0852-C5

Collaborative Partnership on Forests - a model for interagency collaboration

Tiina Vähänen ¹

Abstract

The Collaborative Partnership on Forests (CPF) is an innovative interagency partnership that is uniquely designed to mobilize the strengths of key international organizations, institutions and convention secretariats, in order to advance the international agenda on forests and to support its implementation in countries. Established in 2001, the Partnership consists of key international organizations and convention secretariats that deal with forests. The key objectives of the CPF are (i) to support the work of the United Nations Forum on Forests (UNFF) and its member countries; and (ii) to enhance cooperation and coordination among the members on forest issues. Although interagency in nature, CPF operates in an open and flexible manner and reaches out to communicate with a wide range of stakeholders though an informal CPF Network. CPF and its members provide expertise and support to countries in their efforts towards sustainable management and conservation of forests. As a collective, the Partnership works on providing information on funding for sustainable forest management, streamlining forest-related reporting from countries to international processes and harmonization of definitions. Collaboration is also prominent in many other areas, from national forest programmes to better forest fire management and from trade issues to protection of unique types of forests. The United Nations Millennium Development Goals and outcomes of the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) imply increasing priority to poverty eradication, food security and sustainable livelihoods. The role of sustainable forest management in all the above is crucial, especially through reducing deforestation and the loss of forest biological diversity. CPF's major role is to pool the best expertise and act as a catalyst to national, regional and international action in all these areas.

Introduction

The Collaborative Partnership on Forests (CPF) is a uniquely designed collective of 14 international organizations, institutions and convention secretariats to foster sustainable management of forests world-wide (CPF 2002a).

CPF was launched in April 2001, following the recommendation of the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations, which called the heads of international organizations to form a partnership at the same time it established the intergovernmental forest policy forum, the UNFF, in October 2000 (ECOSOC 2000). Because numerous international agreements and policy fora address forest issues and yet no organization alone is able to deal with the full range of forest issues in a comprehensive manner, there was a need for an innovative mechanism to foster synergies among the key players. CPF is fulfilling this need. The CPF has two main objectives: (i) to support the work of the UNFF and its member countries; and (ii) to enhance cooperation and coordination among CPF members on forest issues.

Although the CPF per se is relatively young, it is based on the six-year experience of the Interagency Task Force on Forests (ITFF), which supported the post Rio² policy process of the Intergovernmental Panel on Forests (IPF) and Intergovernmental Forum on Forests (IFF) in 1995-2000. This process built intergovernmental consensus towards management, conservation and sustainable development of all types of forests on the basis of the Rio results, in particular the non-legally binding Forest Principles and Chapter 11 (Combating Deforestation) of Agenda 21. The five-year IPF/IFF process resulted in some 270 proposals for action negotiated by governments, which provide guidance for further development, implementation and coordination of national forest policies and international collaboration. They are targeted at governments, international organizations, private sector as well as non-governmental organizations. The implementation of these proposals is now being facilitated by the UNFF, with the support of the CPF.

Membership of CPF - who are involved

CPF is a voluntary arrangement that consists of international organizations and convention secretariats that have the commitment, capacity, programmes and resources to support the UNFF process, in particular, the implementation of the IPF/IFF proposals for action. Currently, the CPF comprises 14 members (box 1).

On the recommendation of governments and the member agencies, the Partnership is deliberately kept small for the effectiveness and flexibility in its work. However, the CPF recognizes the contributions that a variety of other international and regional organizations and interest groups provide to sustainable forest management. Therefore, the CPF is reaching out to a wide range of other stakeholders through an informal CPF Network that seeks to improve communication and increase sharing of information among the stakeholders involved (CPF 2001).

Working modalities of CPF - how does it operate

CPF members support the UNFF in many ways, including by (i) supporting the implementation of IPF/IFF proposals for action; (ii) providing expertise and advisory services to UNFF; and by (iii) assisting UNFF in monitoring, assessment and reporting on forests.

In order to facilitate coordination on specific issues, the CPF members created a focal agency system, through which the members share responsibilities for better coordination and collaborate on different thematic issues, derived mainly from the elements of the UNFF's programme of work. The focal agency roles (see table 1) are determined by the mandates and comparative advantages of the individual member agencies. The team work and the notion of comparative advantage are relatively new in the global arena. In many respects, and in particular though the CPF, the forest sector is leading the way.

Table 1. CPF focal agencies

Furthermore, to strengthen collaboration among its members and with other institutions, the Partnership:

• facilitates commitment and rapid decision-making;
• submits coordinated proposals to the Governing Bodies of the CPF member organizations;
• fosters cross-sectoral cooperation and synergies between forest-related organizations, entities, instruments and processes;
• shares information on policies, programmes and activities among its members;
• carries out joint activities;
• seconds staff to the UNFF Secretariat from its members.

CPF reports annually on its progress and plans to the UNFF through a document called the CPF Framework. The first document was prepared for the second session of the UNFF, in March 2002. UNFF, in turn, provides overall guidance to the Partnership. (CPF 2002c).

