RRI Side Event at the United Nations Forum on Forests

Eleventh Session, United Nations Headquarters, New York, May 4 – 15, 2015

Purpose

This side event will inform UNFF participants of the current status of forest tenure, governance issues, and new initiatives underway to strengthen forest governance and assist governments, communities, and private companies to advance the recognition of local forest and land rights and secure
tenure. Presentations will include case examples of the implementation of forest tenure reforms in major forest countries as well as the principles and recommendations from MegaFlorestais. In addition, updates on the status of the new International Forest and Land Tenure Facility, which seeks to advance the land and natural resource-related targets emerging from the post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals through a mechanism of cost-effective deployment of funds, will be presented.

For more information, please contact Patience Fielding, [email protected]. 

Context

Despite attracting increasing global attention, the pressures exerted on the world’s forests and the people who depend on them show no signs of abating. As the demand for food, fiber, and fuel continues to grow in response to increased population, wealth, and development pressures, so does the threat of land use and land cover change, especially in tropical and subtropical regions. Combined with increasing incidences of climate-related disturbances, the task of managing and sustaining forests is likely to become more challenging and costly in the coming decades. While forests are essential for the survival of some 80 percent of the world’s poorest people, few retain legally enforceable rights over the use, management, and benefits that these resource systems provide. The lack of secure tenure is a key underlying driver of forest degradation and loss.

In response to these challenges, diverse strategies are increasingly being pursued at the international level (e.g., REDD+, FLEGT, NY Declaration on Forests). However, the need to address the pressing demands of forest-dependent populations and the impacts of insecure rights on national, regional or global sustainable development agendas has yet to be fully prioritized.  In the absence of forthcoming solutions to these critical issues, the ability of the international community to stem the pace of forest loss will invariably be impaired.

Public forest agencies have a critical role to play in improving forest governance as well as supporting broader social and economic development in forest areas. As members of the global network of forest agency leaders Megaflorestais observe, “forest agencies can positively influence this future or be casualties of it.” In 2014, this network published a set of principles that they considered “essential” to “guide the future of effective forest governance in the twenty-first century.” Recognizing that “new – and sometimes radically different – approaches to forest governance are required,” they argue that forest agencies need to develop more transparent, inclusive, and adaptive forms of forest governance. In order “to respond to the demands of citizens, changes in their forests and global trends,” public forest agency leaders must engage in processes of continuous improvement to “understand the global complexities of human rights, community organisations and enterprise, global trade, emerging trends around new technologies, markets, and climate change.” In addition to developing the capacity to reach out to a broader range of constituencies and communicate a clear and inclusive vision for the future, they also point out that “public forest agencies should be willing partners and leaders in policy changes on forest tenure.” For as they put it, “recognizing the rights of communities and Indigenous Peoples is an essential step in advancing human rights, alleviating poverty in forest areas, and preserving the forest.”

Similarly, private companies and their investors also have a major role in the management or destruction of forests, and some have committed to reduce or eliminate deforestation from their operations or supply chains, and are increasingly beginning to adopt land and human rights policies to guard against abuse of local peoples land rights. Since 2013, the Interlaken Group network, an informal group of leading companies and NGOs active on land and forest issues (including Nestle, Unilever, Stora Enso, RRI, Oxfam, Forest Peoples Programme, and Global Witness) has been working to “expand and leverage private sector interest in securing community land rights.” Their first product, due in May 2015, is a tool that provides operational guidance for implementing the voluntary guidelines for the governance of tenure (VGGT).

Draft Agenda

Co-Chairs:
Arvind Khare: Executive Director, Rights and Resources Initiative
Mia Crawford: Deputy Director, Ministry of Enterprise and Innovation, Sweden

Welcome, Introductions, Review of Agenda
(10 Minutes)
Co-Chairs: Mia Crawford and Arvind Khare, Executive Director, RRI

Panel-led Discussion
(45 Minutes)
The Role of Forest Tenure and Governance in Achieving Forest Sustainability

• Claes Nordmark, Senior Political Adviser to the Swedish Minister for Rural Affairs: Swedish experience and perspective on forest tenure reform.
• Daniel Meireles Tristão, Head of International and National Cooperation Division, Brazilian Forest Service, Ministry of the Environment: The Rural Environmental Registry.
• Fabiola Munoz, Executive Director, Forest Service, Ministry of Agriculture Peru: Update on the lessons from consultative review of regulations and the status of recognizing indigenous forest rights in Peru.
• Glenn Mason, Assistant Deputy Minister, Natural Resources Canada & Chair, MegaFlorestais: Public forest agencies in the twenty-first century
• Alain Frechette, Director, ILFTF: International Land and Forest Tenure Facility
• Jeffrey Hatcher, Managing Director, Indufor North America

Question and Answer Session
(20 Minutes)

Wrap-up: Implications for future forest conservation strategies and investments
(5 Minutes)
Mia Crawford and Arvind Khare