Initial Report of the Global Workshop
to Address the Underlying Causes of Deforestation and
Forest Degradation
A Contribution to the Intergovernmental Forum
on Forests
Jointly Organized by
the Government of Costa Rica,
NGOs, and Indigenous Peoples' Organizations
San Jose, Costa Rica
January 18 – 22, 1999
This report of the Global Workshop on Underlying Causes of Deforestation and Forest Degradation is the outcome of an extensive participatory process - a process which, in accordance with the IPF diagnostic framework, was founded upon more than 40 case studies and numerous additional submissions from all over the world. In all, one global, seven regional and one indigenous peoples workshop were held. A diverse group of participants from government, international and non-governmental organizations, local communities, Indigenous Peoples, academia, trade unions and the private sector joined hands in an effort to formulate concrete actions that can halt alarming trends of global forest loss. The process aimed to deliver to the international community solution-oriented approaches and concrete actions that can arrest current trends of deforestation and forest degradation. We are happy to present you with the outcomes of this process and would like to thank all of you who have contributed to it.
The Global Workshop, held from January 18-22 in San Jos E9 was hosted by the Government of Costa Rica and organized by an Organizing Committee composed of UNEP, governments, and NGOs. The workshop has been successful in formulating a wide range of innovative actions. In addition, the workshop has uncovered underlying causes that are not part of the deliberations in the Intergovernmental Forum on Forests. Underlying causes of deforestation and forest degradation, be it in tropical moist forests or the temperate boreal forests, often lie outside of the forest sector. Therefore, you will note that many of the proposed actions are aimed at actors both within and outside this sector. It must also be noted that several of the recommendations from the workshop are similar to those proposed in other fora, in particular, the IPF Proposals for Action. The repetition of these actions highligs the fact that governments lack commitment to these proposals and enforce existing laws.
A number of key points clearly emerge from the actions formulated by the San Jos E9 workshop. Full participation of local communities and other stakeholders in decision-making over management of natural resources at the national and international level is required if we intend to break the vicious cycle we are in. Also, forests are more than just stands of timber. Forests provide valuable services, for example biodiversity, water, and spiritual meaning to individuals, communities, and society as a whole. These lessons seem to be absent in the current deliberations at the IFF and we urge the Forum to include them in the future.
Finally, from our participation in this process we have learned an important lesson: that a participatory process such as this carried forward by collaboration between governments, international organizations, and NGOs, can significantly advance the international agenda. We look forward to working jointly on other initiatives of this nature.
On behalf of the organizers, we thank you for being part of this initiative.
Trade and Consumption
Changing Unsustainable Consumption and Production Patterns
Objective: Change unsustainable patterns of consumption and production of both forest products and other products that impact forests and to steer trade to an economically, environmentally and socially sustainable path.
Actions
1. Increase education and awareness (both formal and informal) about the full life-cycle and impacts of production, consumption and trade of forest products and those other products that impact forests, by:
Actors: Governments, industry, academic institutions, NGOs, consumer B4s organizations.
2. Develop, implement and enforce integrated and holistic national policies to change consumption and production patterns, with full transparency and civil participation, by:
Actors: IFF, CBD, governments, NGOs.
3. Shift penalties and incentives (subsidies, taxes, sector promotion, etc.) from promoting unsustainable consumption and production patterns to promoting sustainable consumption and production patterns and trade. Actors: governments, bilateral and multilateral donors.
4. Develop concrete policies to address over-consumption of imported goods (luxuries and weapons, etc.), as a macro-economic policy to address trade imbalances. Actors: Governments, multilateral development banks, the IMF.
5. Reduce advertising that promotes unsustainable lifestyles and consumption, and reduce paper consumption of the advertising industry by 75%. Actors: Business, government, NGOs in partnership.
6. Improve data collection and dissemination on the production, consumption and trade in forest products and products that impact forests, inter alia by strengthening independent initiatives (such as Global Forest Watch) to monitor the status of forests and pressure on forests. Actors: FAO, governments, NGOs, academia.
Voluntary Regulation
Objective: Promote Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) through independent third party certification of timber and other products.
Actions
1. Support independent third-party certification schemes of forest products, which have adequate multi-stakeholder involvement at the sub-national, national and international level, by:
Actors: Governments, NGOs, industry.
2. Develop and implement certification schemes of non-forest products (such as forest product substitutes, agricultural products, oil and minerals). Actors: Industry, government and all producers of non-forest products that impact forests.
The Imbalance of International Trade and Sustainable Development Regimes
Objective: Change the fundamental philosophy and framework of international trade agreements (WTO, GATT, MAI) so that they promote rather than inhibit sustainable development objectives and to eliminate the supremacy of trade agreements over other agreements. Increase the legal enforceability of human rigs' and environmental agreements at national and international levels and to balance vested interests (governments and industry) with the interests of other parts of civil society in international negotiations, especially those on trade.
Actions
1. Recommend that the February 1999 UNCTAD/ITTO meeting to discuss the relationship between the international trade regime and environmental and human rigs' conventions. Actors: Governments, NGOs.
2. Include a discussion on the imbalance between trade and sustainable development regimes in the agenda of IFF3 and IFF 4 and organize an intersessional on this specific issue between IFF 3 and IFF 4. Actors: IFF.
3. Not to establish an International Negotiating Commission on a legally binding instrument on forests until progress has been made to redress the imbalance between trade and other international agreements. Actors: IFF.
