0600-C3
DARMO SUPARMO
Since the launching of the theme "Forests for People" at the 8 th World Forestry Congress in Jakarta, Indonesia in 1978, forests are increasingly being looked at from different and complex perspectives. People, policy makers and politicians all over the world have become increasingly interested in and concerned about forests and issues related to forests and are also demanding to participate in the process of decisions on how forests are managed.
The forests have been deforested and degraded at an alarming rate, particularly in the tropical forests of developing countries in the Asia-Pacific Region. There was a slight decreased in the rate of deforestation over the past ten years compared to the 1980's. Several international initiatives to overcome these issues were crafted, including the National Forest Programme (NFP) framework and principles as defined by CSD-IPF in 1997. Some countries have prepared and implemented the NFP approach in line with the NFP principles on a smaller scale, including model forests, community forestry, and social forestry. The NFP exercise is a very slow process and costly in some countries. Some major partners, including the rural and poor people, have lost their interest due to the fact that the results have been far from their expectations. It is no longer enough to create a strategy to shift the rights and to empower the people/ civil society to manage forests and trees themselves. The aim should be toward poverty alleviation, including employment, income, profit/benefit and be entrepreneurial-driven.
To reverse the present situation, it is the appropriate time to revamp the theme "forest for people" that has a passive connotation, toward "active/ action orientation" and to avoid NADO, NAPO and NATO.
Different people have looked at the term "forest for people" from different angles, including the involvement and participation point of view, ownership, the right and the power to manage the resources and from broader aspects. Topics in forestry are no longer of interest to only professional specialists. Since UNCED, 1992, the term has been looked at from the point of people's participation and the degree of partnership and people's empowerment in the process of sustainable forestry sector development. It should be noted that recently, it is difficult to find any national/sub-national and international/regional meetings concerning development that do not mention the environment or sustainable development and partnership and participation.
The recent paradigms of globalisation and market liberalisation have been so enhanced that they may be called "forces of change". They vary in nature and scope, i.e. they could be political, technical, economic or social. The effects may be immediate, medium-term or long-term, and they may be direct or indirect. At present, it is limited to more interaction and linkages among countries in terms of trade, information flow and finance, and encouraging open competition through the removal of trade and other national safeguard barriers, and fair and equal conditions of trade and marketing. Some people are of the view that those who are less capable to compete will be marginalised, particularly the rural poor people who have less access to information, technology, capital and market. Thus, the gap is widening between the rich people who are living mostly in cities and urban areas and the poor people who are living mostly in rural and remote areas.
In addition, some countries in the Asia-Pacific Region have promulgated a devolution/ decentralisation policy/ strategy. The socio-economic development, including the forest management, was transferred from the state level (national level) to the provincial or district level. Since the institutional capacity at the provincial/ district level is still weak for the given task, the implementation of the devolution/ decentralisation policy/ strategy has not been effective and efficient. In some provinces/ districts of some countries that have rich forest resources, the forestry sector is exploited to generate revenue with only minor attention given to its sustainability. Illegal logging is caused by many factors, driven by poverty and influenced by powerful authorities/ individuals.
In regard to planning and programming, due to the different and often contradictory perspectives, clashes among and between interest groups have frequently occurred. In several cases a consensus could not be achieved. A win-win approach takes considerable time to achieve, and leads to inefficient planning and implementation and is also costly. The consequence is that investment in the forestry sector can not compete with investment in other sectors, so that it has been given the lowest priority in term of socio-economic development programmes in some countries. Some people and institutions, particularly the main actors, have lost their interest to take the initiative and responsibility for comprehensive preparation and implementation of forest planning and programming.
Since the majority of the people living in or near the forest are poor, therefore, the involvement of these people in a partnership and in the process of managing forest resources would be a sound strategic option for poverty alleviation and simultaneously to achieve sustainable forest development. However, these people lack the knowledge to manage forest resources profitably in line with the enterprise concept. Therefore, the results of their involvement in partnerships were below their expectations. In addition, the issue is becoming wide, heterogeneous and complex as the people are increasingly migrating to seek better jobs, income and other opportunities. The demand for a better living (education, health, and life style) is increasing and widening, while the population is increasing substantially. According to the World Population Prospects, the Economic and Social Affairs (ECOSOC) of the United Nations, the 1998 Revision, the population of the Asia-Pacific Region will reach 5,268 million in 2050. An increase of 1,818 million compared to 1997 (3,360 million) or nine times the population of Indonesia in 2001 (the fourth largest in the world).
