Models for integrating climate objectives in forest policy: Towards adaptation-first?

Coupling climate change and forest policy: A multiple streams analysis of two German case studies

As one of the last agricultural frontiers of the humid tropics, Amazonia is the largest area of the world currently undergoing frontier settlement. Although the earliest intrusions of foreign populations into Amazonia date from pre-Hispanic times, the large-scale entrance of peasant colonists into the vast region is a recent phenomenon. Much of this movement represents the spontaneous migration of peoples, but governments in the region have also become increasingly interested in opening up and integrating Amazonia to national and international economies. These actions are frequently seen as potential solutions to a number of national problems, including the need to increase agricultural production, correct spatial imbalances in the distribution of population, exploit frontier lands for reasons of national security, and defuse potentially serious political problems resulting from the existing agrarian structure, landlessness, and unemployment. The upper basin of the Amazon in Ecuador, bordering on the eastern slopes of the Andes, is one such area of frontier settlement. Recent decades have witnessed the rapid conversion of these Amazonian forests to agricultural uses through a series of schemes bearing such labels as land development and colonization. Most forest intervention in the region has come at the hands of colonist farmers attempting to establish land claims along transport routes originally constructed to aid in petroleum exploration and exploitation. These are farmers who formerly have made a living in long-established farmlands and who, for various reasons (population pressures, pervasive poverty, maldistribution of farmland, lack of inputs for intensive cultivation, lack of nonagrarian livelihood opportunities, and generally inadequate rural development) have been increasingly squeezed out of their homelands. A marginal person by virtue of his low socioeconomic and political status, the farmer often perceives

Climate change can be addressed by mitigation (reducing the sources or enhancing the sinks of greenhouse gases) and adaptation (reducing the impacts of climate change). Mitigation and adaptation present two fundamentally dissimilar approaches whose differences are now well documented. Forest ecosystems play an important role in both adaptation and mitigation and there is a need to explore the linkages between these two options in order to understand their trade-offs and synergies. In forests, potential trade-offs can be observed between global ecosystem services, such as the carbon sequestration relevant for mitigation, and the local ecosystem services that are relevant for adaptation. In addition, mitigation projects can facilitate or hinder the adaptation of local people to climate change, whereas adaptation projects can affect ecosystems and their potential to sequester carbon. Linkages between adaptation and mitigation can also be observed in policies, but few climate change or forest policies have addressed these linkages in the forestry sector. This paper presents examples of linkages between adaptation and mitigation in Latin American forests. Through case studies, we investigate the approaches and reasons for integrating adaptation into mitigation projects or mitigation into adaptation projects. We also analyze the opportunities for mainstreaming adaptation–mitigation linkages into forest or climate change policies.

Many studies have suggested various kinds of forest policies, management planning and practices to help forests adapt to climate change. These recommendations are often generic, based mostly on case studies from temperate countries and rarely from Africa. We argue that policy and management recommendations aimed at integrating adaptation into national forest policies and practices in Africa should start with an inventory and careful examination of existing policies and practices in order to understand the nature and extent of intervention required to influence the adaptation of forest ecosystems to climate change. This paper aims to contribute to closing this gap in knowledge detrimental to decision making through the review and analysis of current forest policies and practices in Burkina Faso and Ghana and highlighting elements that have the potential to influence the adaptation of forest ecosystems to climate change. The analysis revealed that adaptation (and mitigation) are not part of current forest policies in Burkina Faso and Ghana, but instead policies contain elements of risk management practices which are also relevant to the adaptation of forest ecosystems. Some of these elements are found in policies on the management of forest fires, forest genetic resources, non-timber resources, tree regeneration and silvicultural practices. To facilitate and enhance the management of these elements, a number of recommendations are suggested. Their implementation will require experienced and well-trained forestry personnel, financial resources, socio-cultural and political dimensions, and the political will of decision makers to act appropriately by formulating necessary policies and mainstreaming adaptation into forest policy and management planning.

As wildfires are increasingly causing negative impacts to communities and their livelihoods, many communities are demanding more proactive and locally driven approaches to address wildfire risk. This marks a shift away from centralized governance models where decision-making is concentrated in government agencies that prioritize reactive wildfire suppression. In British Columbia (BC), Canada, Community Forests—a long-term, area-based tenure granted to Indigenous and/or local communities—are emerging as local leaders facilitating proactive wildfire management. To explore the factors that are enabling local governance approaches to managing wildfire risk, we conducted semi-structured interviews with 26 Community Forest managers across BC. Managers highlighted financial and social capacity, especially trust and relationships with both community members and government agencies, as crucial factors influencing their ability to undertake proactive management. These factors enable Community Forests to address wildfire risk not only within their own tenure area, but also at household, community, and landscape scales, while balancing diverse community values, objectives for forest management, and legal and policy obligations. Despite ongoing challenges, Community Forests emphasized the importance of scaling up their efforts to address wildfire risk and are a critical form of local wildfire governance that can help advance proactive wildfire management across BC.