4. Establish a dialogue between NGOs, industry and other stakeholders on the need to address the imbalance between trade and sustainable development regimes, inter alia by:
Actors: Donor and recipient governments (economic and environmental ministries), NGOs, industry and other stakeholders.
5. Interpret Article XX of GATT to allow individual countries to ban or limit the export of unsustainably harvested forest products. Actors: WTO.
6. Oppose the MAI as it poses a major threat to forests. Actors: IFF participants.
7. Open up the government decision-making processes on attitudes towards forests at the national and local level to the public. Actors: Governments.
8. To enforce the target 2000 of the ITTA and apply it to all forest products. The ITTA renegotiation in 2000 should include all timbers, involve all sectors of society and establish a revised voting structure. Actors: ITTA-member states and NGOs.
9. Ratify ILO Conventions 87, 98, 105, 110 and 169, and to support the current Draft Declaration on the Rigs of Indigenous Peoples, as well as the establishment of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Peoples. Actors: IFF participant countries.
10. Prohibit trade in illegally produced forest products, assist developing countries to control such trade and build up the capacity to monitor and expose illegal trade. Actors: IFF participant countries, donors, NGOs.
11. Eliminate the incremental costs criterion as used by the Global Environment Facility. Actors: GEF participants, NGOs.
12. Improve the enforceability of the Convention on Biological Diversity and develop it's dispute settlement process. Actors: CBD-members states.
13. Allow all NGOs with ECOSOC status to have access to trade negotiations. Actors: WTO, EU, regional trade agreements.
14. Include NGOs and Indigenous Peoples on government delegations in trade negotiations. Actors: Governments.
15. Publish and disseminate international trade negotiation preparatory and final documents. Actors: WTO.
Improving Indigenous Peoples, local communities, and other stakeholder involvement in general, and solving inequities in land tenure in particular.
Lack of acknowledgment of rigs of individual and collective rigs of Indigenous Peoples and local communities, including women, to access, use and manage natural resources, lands and territories, with emphasis on decision-making, access, participation and control at all levels.
Objectives: Ensure that individual and collective rigs, social existence, traditional knowledge, spirituality and land tenure of Indigenous Peoples and local communities , including women, are recognised, protected and guaranteed through the process of national, regional and international legislations and conventions. Achieving this will require adequate government funding, local research, and education.
Actions
1. All governments that participate in the IFF should commit themselves to ratify and promote participation in the ILO 169. Actors: Governments, IFF, Indigenous Peoples and local communities.
2. Establish a working group in all countries on the topic of forests with Indigenous Peoples, local communities, and other stakeholders. Actors: Governments, ministries, civil society and industry.
3. Ensure participation of Indigenous Peoples and local communities at the negotiation table at the national and international level. Actors: Indigenous Peoples and local communities, ministries, industry, and international organizations.
4. Collection and systematization of Indigenous and local community knowledge on sustainable natural resource management (pending adequate legal protection of such knowledge). Actors: NGOs, universities, ministries, Indigenous Peoples and local communities.
5. Increase and strengthen government support for Indigenous Peoples and local communities in SFM. Actors: ministries, Indigenous Peoples and local communities organizations.
6. Strengthen and establish technical assistance centers for Indigenous Peoples and local communities to develop databases of projects and legal information on forest legislation and the rigs of Indigenous Peoples and local communities, inventories of experiences and successful technologies, international and national marketing. Actors: Governments, NGOs, scientific community, Indigenous Peoples and local communities.
7. Promote appropriate legislation on environmental resources (protected areas, forests, oil and minerals) that guarantees the rigs of Indigenous Peoples and local communities. Actors: parliaments, relevant ministries, Indigenous Peoples and local communities, environmental organizations, women's groups and other elements of civil society.
8. Conduct independent evaluations of potential social, cultural and environmental impacts before any economic activity in forests, and make them public in local languages,. Actors: Government, Indigenous Peoples and local communities, corporations.
9. Establish negotiation processes with local populations before any economic activity in forests. Actors: Government, Indigenous Peoples B4 organizations.
10. Design mechanisms within CBD, FCCC and CCD to ensure distribution of benefits derived from forests to those that protect them. Actors: CBD, UNFCCC, and CCD Parties.
11. Define, compile, and systematize existing information about successful experiences of Indigenous Peoples and local communities in the sustainable management of natural resources. Actors: NGOs, universities, IPOs, CBOs and ministries.
12. Ratify and implement CEDAW within all countries.
13. Create and develop an information data base on women's traditional knowledge on forest use, administered by Indigenous and local community women (on the condition that legislation protecting rigs to that knowledge is developed and ensured).
14. Incorporate forest related policies, programs and projects on gender in decision-making related to forests.
15. Develop linkages between environmental conventions, ILO 169 and CEDAW.
16. Develop stronger networking among women's groups at the local, national, regional and international levels.
17. Promote capacity building and information sharing about legislation on Indigenous Peoples, the environment and women B4s knowledge on forest use and management.
18. Promote participation of women in local, national, regional and global events related to forests.
19. Direct more funding and give increased priority to training and for enabling the distribution of information.
Actors(12 - 19): Government, UN agencies and international agencies, women's groups, Indigenous Peoples and local communities, other interest groups, funding agencies (including international ones), national finance departments.
