

- What are key diferences in stakeholders perceptions on the efficacy, efficiency and accountability of reforestation frameworks and institutions?

- What does stakeholders perceive as key issues hampering or else promotingforest cover growth?

“....one of the interesting things for me would be to gather theseexperiences but looking at understanding not only restoration practicesbut also what is their governance framework which is where restoration

concepts are validated and legitimized” (ONG, Ecuador).

METHODS FOR POLICY ASSESSMENT

- We assessed plans, programs, policies and regulations related toforest growth based on four indicators:

MotivationLinks with other regulatory instrumentsSupporting instrumentsGovernment institution

GENERAL

Main reforestation activitiesConcepts mentionedTarget landscape and extentOrigin of species

ECOLOGICAL

Stakeholder groupInstruments of social empowermentSOCIAL

IncentivesPenalties

FINANCIAL

ARGENTINA

BRAZILBOLIVIA

CHILE

COLOMBIA

COSTA RICA

ECUADOR

GUATEMALA

HONDURAS

MEXICO

NICARAGUA PANAMA

PARAGUAYPERU

EL SALVADOR

URUGUAY

VENEZUELA

CLASSES

Forest blue

Forestry orange

Environment green

Diversity red

Agrarian brown

Support yellow

Climate grey

Other purple

- Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, andEcuador haveRestoration Plans

- Costa Rica andGuatemala have longterm paymentprograms

- Brazil has commandand control policies for native forest growth

In Brazil, Argentina andColombia there is greatdecentralization in policyimplementation

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

Fre

qu

en

cy

Reforestation actions

Ecologicalindicators

Restoration is one ofthe actionsmentioned the most

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

notspecified

mixed native exotic

Fre

qu

en

cy

Species

Ecologicalindicators

Species type mostlynot specified

0

5

10

15

20

25

Incentives

Financial indicators

Freq

uen

cy

Subsidies is themost commongincentive

0

10

20

30

40

50

Penalties

Financial indicators

Freq

uen

cy

Fines is the mostcommon penalty

METHODS FOR STAKEHOLDER PERCEPTION

Government Research NGOs Local

1.Analyze perceptions on reforestation frameworks

2. Analyze potential synergies and tradeoffs among stakeholder perceptions on the efficiency, efficacy, accountability and transparency of legal frameworks

Semi-structuredinterview

Ranking questionnaire

Examples of ranking statements

There is an official institutional structure supporting reforestation

(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7)

Mechanisms regulating economic fluxes are transparent and equitable

(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7)

1: Strongly Disagree 7: Strongly sagree

10

30

50

70

90

Freq

uen

cy 9

%)

10

30

50

70

90

Freq

uen

cy (

%)

10

30

50

70

90

Freq

uen

cy (

%)

Government

Research

NGO

Positive

Negative

RULES OF

LAW

ACCOUNTABILITY

AND

TRANSPARENCY

EFFECTIVENES

S AND

EFFICIENCY

Some key quotes: aspects fostering forest cover growth

“The institutions have started to articulate....now they are more clear on what are their functions...” (ONG, Peru)

“I would say there have been significative changes in the last ten years .... We have a more interesting regulatory framework to what we had before” (Govt, Chile)

“There are more Agronomists knowing about natives....seems like since last year all ofa sudden there are more knowledge and nurseries...” (Local, Argentina)

Some key quotes: aspects hampering forestgrowth

“This is always a bottle neck...effective technical capacity....doing restoration is notonly about the ecology but also about the people in the area” (ONG, Ecuador)

“...a forestry economy based on native species does not exist” (ONG, Brazil)

“there are important bottle necks in the aspects of land use zoning andincentives”(ONG, Ecuador)

“ ...so you have an idea, last year the government reduced by half the staff at theenvironmental secretariat...” (Research, Mexico)

Interesting cross-sectorial quotes

“...the Bonn Challenge gives us hope....Mexico committed to 8.5 million hectares ofwhich 7.5 were committed by the Ministry of Agriculture....this is a great challengeand a great opportunity...” (NGO, Mexico)

“....but the degree of difficulty in implementation of the Planaveg shows the difficultyin recognizing these cooperation platforms” (Govt, Brazil)

PRELIMINARY CONCLUSIONS

- Stakeholders mostly agree there are good, clear and “enough” regulatory frameworks

- There is increased cross sectorial work

- Weak institutions hinder implementation and monitoring

- Need for increased financial incentives

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Special thanks to all the people who agreed to contribute their time and knowledge to this work

Thanks to our funding agency