This chapter presents workshop deliberation on an approval to set up a forum or center to deal with regional and cross-country forest issues. All project countries have international and regional mandate to address forest and wildlife issues with boundaries larger than their national political boundaries for improving sustenance of these resources and all the life forms that these resources support.
The countries in the region have significant commonality in their cultural attributes and socio-economic conditions. They also share common forest types and also common threats and pressures to which the forests are subjected. The dynamics of degradation of the natural resource base and near perpetual poverty in the region is closely inter-linked and mutually reinforcing. Further, project countries have similar obligations at international and regional levels because they are party to similar set of international conventions and processes.
Such commonalities led the workshop to agree for establishment of Regional Forestry Forum or Center that addresses their regional obligation and other needs including a dynamic, pragmatic and focused regional forest policy framework that takes into account the fast changing environment and global scenario.
Important forest policy changes are already taking place in Asia-Pacific region as a whole in response to various initiatives of UNCED, IPP and IFF that desire enhanced attention to sustainable development, more and effective participation by local communities in forest management, globalization and economic liberalization etc. (FAO, 1998, IFF 1999).
Project countries agree that there are important gaps in their understanding of policy issues that have a significant bearing on the current status as well as the future existence of forests. Many of the standard scientific forest management prescriptions do not work in this region because of the tremendous biotic pressure on the forests. This calls for a fresh approach and change in existing systems of silviculture and management.
The countries agreed that they have a common stake in a number of trans-border issues like management of watersheds, flood and disaster management, conservation of biodiversity corridors etc. Therefore there is significant potential for mobilizing and strengthening their capacity through enhancement of complementarities, better co-ordination and coherence of action. This potential could be realized through more synergy and collective action in identified priority areas, enhanced level of experience sharing and institutionalization of the regional policy dialogue.
At global level, the Inter-governmental Forum on Forests (IFF) in its third session in May, 1999, has called upon the nations and the international organizations to actively cooperate and contribute in systematic collection, analysis and dissemination of information including social and economic data. It has laid stress on improving forest policy reform processes and implementation of sustainable forest development programs of developing countries through international development co-operation. It has further emphasized, among other things, developing of regional mechanisms for further developing international policy dialogue for promoting sustainable management and conservation of the forest resources. It has also stressed upon a policy framework for addressing issues like land tenure, economic instruments, technology transfer, forest trade, inventory and assessment and participatory processes.
Project countries, therefore, felt that the proposed Forum/Center will give new thrust to the regional co-operation in forest management in the new millennium, promote better policy formulating mechanisms and facilitate collective coordinated action by the countries on strategic forestry issues. It could also act as nucleus for facilitating capacity building, networking, exchange of data, experience sharing on management strategies etc. It will ensure that the forestry programs of the countries of the region do not remain isolated from each other and stronger linkages and partnerships are fostered between these countries.
The workshop considered the following possible issues/study areas proposed in the agenda notes, that are presently not receiving adequate attention, and that may be considered in the proposed forum /dialogue,
1) Identify the various forest and wildlife related international and regional conventions, agreements and processes to which member countries are signatories. Understand various legal, non-legal, binding. and non-binding obligations for each country and common obligations as a region of project countries
2) Identify obligations for which regional cooperation is must and those which do not need the region to evolve commonalities in response to international issues and device coherent strategies to effectively meet international and regional obligations
3) In line with IFF and other recommendations, actively explore the possibility of mobilization of international and regional resources for implementation of strategies agreed after the deliberations. Also identify sources for transfer of appropriate and eco-friendly technologies to the countries of the region.
4) Understand the important inter-sectorial linkages in national economies of the project countries and systematically correlate as how the dynamics of these cross-sectorial linkages have affected the state of forests of the countries. For example, documenting availability of, (or lack of) alternative employment opportunities to local people and its implications on degree of biotic pressure on the forests, the overall land use policy (or the lack of), Environmental Policy, rural development programs, rural energy policy, cattle and grazing policies/ programs in the region and their impact on state of health of the local forests.
5) How to integrate appropriate valuation of 'intangible' benefits from forest resources in calculation of economic development and, as suggested by IFF, examine possibilities of full cost internalization in management and development of forest resources
6) Identify Centers of excellence within the project countries and establish linkages with such Institutes both within the region as well as with rest of the world
7) Facilitate Human Resource Development for policy and other studies. For example, there could be a provision for the foresters of the region to get attached to the identified Centers of excellence for short-term studies of practical value. The Forum/Center could act as a nodal agency for designing and facilitating international trainings on forest and wildlife issues.
8) Analyze intergenerational and intergenerational equity issues, emerging international conventions on Forestry, Environment, Trade and WTO etc.
9) Identify replicable local initiatives and work of NGOs and transfer of such information between countries of the region
10) Critically evaluating the impact of trans-boundary forest management practices of the countries of the region on one another (including anthropogenic impact on floods, draught, erosion, and water regimes etc.)
11) To study role of forestry in disaster management in the hills, mangroves, coasts and deserts of the region and help devising strategies on food security, mitigation of draughts and floods in the region through appropriate forestry practices
12) Examine the impact of illegal trade on forests, the possibility of mutually supportive legal trade and export, and the impact of timber certification issues
13) Consider drafting of appropriate guidelines on certification of planting material quality. Exchange of planting material between the countries and policy on use of elite planting material for artificial regeneration and afforestation
14) Examine current status of national and state forest policies, forestry legislation and rules in these countries
15) Examine Forest Policy implementation mechanisms and identify bottlenecks in translating policy statements into practices. Develop a historical perspective of past policies and practices (difference in the policy intent and field practices)
16) Study feasibility of harmonizing conflicting demands /expectations from forests.
17) Compile and consolidate scientific evidence on various paradigms and underlying assumptions of the country's policies and practices
18) Identify Criteria and Indicators for sustainable forest management and ways to link them with FAO's Forest Resources Assessment and World Forest Survey
19) Examine to what extent the attempts in decentralization and empowerment for local people sensitive planning in forestry is helping in providing safety nets to the indigenous populations?
20) Identify gaps in database to enable sound policy prescriptions and suggest ways and means to make data transparent, accurate and internationally comparable.
The project countries appreciated that they share significant commonality in their cultural attributes and socio-economic conditions and international and regional obligations. They share common forest types and also common threats and pressures to which the forests are subjected. The dynamics of degradation of the natural resource base and near perpetual poverty in the region is closely inter-linked and mutually reinforcing. Further, project countries have similar obligations at international and regional levels because they are party to similar set of international conventions and processes.
Appreciation of the high level of commonalities among project countries, led the workshop to agree for establishment of Regional Forestry Forum or Center that addresses their regional obligation and other needs including a dynamic, pragmatic and focused regional forest policy framework that takes into account the fast changing environment and global scenario.