20. Promote the approval of environmental, oil and mining legislation that guarantees the rigs of Indigenous Peoples and local communities. Actors: Parliaments and ministries (environment, energy and mining), Indigenous Peoples Organizations and Community-Based Organizations, environmental and women's organizations and other groups within civil society.
Lack of transparency and accountability and the inappropriate and increasing power of government bodies and corporations in land tenure including corruption, militarism, dictatorship, and the inability of Indigenous Peoples and local communities to access information on, influence, support, or oppose development plans or projects.
Objectives: Open, transparent, accountable, participatory, local decision making processes in land planning, use and tenure including recognition of the existing and/or historical land ownership by Indigenous Peoples and local communities, collectively or individually. This will include putting a stop to funding the destruction of natural and indigenous forests and establishing viable alternatives to market led industrial models, ensuring compliance with international conventions and treaties.
Actions
1. Identify high priority land use issues and implement open and transparent processes with Indigenous Peoples, local communities and other interest groups. Actors: Governments, Indigenous Peoples, local communities and stakeholders.
2. Recognize the difference in power between groups, develop specific structures for building capacity and authority of marginalized groups (through technical and financial support). Actors: Governments, Indigenous Peoples, local communities and stakeholders.
3. Review and redress outstanding land and territory ownership/tenure claims consistent with Indigenous rigs and sustainable forest management. Actors: Governments, Indigenous Peoples, local communities and stakeholders.
4. Devolve decision making to local players, Indigenous Peoples and other interest groups. Actors: Governments, Indigenous Peoples, local communities and stakeholders.
5. UN should develop a " forest keeping" mechanism by supporting civil society B4s forest investment, monitoring and accountability networks that monitor and ensure compliance with international treaties and conventions pertinent to sustainable forest management. Actors: UN, civil society.
6. IFF should ask for seats at the negotiating table of WTO for consumer groups, Indigenous Peoples, local communities, and NGOs. Actors: IFF, WTO.
7. Develop publicly accountable mechanisms for scrutinising and monitoring large-scale (forest) industry (both investment proposals and ongoing operations). Government should lead with civil society involvement to ensure transparency, free information flow and legitimacy. Compliance with national and international regulations should be a requirement, and regulation and legislation, where inadequate, should be revised. Actors: United Nations agencies, government, civil society representatives.
8. Review and encourage existing and "hot" potential alternatives to industrial forestry. Increase support for alternatives which promote sustainable local economies and livelihoods, for example through fuel substitutes (solar, kerosine and biomass-based substitutes etc), fibre substitutes (recycled, straw, hemp, kenaf, textiles), and non-timber forest products. Actors: Funding agencies, alternative technology companies, alternative industries.
9. Increase local and transboundary consumer awareness and behavior by promoting alternatives, for example through 3rd party independent eco-labelling, market, tax, and subsidy incentives, and by having UN agencies, governments, and corporations commit to buying viable alternative products. They should also commit to auditing wood and paper usage for the purpose of eliminating egrerious sources and adapt accepted Criteria & Indicators. Actors: Civil groups, government UN, corporations, auditors.
10. IFF should promote development and agreement on core global Criteria & Indicators and install these as the basis for internationally enforceable World Trade Organisation rules. Actors: IFF.
11. Banks (MDBs and Private) should adopt policies which forbid investment or subsidy in corporations which unsustainably exploit natural forests. Assessment proceses must include key civil society groups(especially Indigenous Peoples and local communities). Actors: civil society. Actors: WB, MDBs, Banks
12. Support effective law enforcement to detect and punish corruption. Actors: Government.
13. Eliminate militarism from governance and within economic and social policy making. Actors: Governments and corporations.
14. Decentralize forest governance to the control of Indigenous Peoples and local communities. Actors: Governments and corporations.
15. Empower Indigenous Peoples and local communities to build and strengthen lobbying capacity and to develop joint lobbying processes amongst Indigenous Peoples, local communities and appropriate interest groups. Actors: Government, NGOs, Indigenous Peoples and local communities.
Legal instruments at all levels have weak and ambiguous concepts related to Indigenous Peoples and local communities, weaknesses in ensuring open and clean governance, and in ensuring open access for Indigenous Peoples and local communities, and are not adequately enforced.
Objectives: The development of clear legal instruments requiring consistency on Indigenous Peoples and local communities, open, transparent and clean governance, and adequate enforcement at all levels through the development of appropriate government funding, capacity building and empowerment of Indigenous Peoples and local communities for the purposes of monitoring and enforcement.
Actions
1. Establish independent review panel(s) consisting of Indigenous Peoples, local communities, interest groups and government to review and monitor legal instruments at all levels. Actors: Indigenous Peoples, local communities, interest groups, and government.
2. Require separate and dedicated funding for environmental and forest related law enforcement. Actors: Government.
3. Require training in law enforcement for all policy makers within government agencies as well as for interest groups at all levels. Actors: Government, law enforcement agencies, interest groups.
4. Establish and strengthen links and constructive dialogue between interest groups and government on law enforcement matters. Actors: Interest groups, government.
5. Enact and strengthen legislation requiring open access to the policy makers. Actors: Government.
Resolving investment policies / aid policies and financial flows
The development model, inappropriate development strategies, structural adjustment programs (SAPs) and the erosion of government capacity.
Objectives: The social and environmental costs, non-market benefits, and cultural dimensions need to be taken into consideration when assessing the long-term sustainability of economic development. This concept of sustainable development needs to be given more weig. Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPs) need to incorporate social and environmental accountability. A deeper review and analysis of their impacts is needed and negative impacts need to be mitigated. Transparency in decision-making regarding SAPs is needed as part of a broader discussion of policies and proposed changes.
