Information and analysis for sustainable forest management: linking national and international efforts in South and Southeast Asia. Proceedings Of The Programme Inception Workshop: Forestry Information Processes And Planning

INFORMATION AND ANALYSIS FOR SUSTAINABLE FOREST MANAGEMENT: LINKING NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL EFFORTS IN SOUTH AND SOUTHEAST ASIA

TREES OUTSIDE FOREST RESOURCES: VALUATION AND THE EVALUATION OF TREE RESOURCES OUTSIDE FORESTWITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO SOUTH AND SOUTHEAST ASIA

Prepared by

FAO Conservation, Research and Education Service (FORC)

Presented by Thomas Enters, Forestry Sector Analysis Specialist,

FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific

In the framework of its programme on trees-outside-forest (TOF)², the FAO Forestry Department has been undertaking a series of activities to take stock of the knowledge on TOF assessment issues. For example, in collaboration with the EC-project in ACP countries, the Forest Resource Assessment (FRA) programme and the Conservation, Research and Education Service (FORC) programme, a general study on the topic is being undertaken by Institut de Recherche pour le Développement - IDR (ex-ORSTOM) (France); studies have also been initiated in 15 countries in Africa³, as well as 3 studies in Asia⁴ and 7 studies in Latin America and Caribbean⁵. The studies aim to improve our understanding of the resources, their classification, the limits and opportunities of existing methodologies of assessment, and the actors involved in data collection and analysis. Specifically, the studies look at:

related legal and/or technical definitions and terminology adopted in the countries;

the list of the principal resources and their importance according to their economic, social and environmental functions;

data sources and quality;

assessment methodologies and parameters and their quality used; and

institutional responsibilities for the assessment of these resources and actors' involvement in data analyses for sustainable land management planning.

A report on TOF is being prepared in collaboration with CIRAD-Forêt to be presented in the framework of the Forest Resource Assessment 2000 Report (December 2000). The report will also include 10 case studies of national experiences around the world, including India and Indonesia. A source book (annotated bibliography) is also being prepared on the subject.

In the case of Asia, an example of TOF resource assessment in India is shown in Box 1. As for most other studies, one important lesson learned is that the promotion of tree management on farmland is strongly influenced by the agricultural sector. In general terms, the studies provide the qualitative information regarding the resource but overlook the information available in other institutions (e.g. agriculture, urban institutions).

Box 1

Survey of non-forest areas in India

The 1997 report on the state of forests in India devotes a section to non-forest areas. From 1991-92 the Forest Survey of India (FSI) took up inventory of trees growing outside conventional forest areas in the country. The main objective of the inventory is to assess the extent of plantations raised under various social forestry schemes by different agencies. The sampling design, field formats, data processing methodology have been developed at the FSI. Planted trees are classified in eight categories: Farm forestry, Village woodlot, Block plantation, Road, Pond, Rail and Canal side plantations and others. The inventory of the non-forest area of Haryana has been completed in 1997. The result reveal that farm forestry contributes about 41% of the total standing volume of wood in non forest areas in Haryana, followed by village woodlot (23%), Roadside plantations (13%) and Block plantations (11%).

Sampling Design - Non Forest Area: The sampling design adopted for this inventory is a two stage stratified sampling. Sampling unit in the first stage is a district and in the second stage a village. While taking up the survey of a state, optimum number of villages to be surveyed is determined on the basis of data obtained from a pilot survey. The number of villages to be inventoried in a district is decided according to proportional allocation. Trees standing n the selected villages are enumerated and measured by the field parties. Compilation and data processing is done district-wise.

Source: Ministry of Environment and Forests. 1997. State of Forests Report 1997. Dehra Dun, India, Forest Survey

The development of assessment and planning tools poses major methodological problems. It is necessary to develop, test and standardize a methodology (methodologies) that will be applicable on a broad scale and is relevant to diverse locations and countries. The methodologies should be:

able to provide a reasonable estimate of the stock, production and economic and other benefits from TOF and provide insights into changes;

cost-effective, adaptable and implementable with the limited human resources available; and

widely applicable.

In Uganda and Zimbabwe, as well as in other pilot studies for the development of methodologies of assessment of TOF, the aim is to: i) prioritize the resources to be assessed according to the national issues; ii) develop and validate appropriate methodologies to assess these resources; and iii) assess the needs for institutional capacity building. The approach will build on a collaborative effort between forestry agencies and other concerned actors to take account of the different roles and responsibilities in sustainable forest management and a multifunctional agricultural and land management.