Foucault in the forests—A review of the use of ‘Foucauldian’ concepts in forest policy analysis

Forest Policy and Economics Working Group Session Annual General Meeting—<i>Halifax</i>,<i>22 August 1995</i>: Trends in dominant paradigms for forest resource management, policy and resource analysis

Historically British Columbia’s (B.C.) forests were managed under the implicit assumption that virtually the whole forested land base would, one day, be available for timber production. The B.C. Forest Service and licensees incorporate non-timber values into timber production plans through a process of “integrated resource management” which attempts to consider wildlife, riparian habitat, recreation, water flows, grazing, and other forest uses in each decision about each hectare where logging is to occur. Under this extensive form of management, silvicultural investments are low. This policy has clearly failed either to satisfy legitimate demands from the environmental community or to produce the predictably high levels of timber harvest needed to sustain the forest products industry and industry-dependent communities. The core problem is that, despite a vast forest estate in British Columbia, land has become scarce. It is, therefore, logical to substitute capital, labor, and knowledge for land in forest production processes. Implementing this general economic prescription requires a change in forest management approach to zone the landscape and manage each zone intensively for a specific purpose. For the bulk of commercial timber production, planted forests represent the best technological option. New directions in B.C.'s forest policy -- land-use zoning, a new forest practice code, and the dedication of capital for silvicultural investments -- generally move toward this objective, but implementation remains uncertain. Major impediments include dysfunctional forest tenure arrangements and a comparatively poor information base.

Climate change and deforestation: The evolution of an intersecting policy domain

List of Illustrations Acknowledgments Acronyms Introduction 1. The Expansion and Containment of Policy Conflict Part I: The Expansion of Conflict in British Columbian Forest Politics 2.Forest Policy in British Columbia and the Conflict over Clayoquot Sound 3. Constructing the Global: Issue Expansion in Clayoquot Sound, British Columbia 4. From Local to Global: Expanding Participation in Clayoquot Sound 5. Venue Shopping in an International Conflict Part II: The Containment of Conflcit in Northern California 6. U.S. Forest Policy and the Birth of the Quincy Library Group 7. Retreating to the Local: Issue Containment in Northern California 8. Allies, Opponents, and Audiences: Containting Participation in the Quincy Library Group 9. Lawsuits, Libraries, and Legislatures: The Quincy Library Group and Venue Shopping 10.Managing Policy Conflicts Appendix: Sample Interview Questions Notes References Index

Forestry is a major contributor to the Ghanaian economy and has the potential to increase its contribution if a number of challenges are overcome. Over the past 15 years, Ghana has modified its forest policies, laws, and regulations, but still faces serious challenges with illegal logging and unsustainable forest management. At the same time, Ghana’s major wood product trading partner, the European Union (EU), is requesting that Ghana, under the Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA), ensures that wood products from Ghana to the EU are legally produced. Additionally, several EU wood product importers have requested their suppliers in Ghana to meet certification requirements. To date, efforts by Ghanaian companies to achieve certification have not been successful. Certification can potentially address forest management challenges facing tropical countries like Ghana, while enhancing the export of wood products to environmentally sensitive markets, such as the EU. This research was conducted to identify the underlying causes for Ghanaian companies’ inability to meet certification requirements and the implications for forest management and timber exports from Ghana. The research was conducted in Ghana from May to August 2009. Mail surveys supported by field assessment of forest management practices were the main research methods used. In addition, interviews were conducted with key contacts from the four groups studied: policymakers, loggers, wood processors/exporters, and wood product importers from Ghana. Results suggest that current forest management practices in Ghana are unsustainable. Forest management certification was found to have a positive impact on forest management, but is unlikely to be an effective mechanism in influencing overall forest management practices. Respondents identified illegal logging, corruption, and weak enforcement of forest laws as the key impediments to sustainable forestry in Ghana. In spite of the increasing demand for certified wood products by European importers, results indicate that Europe is the primary destination for respondent wood exports. The most significant conclusion is that the government should undertake institutional roles reform to transfer key forest management functions to companies that adhere to government standards, while addressing the underlying factors of corruption, illegal logging, and weak enforcement of forest laws through a broader stakeholder consultative process.