Actions
1. Insist that Bretton Woods institutions allow observers from civil society to participate in biennial review meetings. Actors: Bretton Woods institutions, civil society.
2. Encourage the G8, in particular the USA and Japan, to put pressure on Multi-lateral Development Banks (MDBs), in particular the Asian Development Bank (AsDB), to ensure principles of social and environmental sustainability are implemented. Actors: G8, MDBs.
3. Development agencies and NGOs should encourage national governments to include civil society in participatory processes in order to better direct development assistance programs. Actors: Development agencies, NGOs, national governments, civil society.
4. National and international funders should secure long-term support for a global coalition of NGOs, that will ensure their role in decision-making processes, such as the Club of Paris, G8, and the consultative groups. Actors: Funders, NGOs, Club of Paris, G8, consultative groups.
5. Establish a Public Commission to review operation of the IMF on order to increase its transparency. Actors: IMF, NGOs, CBOs, IPOs, ITFF, inter-governmental organizations.
6. Finance and Planning ministries together with the World Bank / IMF should establish national level independent consultation mechanisms with civil society to improve the transparency of decision-making with respect to SAPs. Actors: Finance and Planning ministries, World Bank, IMF, civil society.
7. Establish a dialogue between ITFF and the IMF to ensure the long-term sustainability of IMF interventions, such as SAPs, ensuring that environmental and social goals have the same importance as the economic goal. Actors: ITFF, IMF.
Debt servicing and debt creation
Objective: The capacity to manage natural resources should not be adversely affected by debt servicing. New lending should be structured according to a more realistic ability of countries to service their debts based on a sustainable development strategy, and should include conditionalities, which aim to achieve environmentally and socially sustainable forest management.
Actions
1. Restructure, and where appropriate, write-off debts. Countries, which implement ecologically and socially sustainable forest management, should be rewarded by measures that reduce their debt service. Resources that are freed up in this manner should be ear-marked for sustainable forest management. Actors: Lending institutions, governments
2. Explore alternative mechanisms to reduce debt service or forgive debt that contribute to forest loss. Actors: Researchers, IMF, Paris Group, donors & recipients.
3. The GEF and international NGOs, amongst other donors, in cooperation with former beneficiaries should review the experiences of debt-for-nature swaps, to evaluate their effectiveness, and explore their future potential. Actors: GEF, international NGOs, other donors, beneficiaries.
Perverse Incentives and Subsidies
Objectives: To eliminate subsidies and incentives for forest commodities that adversely impact on forests. Subsidies and incentives on the commodities level should be directed to the ecosystem level. Evaluate non-forest sector policies in terms of their impact on environmental and social sustainability, and aim to minimize such impacts.
Actions
1. Encourage the ITFF to identify and measure at both the global and national level the impact of perverse subsidies and incentives in the forest and non-forest sectors, particularly agriculture, mining, and hydro-power, that affect forest ecosystems. Actors: ITFF, all levels of government, donors, researchers, affected communities, international organizations.
2. Implement capacity building programs for communities as a mechanism to increase the marketing of independent third-party certified forest products. Actors: Donors, national government agencies, communities.
Private Capital Flows
Objective: The private sector should internalize what are currently externalities in their operations. Sanctions should be imposed on companies that do not conform to equirements for sustainable forest management. Non-forest sector private capital investments should be evaluated in terms of their impact on sustainable forest management and conditions imposed to ensure sustainable development. Emphasis should be placed on alternative development options, that address, amongst others, the lack of access by communities to financial resources for investment.
Actions
1. Provide favorable conditions or preferential treatment to investments which support socially and environmentally sustainable management. Actors: Lending institutions.
2. Establish independent and participatory mechanisms to monitor and control private investment plans and activities. Actors: Academia, judiciary, civil society.
3. Fund programs by government departments, such as Finance and Environment to strengthen their capacity to effectively monitor and regulate environmental and social impacts of private investments. Actors: Donors, government departments.
4. Create a mechanism which guarantees full accountability by transnational corporations for all their actions in all countries. Actors: International organizations, WTO, OECD, in cooperation with national governments, judiciary, NGOs.
5. Ensure adherence to regional standards (criteria and indicators) of sustainable forest management, which are currently being developed, by all countries. Actors: Regional organizations, trade unions, NGOs, private sector.
6. Create an international association of environmentally and socially responsible investors to establish a clearing house mechanism that enables institutional investors to support community-based development for sustainable forest management. Actors: International donors, financial institutions, institutional investors, private sector, potential recipients.
7. OECD country export credit agencies should develop and enforce high standards of social and environmental sustainability of investments which they guarantee. The appropriate criteria for social and environmental sustainability should be developed with multi-stakeholder involvement. Actors: OECD governments, export credit guarantee agencies, private sector, NGOs.
Governance and Corruption, Institutions, Policy Implementation and Regulation
Objective: Reinforce forest sector governance, institutions, and instruments at different levels.
Actions
1. The UN / CSD should establish an international forest organization. Actors: UN CSD, IFF.
2. The IFF should establish codes of conduct for private and forest enterprises. Actors: IFF, civil society, private and state sector.
3. OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) (with the assistance of NGOs, CBOs, and IPOs) in develop terms of engagement for donor and other funding institutions. Actors: OECD/DAC, civil society, donors, recipients.