The pilot studies will provide an opportunity, as an initial step, to:

Identify and discuss with various stakeholders in particular policy makers the main economic, social and technical issues relevant to policy making and planning relating to cultivation, management and utilization of TOF resources;

Identify the data/information requirements to facilitate decision-making processes;

Undertake a detailed literature review relating to methodologies for data collection and analysis in relation to the information needs identified earlier;

Assess the relevance/application of the methodologies in the context of the national situation, especially taking into account the need for decentralised planning; and

Propose preliminary methodologies that are technically appropriate and operationally feasible to deal with the different issues identified earlier.

Another interesting issue is the valuation of TOF. Valuation methodologies need to support the development of options and demonstrate that integration of trees on farmlands can be economically viable. To achieve a better integration of TOF and to slow down or reverse the spread of the agricultural frontier (on forest lands), the end-users of the data (on forest and TOF) include managers, policy and decision makers concerned by other sectors (in particular, agricultural sector), as well as the users of TOF resources (e.g. farmers, herders, traders).

TOF are also found in urban and peri-urban environments. Due to population growth and rapid and uncontrolled urbanization in many parts of the developing world, the issue of urban development is likely to gain in importance over the next several years. Urban forestry can play an important role in meeting the needs of the urban population and in addressing the social and environmental urban problems. Planning, coordination, management and people's participation for an appropriate integration of tree-based systems into urban environments shall be addressed along with the issues of rural areas.

The planning, evaluation and monitoring process passes through several steps :

1) identifying issues and setting priorities;

2) assessment methodology development, test and validation;

3) data gathering;

4) data analysis and planning;

5) providing options of best practices and supporting integration of trees for sustainable rural and urban development; and

6) impact assessment and monitoring.

The GCP/RAP/173/EC project concentrates specifically on steps 1 and 2. I invite the teams and institutions involved in thematic/country studies on TOF, as well as pilot studies on methodology development, to encourage multi-sectoral collaboration to plan and monitor the process through an "integrated" advisory group. This should set the right conditions for the subsequent use of the data on TOF in support of our efforts in sustainable rural development in general, and sustainable forest management in particular.

TREES OUTSIDE FOREST: RELATED DEFINITION AND TERMINOLOGY

FAO definitions (Source: Kotka III, Finland, 1996, p. 107)

Class

Definition

Total area¹

Total area (of country) , including area under inland water bodies, but excluding offshore territorial waters.

These classes sum up to Total Area

Forest

Land with tree crown cover (or equivalent stocking level) of more than 10 percent and area of more than 0.5 hectares (ha). The trees should be able to reach a minimum height of 5 meters (m) at maturity in situ. May consist either of closed forest formations where trees of various stories and undergrowth cover a high proportion of the ground; or open forest formations with a continuous vegetation cover in which tree crown cover exceeds 10 percent. Young natural stands and all plantations established for forestry purposes which have yet to reach a crown density of 10 percent or tree height of 5 m are included under forest, as are areas normally forming part of the forest area which are temporarily non stocked as a result of human intervention or natural causes but which are expected to revert to forest.

Includes: forest nurseries and seed orchards that constitute an integral part of the forest; forest roads, cleared tracts, firebreaks and other small open areas; forest in national parks, nature reserves and other protected areas such as those of specific scientific, historical, cultural or spiritual interest; windbreaks and shelterbelts of trees with an area of more than 0.5 ha and width of more than 20 m; plantations primarily used for forestry purposes, including rubberwood plantations and cork oak stands.

Excludes: Land predominantly used for agricultural practices

Other wooded land

Land either with a crown cover (or equivalent stocking level) of 5-10 percent of trees able to reach a height of 5 m at maturity in situ; or a crown cover (or equivalent stocking level) of more than 10 percent of trees not able to reach a height of 5 m at maturity in situ (e.g. dwarf or stunted trees) ; or with shrub or bush cover of more than 10 percent.

Other land

Land not classified as forest or other wooded land as defined above. Includes agricultural land, meadows and pastures, built-on areas, barren land, etc.

Inland water

Area occupied by major rivers, lakes and reservoirs.