With the rising land demands for urbanization and rapid economic growth, India's forest future is marked with multiple uncertainties. The paper explores India's forest future using the IPBES’s Nature Future Framework (NFF) and highlights how pluralistic viewpoints are essential to guide decision-making related to forest sustainability. By applying the Nature Future framework, the study demonstrates how diverse value orientations can share the policy priorities for effective conservation until 2070. The paper first attempts to map the existing forest policies and programs against the three alternative value frameworks of NFF, namely, Nature for Nature, Nature for Society, and Nature for Culture. This mapping exercise helps to reveal how historical policy choices and governance structures have favored certain value systems over others. Further, to understand the various assumptions and power dynamics in the forest governance, we deployed a theory mapping approach to screen the dominant narrative of existing forest programs and policies. The main findings of this study indicate two dominant underlying narratives within the federal forest policies, i.e., ‘nature for nature’ in the pre-colonial era and ‘nature for society’ during the late 1990s, when schemes like Joint Forest Management and the Forest Rights Act dominated forest governance. These shifts reflect broader socio-political transformations in India, including democratization of resource management and growing attention to rural livelihoods. We further observed a shift in priorities in recent years that focuses on enhancing India's forest carbon stocks through afforestation and reforestation, aligning with India’s NetZero ambitions; this shift somewhat undermines participatory forest governance and traditional rights over forest resources, reflecting a realignment towards the nature-for-nature pathway. India's global climate commitments strongly influence this transition, giving priority to carbon outcomes over social and cultural considerations. In conclusion, the paper highlights significant opportunities to transform to a more inclusive forest future through the adoption of nature as a cultural pathway. Such initiatives may include the recognition and scaling of traditional agroforestry systems, conservation of sacred forests, and revival of traditional forest practices, among others. These approaches can play a critical role in balancing ecological, cultural, and developmental priorities while strengthening India’s ability to safeguard forests.

Today, not only scientists and researchers, but public services and governments as well use DSS (Decision Support System) methods to solve forest policy and management problems in order to meet the multiple needs of the public and to achieve the greatest possible effectiveness. This paper presents and analyses the current trends in emerging DSS applications for the sector of forest policy and management. The research relates to the scientific journal articles that propose a DSS since 2007 and until the present. The DSS are registered and classified as to their characteristics, such as their decision support topic, multiple-aim DSS, country of application, type of software, database use, GIS, mathematics, online presentation in the Internet etc. Finally the DSS applications are categorized as to the above characteristics and current trends are identified and discussed. GIS and Database technology seem to be the most popular software used by the decision makers, since Europe North America emphasize most in these kind of DSS applications.

Forest management policy in New South Wales, Australia, has been dramatically changing during the past two decades in response to public controversy and widening expectations of the values that the forest should provide to society. The nature of NSW forest management today is a reflection of the unique Australian forest ecology, the nature of the forest sector, and the emergence of conflict and polarized views on forest management in the past two decades. Recent efforts have made progress in resolving the forest debate. The key elements have included an expanded protected areas reserve system, expanded reliance on plantation forests for wood supply, increased wood security for native forest industries in return for a commitment to value-adding and the implementation of an ecologically sustainable forest management framework. Like other Australian States, NSW is currently negotiating Regional Forest Agreements with the Commonwealth Government that will set the stage for future directions in forest management. Key words: forest policy, Australia, New South Wales forest management

Living lab produces a wide variety of innovation results. To produce these results, territorial living labs can be mobilized, they implement the conditions of innovation in territorial development. However, because of their geographical areas and their stakeholders, territories are complex systems. Thus, it should be noted that in any territorial approach, a territorial diagnostic is essential. Nevertheless, in a territorial living lab process, the territorial diagnostic is rarely used and formalized. This research aims at developing a replicable and adaptable forest territorial living lab at the scale of each territory in order to meet the objectives of French forest policy regarding the improvement of wood management and mobilization in small private forests. For this purpose, we propose to include a territorial diagnostic as a step in forest territorial living lab process. The objective of this document is to propose a territorial diagnostic adapted: 1) to the characteristics and implementation of a living lab process with the additional feature of being replicable and adaptable at the scale of each territory 2) to meet the objectives of the targeted forest policy regarding the improvement of wood management and mobilization in small private French forests. We propose a territorial diagnostic in four steps: 1) A macro-environmental analysis with the SWOTed PESTEL 2) A strategic stakeholder analysis 3) A micro-environmental analysis with the half-SWOT 4) A design of forest owners' personas. We will present the first simplified results of this territorial diagnostic and show these main innovative contributions to the living lab process.