4. Encourage the UN to organize, agree and conduct international agreements. Actor: UN.
5. National governments are urged to fully incorporate principles from Agenda 21 in national laws in consultation with all stakeholders. Actors: National governments, civil society.
6. National governments should decentralize forest management and benefit-sharing decisions. Actors: National governments.
7. National governments should grant cabinet status to forest ministers. Actors: National governments.
8. National governments should separate the regulatory from the enterprise functions within the forest department. Actors: National governments.
9. National governments in consultation with all stakeholders, should establish forest trust funds for sectoral development. Actors: national governments, donors, civil society.
10. Call on governments to strengthen frameworks and protocols for cross-sectoral coherence in policy development and implementation. Actors: National governments, civil society (NGOs, CBOs, private sector).
11. National governments, where appropriate supported by donors, are asked to invest in the institutional strengthening of forest departments. Actors: National governments, donors.
12. Invest in capacity building programs for civil society. Actors: Donors, recipients, civil society
Local Communities and Indigenous Peoples, Access, Land Tenure and User Rigs
Vision and objectives: Forest are considered to be fundamental to the lives of the communities living in and around it, and an element to promote human development, taking into account the biodiversity and cultural aspects. From a holistic point of view forests are not treated as an outside object but as an integral part of human being, which is not just a definitional issue. The autonomy to tend the land and sustainably use forest resources by indigenous peoples and other marginalised groups dependent on forests should be recognized. Policies that favor local management of community forests should be strengthened and promoted, based on the principle of respect for the knowledge and experience of communities. Participatory methods should used when working with communities in the management of forest resources.
Actions
1. Stimulate and support community micro-enterprises to utilize the full potential of natural resources through sustainable management plans. Actors: NGOs, communities, government, international cooperation.
2. Implement agreements with universities to develop research that improves the production based on the cultural practices of communities. Actors: Communities, universities.
3. Formulate policies, which directly enable community-managed projects and initiatives. Actors: International cooperation agencies, governments.
4. Assist in building the capacity of communities to understand and interact with IFIs. Actors: NGOs, UNDP, government agencies, communities.
5. Create and strengthen a platform for negotiations between the communities and IFIs to eliminate inconsistencies among their policies. Actors: Communities, NGOs, IFIs, national and regional organizations, other stakeholders.
6. Promote the exchange of experiences in the use of participatory methods at the international level. Actors: NGOs, regional organizations (e.g., OAS).
7. Refrain from granting or extending concessions in areas where Indigenous communities live unless explicit approval has been obtained. Actors: Governments, communities.
Valuation
Lack of recognition of cultural values of forests
Objectives: Stop the destruction of spiritual and cultural values and the cosmovision of Indigenous Peoples and traditional communities; to recover and transmit ancestral knowledge related to spirituality and the cosmovision of Indigenous Peoples and other traditional communities.
Actions
1. Denounce all forms of destruction of traditional and indigenous forest values.
2. Disseminate information and create awareness.
3. Research and recover the elements of traditional values and cosmovision.
4. Compile the results of research on traditional knowledge systems integrating traditional and academic methodology.
5. Promote learning and effective use of Indigenous languages.
Actors: Members of communities, community organizations, NGOs, governments, academic organizations, UNESCO, communication media, progressive political and religious leaders,
FAO, elders of traditional communities, donors.
Lack of recognition of land tenure rigs, especially community and collective rigs;
Objective: Develop legislation to secure collective and community rigs, including land tenure and collective and community property rigs.
Actions
1. Study deficiencies of legislation in each country and promote changes in legislation towards legislating on collective and community property and land tenure. Actors: Community organizations, NGOs, academia, donor institutions.
2. Create public awareness on the need to regulate the collective use of forests and their resources.
3. Promote participation of Indigenous and traditional community representatives, including peasant, traditional black and other traditional communities, in national parliaments
4. Lobby parliament members on the need for laws to regulate the collective use of forests and their resources.
5. Elaborate concrete legislation proposals and present these proposals to parliaments.
Actors: Community organizations, NGOs, social movement leaders and politicians, communication media.
Undervaluation of community forestry and non timber forest products. Over-valuation of timber as the main forest product.
Objective: Recover and transmit traditional knowledge of non timber forest products. Collectively study orally transmitted knowledge systems which, according to the traditional concept of knowledge, are used but not owned by present generations, assuring that the knowledge thus compiled, is returned to forest communities.
Actions
1. Establish community level fora and other mechanisms, including mass media, to educate foresters and politicians and inform decision-makers, citizens and mass media on forest ecosystem management, including traditional forest related knowledge.
2. Establish a research programme on traditional forest-related knowledge directed by communities themselves and disseminate the results, taking into account the ongoing discussions on intellectual property rigs in relation to the processes of the CBD.
Actors: Local, regional, national authorities, local community leaders, academia, mass media, donors.
Objective: Find ways to ensure that benefits derived from full valuation of non-timber forest products are gained by local people.
Actions
1. Conduct research to identify non-timber forest products, with full participation of local communities in cooperation with academic institutions, goverments and NGOs.
2. Study all possibilities to add value to non-timber forest products within local communities.
3. Apply methods and techniques for the sustainable production of non-timber forest products.
4. Create and establish modes of cooperation in local communities for the commercialization of their products at local, regional, national and international levels.