Trees outside forest

Trees on land not defined as forest and other wooded land. Includes:

Trees on land that fulfils the requirements of forest and other wooded land except that the area is less than 0.5 ha;

trees able to reach a height of at least 5 m at maturity in situ where the stocking level is below 5 percent;

trees not able to reach a height of 5 m at maturity in situ where the stocking level is below 20 percent;

scattered trees in permanent meadows and pastures;

permanent tree crops such as fruit trees and coconuts;

trees in parks and gardens, around buildings and in lines along streets, roads, railways, rivers, streams and canals; (vii) trees in shelterbelts of less than 20 m width and 0.5 ha area.

Tree

A woody perennial with a single main stem, or in the case of coppice with several stems, having a more or less definite crown. Includes: bamboos, palms and other woody plants meeting the above criterion.

Note: It will be necessary to examine carefully whether the above definitions provide sufficiently clear and workable distinctions (i) between forestland and other wooded land, and (ii) between forest and other wooded land and other land. Regarding (i), the main criteria are the percentage (more or less than 10%) of trees able to reach a height of at least 5 m at maturity in situ and an area (more or less than 0.5 ha). Whether the distinction in (ii) is clear depends on whether the term "trees outside forests" needs to be more precisely defined. In particular, it needs to be decided whether forest land and other wooded land of less than 0.5 ha should be excluded from forest and other wooded land, as is proposed here, as was the case in FRA(TZ)-90 (described as "small woodlots of less than 0.5 ha").

2 See Annex 1 for definitions

3 Studies in Africa: Benin, Burundi, Chad, Côte d'Ivoire, Guinea, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa and Uganda (including some information on Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan, Tanzania, Zimbabwe).

4 Asia: Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka.

5 Latin America and Caribbean: Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras and Peru.

	Class	Definition
	Total area¹	Total area (of country) , including area under inland water bodies, but excluding offshore territorial waters.
These classes sum up to Total Area	Forest	Land with tree crown cover (or equivalent stocking level) of more than 10 percent and area of more than 0.5 hectares (ha). The trees should be able to reach a minimum height of 5 meters (m) at maturity in situ. May consist either of closed forest formations where trees of various stories and undergrowth cover a high proportion of the ground; or open forest formations with a continuous vegetation cover in which tree crown cover exceeds 10 percent. Young natural stands and all plantations established for forestry purposes which have yet to reach a crown density of 10 percent or tree height of 5 m are included under forest, as are areas normally forming part of the forest area which are temporarily non stocked as a result of human intervention or natural causes but which are expected to revert to forest. Includes: forest nurseries and seed orchards that constitute an integral part of the forest; forest roads, cleared tracts, firebreaks and other small open areas; forest in national parks, nature reserves and other protected areas such as those of specific scientific, historical, cultural or spiritual interest; windbreaks and shelterbelts of trees with an area of more than 0.5 ha and width of more than 20 m; plantations primarily used for forestry purposes, including rubberwood plantations and cork oak stands. Excludes: Land predominantly used for agricultural practices
	Other wooded land	Land either with a crown cover (or equivalent stocking level) of 5-10 percent of trees able to reach a height of 5 m at maturity in situ; or a crown cover (or equivalent stocking level) of more than 10 percent of trees not able to reach a height of 5 m at maturity in situ (e.g. dwarf or stunted trees) ; or with shrub or bush cover of more than 10 percent.
	Other land	Land not classified as forest or other wooded land as defined above. Includes agricultural land, meadows and pastures, built-on areas, barren land, etc.
	Inland water	Area occupied by major rivers, lakes and reservoirs.
	Trees outside forest	Trees on land not defined as forest and other wooded land. Includes: Trees on land that fulfils the requirements of forest and other wooded land except that the area is less than 0.5 ha; trees able to reach a height of at least 5 m at maturity in situ where the stocking level is below 5 percent; trees not able to reach a height of 5 m at maturity in situ where the stocking level is below 20 percent; scattered trees in permanent meadows and pastures; permanent tree crops such as fruit trees and coconuts; trees in parks and gardens, around buildings and in lines along streets, roads, railways, rivers, streams and canals; (vii) trees in shelterbelts of less than 20 m width and 0.5 ha area.
	Tree	A woody perennial with a single main stem, or in the case of coppice with several stems, having a more or less definite crown. Includes: bamboos, palms and other woody plants meeting the above criterion.