It is important to note, however, that each member is accountable to its own governing body with regard to priority activities, work programmes and budget. The CPF's success attributes to the voluntary commitment of members to work together towards common goals, without micro-management from outside.

CPF will also undertake reviews of its effectiveness and has agreed on specific criteria for this purpose. These can be summarised as to the extent that the CPF has: enhanced collaboration and coordination; provided support to the UNFF, including the implementation of IPF/IFF proposals; and assisted the UNFF in its function on monitoring, assessment and reporting on progress. The first review is scheduled for 2005. (CPF 2002c).

CPF at work

The Partnership, as a collective, and its member agencies are engaged in a number of activities in support of UNFF's work and objectives. The collaborative activities range from finance to definitions and from conservation to use of forests, and they are undertaken at the local, national, regional and international levels. Through these activities, the Partnership has also enriched the work of individual members by the continuous exchange of information and innovative ideas across the member organizations.

Currently, the joint CPF initiatives, undertaken by the Partnership as a whole, cover work on (i) providing information of funding opportunities for sustainable forest management, (ii) streamlining forest-related reporting by countries to various international processes and organizations; and (iii) harmonization of forest-related definitions.

(i) CPF Sourcebook on Funding Sustainable Forest Management

To facilitate forest financing, the CPF undertook an initiative to develop a web-based tool, the CPF Sourcebook on Funding Sustainable Forest Management, which aims at helping in mobilizing and seeking funds for sustainable forest management projects in developing countries. The Sourcebook provides information on sources of potential funds, funding policies and delivery mechanisms of donor countries, international organisations, development banks, private sector entities and other groups. The key feature of the Sourcebook is a searchable database of sources of funds, which includes some 350 records of potential funds.

FAO, on behalf of the CPF, developed and currently maintains the interactive Sourcebook, which is available through the CPF main website at http://www.fao.org/forestry/cpf. Other CPF members, especially GEF, the World Bank and DESA are also closely involved as are some of the members of the CPF Network. The Sourcebook is demonstrated in various fora, including at the third session of the UNFF (May 2003, Geneva). Workshops are also planned in order to effectively disseminate the Sourcebook and to further enhance funding for sustainable management of forests.

(ii) CPF Task Force on Streamlining Forest-Related Reporting

In July 2002, the CPF members that specifically deal with national reporting and information on forests established a CPF Task Force for Streamlining Forest-Related reporting. It aims to help reduce the burden of countries that prepare and submit national reports, either mandatory or voluntarily, to the various international processes, including conferences of parties of the conventions on biological diversity, climate change and desertification, as well as to other international forest fora and organizations.

As one of its first activities, the Task Force launched a web-based "portal" (available through the CPF website) that provides an easy access to national reports by countries and by organizations, reporting formats and other key information on national reporting to various international processes, as well as other results of the streamlining work of the Task Force.

Based on analyses by the members of the Task Force, including comparison of their questionnaires, the Task Force identified some overlaps in reporting requests and information gaps, and has proposed ways for streamlining and harmonizing the reporting. These include joint information requests, cross-references to each other's questionnaires, use of definitions in consistent manner, and clarification of the real information needs. The Task Force is specifically working towards joint information requests, building on criteria and indicators for sustainable forest management, on which some 150 countries are engaged through nine regional processes. An important objective is also to build joint information management.

Finally, the Task Force members have stressed that the key to success in streamlining, as in any collaboration, is the confidence building among partners in order to fade away the fear of giving up e.g. the ownership to information, and instead, to learn how to pool resources together, which will enable better services to countries that are members of these various international processes and organizations. (CPF 2002b).

(iii) Process to review, improve and harmonize forest-related definitions

In January 2002, FAO, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), CIFOR, and the International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO) organized an Expert Meeting on Harmonizing Forest-related Definitions for Use by Various Stakeholders. The meeting evolved to a process to achieve more consistency in the use of forest-related definitions, thus contributing facilitating communication and negotiations within international conventions, processes and instruments. (FAO 2002a).

The second expert meeting was organized in September 2002 by the same group and UNEP, in addition. The Meeting reiterated the need for a common understanding of, and harmonization between, forest-related definitions of core terms used by different international processes and instruments to reduce: errors in employing terms; the reporting burden on countries and related costs; and the confusion in communicating with the media and the public at large. It also recommended the use of the comparative analytical framework of forest-related definitions, which was developed during the process. (FAO 2002b).

The definitions process was carried out partly under the overall umbrella of the CPF and attended by nearly all CPF members.

In addition to the above described joint initiatives, CPF members collaborate in various other areas, including:

• support national forest programmes, in particular through PROFOR, hosted by the World Bank and the National Forest Programmes Facility, hosted by FAO;
• support to regional processes on criteria and indicators for sustainable forest management;
• support to the expanded Programme of Work on Forest Biological Diversity of the CBD;
• activities to combat illegal logging;
• development of guidelines on reduced-impact logging;
• enhancement of participation of local communities in fire management;
• assistance in capacity building and policy development;
• activities related to protection of unique types of forests and fragile ecosystems;
• assistance to low forest cover countries within the Tehran Process;
• collection, analyses and dissemination of data and information on forests;
• provision of projections and outlook studies.