Actors: Members of the communities, Community organizations, NGOs, Academic institutions, Governments, Donors, Commercial organizations which show solidarity with interests of local communities.
Objective: Find ways to incorporate the real value of timber
Actions
1. Adapt the economic value of timber to integrate the social and environmental values related to forest ecosystems and use this in decision making processes, particularly in the design of legislation and policy instruments for the conservation of forest ecosystems. Actors: academia, governments, legislators, NGOs.
2. Establish a mechanism to enforce national legislation related to forests, developing a range of incentives and strengthening civil society. Actors: Governments, donors, IGOs, NGOs.
Failure to value the forest as an ecosystem; lack of recognition of multiple functions of forests, and lack of capacity to manage forests.
Objectives: Ensure that natural forests are valued as fully functional ecosystems. The perpetuation of the ecological integrity of all remaining stands of primary forests. Acknowledge the restoration potential of all forests. Develop an equitable valuation system for non timber goods and ecological functions. Ensure that the FAO definitions of forests, deforestation, afforestation and degradation of forests are changed to include more than just tree cover. Review and consolidate national systems of protected areas and ensure they are compatible with the social and economic reality and needs of local communities.
Actions
1. Change the FAO definition of forests and forest related concepts (deforestation, afforestation, reforestation, plantations) to include the ecosystem approach as defined in the CBD and introduce definitions for different types of forests. Actors: ITFF.
2. Develop an international research program to assess forest values, goods and services. This programme should work at different levels. Information should be disseminated to communities, NGOs, schools, forest sector, governments, and bring all levels together to integrate this information into management and decision making. Criteria for chosing the coordinating institute should include independence, global mandate, interdisciplinary knowledge, encompass an advisory board, scientific capacity, and capacity to link different sectors of knowledge. Actors: Scientific community, NGOs, Governments.
3. Ensure that all forest values are taken into account in all decision making processes which affect forests and that they are incorporated by the forestry sector. Actors: Governments, NGOs, forest departments.
4. Ensure that strategic Environmental Impact Assessments are mandatory for all projects in or near natural forests. Actors: Governments.
5. Develop an international network of ecologically representative and viable protected areas. Actors: Governments, NGOs.
6. Establish national forest plans via a totally participatory process including all stakeholders and the following essential elements: protected areas, extractive reserves, community forest projects, restoration projects and the development and implementation of criteria and indicators for sustainable forest management. Actors: Governments, NGOs.
7. Provide alternatives for local communities which are compatible with protected area policies. Actors: Governments.
8. Develop international principles and criteria for sustainable forest management, including economic, ecological, social and cultural values. Actors: IFF.
Objective: Revise current legislation on natural resources with respect to the total value of forest ecosystems.
Actions
1. Compare and analyse the effectiveness of national legislation for improvements.
2. Consider the inclusion of different forms of traditional forest related knowledge into legislation.
3. Exchange experience on revised legislation.
Actors: Governments, international community, NGOs, legislators, community leaders.
Objective: Revise legislation in other sectors related to natural resources (i.e. agriculture, mining) to ensure that they do not impact negatively upon forest ecosystems.
Actions
1. Evaluate the impact of sectoral policy on the conservation of forest ecosystems. Actors: academia, government, NGOs.
2. Require Environmental Impact Assessment for every activity and project (domestic or overseas) affecting forests, before implementation. Actors: academia, NGOs, private sector, governments, legislators.
3. Repeal perverse policy instruments that artificially enhance the economic attractiveness of land uses that lead to the destruction of forests. Actors: Governments. Appendix: New Actions
While recognizing that all actions presented at the workshop are an important record of the actions needed to address the underlying causes of deforestation and forest degradation, it was decided to highlig the actions that are ostensibly different from the Intergovernmental Panel on Forests, Proposals for Action:
Actions
1. Increase education and awareness (both formal and informal) about the full life-cycle and impacts of production, consumption and trade of forest products and those other products that impact forests, by devoting resources to education and awareness-building; incorporating education and awareness-building into curricula and conducting research on changing patterns; identifying initiatives and lifestyles that reduce consumption and its impacts; developing a consumers' guide and developing consumers B4 networks; expanding training for environmental education; improving consumer information with labeling. Actors: Governments, industry, academic institutions, NGOs, consumer B4s organizations.
2. Develop, implement and enforce integrated and holistic national policies to change consumption and production patterns, with full transparency and civil participation, by:
Actors: IFF, CBD, governments, NGOs.
3. Shift penalties and incentives (subsidies, taxes, sector promotion etc) from promoting unsustainable consumption and production patterns to promoting sustainable consumption and production patterns and trade. Actors: Governments, bilateral and multilateral donors.
4. Develop concrete policies to address over-consumption of imported goods (luxuries and weapons etc.), as a macro-economic policy to address trade imbalances. Actors: Governments, multilateral development banks, the IMF.
5. Reduce advertising that promotes unsustainable lifestyles and consumption, and reduce paper consumption of the advertising industry by 75%. Actors: Business, government, NGOs in partnership.
6. Improve data collection and dissemination on the production, consumption and trade in forest products and products that impact forests, inter alia by strengthening independent initiatives (such as Global Forest Watch) to monitor the status of forests and pressure on forests. Actors: FAO, governments, NGOs, academia.
7. Develop and implement certification schemes of non-forest products (such as forest product substitutes, agricultural products, oil and minerals). Actors: Industry, government and all producers of non-forest products that impact forests.
