Governments
and businesses must give local people more control over forests to
maximize social, economic and environmental benefits, says a new book by
the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) and
the G3 — a global network whose members manage a quarter of the world’s
forests.
The
book, was launched at IIED’s Fair ideas conference in Rio de Janeiro
recently, makes the business case for investing in forest communities by
showing that when local people control their forests they are more
likely to conserve and use them sustainably.
Millions of hectares are already owned by, or designated for use by, local communities and families.
Södra
— a cooperative of 52,000 family forest owners in Sweden — has annual
revenues of 18 billion Krona (US$2.7 billion). The cooperative, which
was formed in 1938, produces pulp, sawn timber, furniture and biofuels
and sells them largely to an international market.
In
Nepal , community-owned forest makes up around a fifth of all forested
land, with 17,685 local community groups managing more than 1.6 million
hectares. The Amrithdhara community forest is managed by 814 households
who together earn 3,000,000 Nepalese Rupees (US$36,179) every year —
money which is re-invested in forest management or used to support local
community development projects.
“Community
forestry turned Nepal ’s forests from barren wastelands into the green
and productive areas that they are today”, said Ghan Shyam Pandey,
coordinator of the Global Alliance of Community Forestry.
In
2009, the Global Alliance of Community Forestry joined forces with the
International Alliance of Indigenous and Tribal Peoples of the Tropical
Forest and the International Family Forestry Alliance to create the G3 –
or Three Rights Holders’ Group, a global network of family, community
and Indigenous foresters.
“Together,
the G3 provides a platform and a united voice for local
forest-dependent people across the world who all-too-often are not
included in national policy-making or international decisions” said
Peter deMarsh, a family forest owner in New Brunswick, Canada, and chair
of the International Family Forestry Alliance.
Despite
the proven track record of locally controlled forestry and constant
reports of social conflict between local communities and big companies
over forests across the world, money continues to flow into the bigger
international corporations rather than into support for
locally-controlled forestry.
The
new book urges governments and investors to approach business from a
different angle in order to reap a wider range of benefits and on a
long-term basis.
“Instead
of being led by resources, investment models for locally controlled
forestry must be led by rights, based on right-holders managing forest
resources and seeking capital and partnerships“, says Duncan Macqueen,
Forest Team leader at IIED.
“We
cannot afford to ignore practical and fair solutions such as locally
controlled forestry when the stakes are so high and the benefits so
clear”
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