The rates of deforestation and forest degradation, including degradation of biodiversity, are still high in some developing countries in the Asia Pacific Region. It has been widely agreed that the rate of deforestation and forest degradation has been accepted as a practical criterion to judge sustainable forest management. The deforestation rate in the tropical countries dropped at least 10% in the past ten years compared to the 1980s. The causes of deforestation and forest degradation are many and varied, including conversion of forest into agricultural and other land uses, over harvesting, overgrazing, poverty, fires, insect and other pests and diseases, storms, and air pollution.
It was reported that the deforestation rate has been successfully arrested in some developing countries in Asia-Pacific Region, including China and India. Almost all the governments in the Region have made substantial plans and programmes for reforestation and tree plantations, including a huge plantation programme of 30 million ha in China and the five million ha plantation programme in Viet Nam.
Home gardens, agroforestry and tree farming systems have been part of the culture of the people and civil societies in most developing countries in the Region. The Regional Wood Energy Development Programme, assisted by the Netherlands, reported that the share of non-forestland in annual wood fuel supply is very high, i.e. over 80% in many developing countries of Asia. It was commonly observed that 60-70% of a standing tree can be converted into construction timber and the rest can be used as fuel wood. Thus, non-forestland and home gardens have contributed significantly to meet the demand for timber and fuel wood, NWFPs, and clean water conservation at the local level. However, investment of the local people in these aspects was neglected in the past.
Following UNCED, 1992, several development initiatives for preparing and implementing sustainable forest management have been crafted, including CSD-IPF/IFF/UNFF to prepare and implement NFP. A substantial number of problems are faced since issues in forest and forestry development in the Asia-Pacific Region are many, complex, and heterogeneous.
Dr. David A. Harcharik, at that time the FAO-ADG Forestry Department, at the Sixteenth Session of the FAO Asia-Pacific Commission, Yangon, Myanmar, 1996 shared his opinion that generally it is accepted that sustainable forest management has an ecological dimension that aims at the perpetual protection of the resource, an economic dimension that includes the production of commodities and services, and a social dimension that involves people in decision making and the sharing of benefit. He stated that the social dimension is the newest and least understood aspect of sustainable forest management to the forestry works and also to many foresters. He further stated that it is no longer enough to manage forests for the people.
The main problem of sustainable development in the Asia-Pacific Region is population and poverty. The Region is the most densely populated part of the globe and the growth rate is not slowing compared to other Regions. As the extent of natural resources decline, including forest resources, and the populations increase, this leads to increasing conflicts over their use. In addition, the diverse needs, priorities and values of all the stakeholders, including the forest-dependent and other local communities/ sectors and non-forest sector users, have led to serious conflicts between such communities/ sectors with serious adverse social, economic and environmental impacts.
It has been widely recognised and commonly agreed that poverty is at the root of both food insecurity and unsustainable development. Therefore, the poverty alleviation and food security paradigm has been widely accepted as essential to achieving sustainable development and sustainable forest management.
Several forest and forestry strategic planning concepts and modalities were developed in the Asia-Pacific Region, including Forest Sector Review, Forestry Sector Master Plan, Tropical Forestry Action Plan, and other similar strategic planning exercises. It was noted that the exercise had received substantial support from bilateral donors, international institutions and regional and international banks. Most of these concepts and modalities were in use before UNCED, 1992. The exercises received criticism from different partners as being donor-driven, having insufficient partnership and less involvement of people in their preparation and implementation.
Since UNCED and CSD-IPF/IFF/UNFF, several countries have reoriented their forestry sector strategic planning toward the NFP framework as defined by the IPF meeting in 1997. Several international exercises discussing the NFP framework had crafted different principles of NFP approach, including the six country initiatives for the CSD-IPF/IFF implementation. Partnership and participation is one of the principles of the NFP process.
At the NFP Strategic Planning Workshop held in Nanning, China, March 2002, the experience of NFP-Federal Level in Germany was presented. The Workshop was informed that the process to identify issues during the NFP process took considerable time. It was reported that the quality of the documents, which were presented at the later stage of the process, was low due to lack of experience in preparing the documents. It was reported that the stakeholders were demanding more time to debate and to discuss the documents presented.
Several people had also expressed the same view that the process of the NFP exercise in Australia was timely and costly.
During the discussion concerning the CSD-UNFF at the FAO-Asia Pacific Forestry Commission (APFC) in its 18 th Session held in Australia, 15-19 May 2000, the delegations stressed that UNFF should be action-oriented and transparent and should avoid debates on issues for which decisions had previously been achieved. In short, avoid no action - debate only (NADO).
Several developing countries in the Asia-Pacific Region, assisted by some bilateral donors and multilateral agencies, have conducted reviews of their NFP exercise. The new scheme called the National Forest Programme Facility (NFPF), financially supported by Sweden, Finland, France, Norway and the Netherlands, has assisted some developing countries to catalyse the NFP process, including China, DPR Korea, Mongolia, and Thailand. UNDP/WB has assisted Viet Nam to implement the five million hectares reforestation programme. Several bilateral donors have also supported some projects/ programmes following the NFP principles, including GTZ/German support to desertification control in Mongolia and the NFP process in Indonesia.