8. Recommend that the February 1999 UNCTAD/ITTO meeting to discuss the relationship between the international trade regime and environmental and human rigs' conventions. Actors: Governments, NGOs.
9. Include a discussion on the imbalance between trade and sustainable development regimes in the agenda of IFF3 and IFF 4 and organize an intersessional on this specific issue between IFF 3 and IFF 4 Actors: IFF.
10. Recommending not to establish an International Negotiating Commission on a legally binding instrument on forests until progress has been made to redress the imbalance between trade and other international agreements. Actors: IFF.
11. Establish a dialogue between NGOs, industry and other stakeholders on the need to address the imbalance between trade and sustainable development regimes, inter alia by:
Actors: donor and recipient governments (economic and environmental ministries), NGOs, industry and other stakeholders.
12. Interpret Article XX of GATT to allow individual countries to ban or limit the export of unsustainably harvested forest products. Actors: WTO.
13. Oppose the MAI as it poses a major threat to forests. Actors: IFF participants.
14. Open up the government decision-making processes on attitudes towards forests at the national and local level to the public. Actors: Governments.
15. To enforce the target 2000 of the ITTA and apply it to all forest products. The ITTA renegotiation in 2000 should Include all timbers, involve all sectors of society and establish a revised voting structure. Actors: ITTA-member states and NGOs.
16. Prohibit trade in illegally produced forest products, assist developing countries to control such trade and build up the capacity to monitor and expose illegal trade. Actors: IFF participant countries, donors, NGOs.
17. Eliminate the incremental costs criterion as used by the Global Environment Facility. Actors: GEF participants, NGOs.
18. Improve the enforceability of the Convention on Biological Diversity and develop it's dispute settlement process. Actors: CBD Parties.
19. Allow all NGOs with ECOSOC status to have access to trade negotiations. Actors: WTO, EU, regional trade agreements.
. Include NGOs and indigenous peoples on government delegations in trade negotiations. Actors: Governments.
21. To publish and disseminate international trade negotiation preparatory and final documents. Actor: WTO.
22. Strengthen and establish technical assistance centers for Indigenous Peoples and local communities to develop databases of projects and legal information on forest legislation and the rigs of Indigenous Peoples and local communities, inventories of experiences and successful technologies, international and national marketing. Actors: Governments, NGOs, scientific community, Indigenous Peoples and local communities.
23. Conduct and make public, in local languages, independent evaluations of potential social, cultural and environmental impacts before any economic activity in forests. Actors: Government, Indigenous Peoples and local communities, corporations.
24. Design mechanisms within CBD, FCCC and CCD to ensure distribution of benefits derived from forests to those that protect them. Actors: CBD, UNFCCC, and CCD Parties.
25. Ratify and implement CEDAW within all countries. Actors: Government, UN agencies and international agencies, women's groups, Indigenous Peoples and local communities, other interest groups, funding agencies (including international ones), national finance departments.
26. Create and develop an information data base on women's traditional knowledge on forest use, administered by Indigenous and local community women (on the condition that legislation protecting rigs to that knowledge is developed and ensured). Actors: Government, UN agencies and international agencies, women's groups, Indigenous Peoples and local communities, other interest groups, funding agencies (including international ones), national finance departments.
27. Incorporate forest related policies, programs and projects on gender. Actors: Government, UN agencies and international agencies, women's groups, Indigenous Peoples and local communities, other interest groups, funding agencies (including international ones), national finance departments.
28. Develop linkages between environmental conventions, ILO 169 and CEDAW. Actors: Government, UN agencies and international agencies, women's groups, Indigenous Peoples and local communities, other interest groups, funding agencies (including international ones), national finance departments.
29. Develop stronger networking among women's groups at the local, national, regional and international levels. Actors: Government, UN agencies and international agencies, women's groups, Indigenous Peoples and local communities, other interest groups, funding agencies (including international ones), national finance departments.
30. Promote capacity building and information sharing about legislation on Indigenous Peoples, the environment and women B4s knowledge on forest use and management. Actors: Government, UN agencies and international agencies, women's groups, Indigenous Peoples and local communities, other interest groups, funding agencies (including international ones), national finance departments.
31. Promote participation of women in local, national, regional and global events related to forests. Actors: Government, UN agencies and international agencies, women's groups, Indigenous Peoples and local communities, other interest groups, funding agencies (including international ones), national finance departments.
32. Provide funding for training and enable the distribution of information. Actors: Government, UN agencies and international agencies, women's groups, Indigenous Peoples and local communities, other interest groups, funding agencies (including international ones), national finance departments.
33. Promote the approval of environmental, oil and mining legislation that guarantees the rigs of Indigenous Peoples and local communities. Actors: Parliaments and ministries (environment, energy and mining), Indigenous Peoples Organizations and Community-Based Organizations, environmental and women's organizations and other groups within civil society.
34. Devolve decision making to local players, Indigenous Peoples and other interest groups. Actors: Governments, Indigenous Peoples, local communities and stakeholders.
35. UN should develop a " forest keeping" mechanism by supporting civil society B4s forest investment, monitoring and accountability networks that monitor and ensure compliance with international treaties and conventions pertinent to sustainable forest management. Actors: UN, civil society.
36. IFF should ask for seats at the negotiating table of WTO for consumer groups, Indigenous Peoples, local communities, and NGOs. Actors: IFF, WTO.