A built-in feature of many of the activities of the CPF members is to support countries in building their capacity and enabling environment, by mobilizing resources and catalysing actions for field level implementation as well as for strengthening institutional frameworks.

WSSD and CPF

The outcomes related to forest sector of the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD), held in Johannesburg in 2002, influence all CPF members. They imply increasing priority to interventions that emphasise on eradicating poverty, food security, sustainable livelihoods, access to safe drinking water and affordable energy, reducing deforestation and halting the loss of forest biological diversity. In the light of the WSSD and the overall United Nations Millennium Development Goals, increasing attention and resources are being devoted to these priority areas by most - if not all - CPF members.

The WSSD Plan of Implementation recognized sustainable forest management as essential to achieving sustainable development (United Nations 2002). In addition to this, the ministers responsible for forests stressed, at the high-level segment of the second session of UNFF (New York, March 2002), the multiple benefits of both natural and planted forests and trees to the well-being of the planet and humanity (ECOSOC 2002). Both fora recognized CPF's role in enhancing partnerships and country implementation.

Conclusions

CPF is a voluntary partnership, in which 14 member organizations collaborate and coordinate their activities to support the UNFF and foster implementation of the proposal for action of the IPF and IFF in particular in developing countries. The Partnership has helped mobilize the best available expertise in order to assist countries better in their efforts to sustainable forest management. It has also enriched the work of each one of the member agencies by sharing innovative ideas across the member organizations.

Major intergovernmental fora are taking note of CPF's achievements and are making reference to it in some of their decisions, including the WSSD, UNFF and conferences of parties of post Rio conventions, such as the CBD. Although it is yet too early to make conclusions of its success, these recognitions and the increasing collaboration among partners point to the right direction. The Partnership works, and could provide a model to other sectors too. Among its secrets of success have been informality and flexible structure of the Partnership. Yet the member organizations are highly committed to work together, on a voluntary basis.

The potential of the Partnership may not even be fully realized yet, including ways it can acts as a catalyst to action on the ground; provide expertise and information; and mobilize resources, in order to foster sustainable management of forests around the world.

Bibliography:

CPF, 2001. Collaborative Partnership on Forests Network Concept Paper. Available on the Internet: http://www.un.org/esa/forests/pdf/CPF_Network_Concept_Sep_02_e.pdf

CPF, 2002a. Collaborative Partnership on Forests Policy Document. New York, NY, USA. Available on the Internet: http://www.fao.org/forestry/foris/webview/cpf/index.jsp?siteId=1220&langId=1&96654926

CPF, 2002b. Summary Report of the First Meeting of the CPF Task Force on Streamlining Forest-related Reporting. 19-20 November 2002, Bonn, Germany.

CPF, 2002c. The Collaborative Partnership on Forests' (CPF) Framework to Support the Work of the UNFF. New York, NY, USA. Available on the Internet: http://www.fao.org/forestry/foris/webview/cpf/index.jsp?siteId=1220&langId=1&96654926

CPF, 2003. Information document on the Collaborative Partnership on Forests' Framework 2003. E/CN.18/2003/INF.1. New York, NY, USA. Available on the Internet: http://www.un.org/esa/forests/documents-unff.html

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ECOSOC, 2002. United Nations Forum on Forests - report on the second session. New York, NY, USA, 22 June 2001 and 4-15 March 2002. E/2002/42; E/CN.18/2002/14. New York, NY, USA. Available on the Internet: www.un.org/esa/sustdev/unffdecision.htm

FAO, 2002a. Expert Meeting on Harmonizing Forest-related Definitions for Use by Various Stakeholders. 22-25 January 2002, Rome, Italy. Proceedings. Rome, FAO.

FAO, 2002b. Second Expert Meeting on Harmonizing Forest-related Definitions for Use by Various Stakeholders. 11-13 September 2002, Rome, Italy. Proceedings. Rome, FAO.

United Nations, 2002. Report of the World Summit on Sustainable Development. Johannesburg, South Africa, 26 August - 4 September 2002. A/CONF.199/20. New York, NY, USA. Available on the Internet:http://ods-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N02/636/93/PDF/N0263693.pdf?OpenElement

¹ Forestry Officer (International Processes), Forestry Department, FAO, Viale delle Terme di Caracalla, 00100 Rome, Italy. [email protected]

Contact information:
Tiina Vähänen
Forestry Information and Liaison Unit
Forestry Department
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Viale delle Terme di Caracalla (D-455)
00100 Rome, ITALY
Tel: +39 06 5705 3743
Fax: +39 06 5705 2151
Email: [email protected]
Internet: http://www.fao.org

² United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), Rio de Janeiro, 1992.