In terms of socio-economic development, the Asia-Pacific Region is home to complex and heterogeneous countries, i.e. from a central command (Korea DPR), newly market-orientated (China, Mongolia, Viet Nam), liberal/democratic developing countries (the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand), and liberal developed countries (USA, Australia, New Zealand, Japan). Therefore, the process of involving partners and their participation in the socio-economic and the forestry sector development vary from country to country. In some countries, the degree of involving partners and their participation in cities, urban, and rural areas is also varied. It should be noted that the FAO/ECE/ILO Team of Specialists on public participation in Forestry (Vaxsjo, Sweden, 27-29 March 2000) defined the public participation in forestry as a process where people, individually or in organised form, have an opportunity to exchange information, to express opinions as well as the potential to affect the outcome concerning the matter at hand. One of the principles is that it does not guarantee what the outcome will be.
In regard to the NFP process, the outcome of public participation has been clearly defined, however, i.e. sustainable forest management through which the deforestation rate and forest degradation will be arrested through poverty alleviation.
In the past, the public participation paradigm has been looked at from the degree and the process of the rights, involvement and empowerment of partners (people's) in forest and tree management. However, several people/civil societies who gained the rights and power to manage forests and trees expressed their view that the results have been far from their expectations. In practise, these aspects do not automatically create employment and increase income.
Several reliable studies showed that farmers in most developing countries in the Region are small holders and employment opportunities are usually very limited in rural areas. Self-employment in small enterprises can make it possible to generate income to satisfy needs and improve the standard of living of people, particularly poor people in rural areas. Small businesses under an entrepreneurial concept are unlikely to be successful if they have not been thought through and planned properly before starting, including the type of commodity, size and marketing. Thus, efforts to create employment and generate income should be crafted as early as possible for poverty alleviation, or at early stage of public participation.
During the NFP preparation and implementation, several important issues were noted as follows:
1. China
The late Mr. Deng Xiaoping launched a grand campaign for compulsory tree planting in 1981 that has had a positive response from the whole population. Tree planting by the rural population accounts for 90% of the reforestation activities in China. It was reported that the rate of reforestation was about 4-5 million ha annually.
In 1978, the Chinese Government adopted a new policy concerning a market economy. Despite the success of the reform process, the country faced some failures and constraints, including the gap or disparity between the rich and the poor and the gaps or disparities of income and prosperity in big cities, urban and rural areas. These are caused by several factors, particularly the lack of entrepreneurial knowledge and practise.
2. Nepal and Thailand
At the Asian Regional Workshop on Adaptive Collaborative Management of Community Forests an Option for Asia, held in Bangkok, 26-27 September 2002, the Nepalese delegation reported that the community forest scheme has created commitment of partners in the forestry sector development. It has also successfully arrested the deforestation rate in some regions of the country. However, the Workshop was informed that after several years of its implementation, the people dealing with community forests have lost their interest. The main reason is that the people did not get the expected results, particularly direct benefit and income.
The Model Forest approach has been introduced in Thailand. It was reported that in producing bamboo in the Northern Thailand, partnership and participation is no longer enough due to marketing problems. The people who are involved in and participate at the Model Forest are demanding to form a group enterprise, i.e. co-operatives.
In several meetings/ workshops concerning forests and forestry in South East Asian countries, very often people suggested that NATO (stands for no action - talk only) and NAPO (stands for no action - papers only) should be avoided.
3. The Republic of Korea
The New Forestry Management Law stipulated establishing civil society organisations and co-operatives dealing with the forestry programme. In this regard, a National Forestry Co-operatives Federation was established and a "Green Lottery" was created to finance forestry programmes in September 1999.
In terms of funds raised, the results of the green lottery were substantial. It increased by two fold within two years as follows: in 2000 it was 2,641 million won, which increased to 4,202 million won in 2001, and further increased to 7,043 million won in 2002 (1 US$ is equal to 1,200 won).
It was reported that the civil society programme for reforestation supported by the green lottery had successfully arrested the deforestation rate and had made some of the formerly barren hills green.
1. The theme "Forests for People" and the shifting of rights and people's empowerment in forest and tree management has successfully advocated that people should get involved and participate in the forestry sector development. But today it is not enough. To have a sustainable employment and income, the rural/poor people should have entrepreneurial knowledge and practise.
2. National Forest Programme has been widely recognised as a sound framework for the preparation and implementation of sustainable forest management. It should be action-oriented. However, the process is timely and costly.