37. Develop publicly accountable mechanisms for scrutinising and monitoring large-scale (forest) industry (both investment proposals and ongoing operations). Government should lead with civil society involvement to ensure transparency, free information flow and legitimacy. Compliance with national and international regulations should be a requirement, and regulation and legislation, where inadequate, should be revised. Actors: United Nations agencies, government, civil society representatives.
38. Increase local and transboundary consumer awareness and behavior by promoting alternatives, for example through third-party independent eco-labelling, market, tax, and subsidy incentives, and by having UN agencies, governments, and corporations commit to buying viable alternative products. They should also commit to auditing wood and paper usage for the purpose of eliminating egregious sources and adapt accepted Criteria & Indicators. Actors: Civil groups, government UN, corporations, auditors.
39. IFF should promote development and agreement on core global Criteria & Indicators and install these as the basis for internationally enforceable World Trade Organisation rules. Actors: IFF.
40. Banks (MDBs and Private) should adopt policies which forbid investment or subsidy in corporations which unsustainably exploit natural forests. Assessment processes must include key civil society groups (especially Indigenous Peoples and local communities). Actors: civil society. Actors: WB, MDBs, Banks.
41. Support effective law enforcement to detect and punish corruption. Actors: Government.
42. Eliminate militarism from governance and within economic and social policy making. Actors: Governments and corporations.
43. Decentralize forest governance to the control of Indigenous Peoples and local communities. Actors: Governments and corporations.
44. Empower Indigenous Peoples and local communities to build and strengthen lobbying capacity and to develop joint lobbying processes amongst Indigenous Peoples, local communities and appropriate interest groups. Actors: Government, NGOs, Indigenous Peoples and local communities.
45. Establish independent review panel(s) consisting of Indigenous Peoples, local communities, interest groups and government to review and monitor legal instruments at all levels. Actors: Indigenous Peoples, local communities, interest groups, and government.
46. Require separate and dedicated funding for environmental and forest related law enforcement. Actors: Government.
47. Require training in law enforcement for all policy makers within government agencies as well as for interest groups at all levels. Actors: Government, law enforcement agencies, interest groups.
48. Establish and strengthen links and constructive dialogue between interest groups and government on law enforcement matters. Actors: Interest groups, government.
49. Enact and strengthen legislation requiring open access to the policy makers. Actors: Government.
50. Insist that Bretton Woods institutions allow observers from civil society to participate in biennial review meetings. Actors: Bretton Woods institutions, civil society.
51. Enourage the G8, in particular the USA and Japan, to put pressure on Multi-lateral Development Banks (MDBs), in particular the Asian Development Bank (AsDB), to ensure principles of social and environmental sustainability are implemented. Actors: G8, MDBs.
52. National and international funders should secure long-term support for a global coalition of NGOs, that will ensure their role in decision-making processes, such as the Club of Paris, G8, and the consultative groups. Actors: Funders, NGOs, Club of Paris, G8, consultative groups.
53. Establish a Public Commission to review operation of the IMF on order to increase its transparency. Actors: IMF, NGOs, CBOs, IPOs, ITFF, inter-governmental organizations.
54. Finance and Planning ministries together with the World Bank / IMF should establish national level independent consultation mechanisms with civil society to improve the transparency of decision-making with respect to SAPs. Actors: Finance and Planning ministries, World Bank, IMF, civil society.
55. Establish a dialogue between ITFF and the IMF to ensure the long-term sustainability of IMF interventions, such as SAPs, ensuring that environmental and social goals have the same importance as the economic goal. Actors: ITFF, IMF.
56. Restructure, and where appropriate, write-off debts. Countries, which implement ecologically and socially sustainable forest management, should be rewarded by measures that reduce their debt service. Resources that are freed up in this manner should be ear-marked for sustainable forest management. Actors: Lending institutions, governments.
57. Encourage the ITFF to identify and measure at both the global and national level the impact of perverse subsidies and incentives in the forest and non-forest sectors, particularly agriculture, mining, and hydro-power, that affect forest ecosystems. Actors: ITFF, all levels of government, donors, researchers, affected communities, international organizations.
58. Create a mechanism which guarantees full accountability by transnational corporations for all their actions in all countries. Actors: International organizations, WTO, OECD, in cooperation with national governments, judiciary, NGOs.
59. Create an international association of environmentally and socially responsible investors to establish a clearing house mechanism that enables institutional investors to support community-based development for sustainable forest management. Actors: International donors, financial institutions, institutional investors, private sector, potential recipients.
60. OECD country export credit agencies should develop and enforce high standards of social and environmental sustainability of investments which they guarantee. The appropriate criteria for social and environmental sustainability should be developed with multi-stakeholder involvement. Actors: OECD governments, export credit guarantee agencies, private sector, NGOs.
61. The UN / CSD should establish an international forest organization. Actors: UN CSD, IFF.
62. OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) (with the assistance of NGOs, CBOs, and IPOs) in develop terms of engagement for donor and other funding institutions. Actors: OECD/DAC, civil society, donors, recipients.
63. Implement agreements with universities to develop research that improves the production based on the cultural practices of communities. Actors: Communities, universities.
64. Study all possibilities to add value to non-timber forest products within local communities.
65. Create and establish modes of cooperation in local communities for the commercialization of their products at local, regional, national and international levels.
66. Repeal perverse policy instruments that artificially enhance the economic attractiveness of land uses that lead to the destruction of forests. Actors: Governments.