Duncan MacqueenInternational Institute for Environment and Development (IIED)

Context of this paper

• Forest connect alliance

• Work in: Brazil, Burkina Faso, China, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Guatemala, Guyana, India, Lao PDR, Malawi, Mozambique, Nepal, South Africa, Uganda.

• Input to DRC (RDC) model for community forestry

Structure of this presentation

• Introduction

• Foundation: secure commercial rights

• Scaffolding: organisation

• Concrete: business skills

• Examples – 12 countries

Introduction• Political trends - 22% South 40% north

• Economic reality– 90% of enterprises and 50% employment . No rights = informality (Kozak, 2007)

• Impacts? – Rights = enterprises, forests and communities flourish (Molnar et al. 2007)

• But…the picture is mixed - Forest Connect partners suggested that to commercial rights you need to add social organisation and business skills.

• Why? – Isolation from each other, markets, service providers and policy makers.

Foundation: secure commercial rights• For whom? Rightsholders –

Families (IFFA), Communities (GACF), Indigenous peoples (IAITPTF).

• For what? CFE “Entity undertaking commercial exchanges based on forest or trees, overseen in a self-defining community, by a credible representative body suited to act as certificate holder and which can claim legitimacy in terms of people and area, that generates and redistributes profits within that community.”

Secure commercial rights cont.

Secure:• Duration – sufficient incentive to invest

• Assurance - without confusion over multiple use rights, land / forests, subsistence / commercial

• Robustness – defensible in law

• Exclusivity - no overlapping concessions, mining rights etc

• Simplicity -

Scaffolding: social organisation

Production Aggregation

MarketingIntelligence

The Market

Key functions

Social organisation cont.

• Abundant commercial forest resources ~ poverty (Sunderlin et al. 2007) Why organisation matters…

• Defining and staffing business roles

• Business registration

• Management and record keeping

• Scale efficiencies / bargaining power

• Marketing and advocacy

Concrete: business skills • Range – (i) Large numbers of very

small, low-input low-output enterprises that proliferate to meet household needs; to (ii) smaller numbers of more productive enterprises

• Market research• Business roles• Competition and upgrading• Record keeping (e.g. investment

proposals)• Appropriate business models

• Autonomy and facilitation

Examples – promising (ex Mex. / Nepal)

• SWEDEN

• Secure commercial rights – Forest Act 1903

• Social organisation – 4 associations = 110,000 members = 6.3 million hectares (~50 ha)

• Business skills – sawmills, pulp and paper, bio-energy

Examples - promising

• CHINA

• Secure commercial rights – “Three fixes”, “Resolution on accelerating forest development, 2003”

• Social organisation – 37 million ha to 57 million households. China National Forest Industry Association + provincials

• Business skills – 2003 Small and medium enterprise promotion law.

Examples - promising

• GUATEMALA (Peten)

• Secure commercial rights – 1989 CONAP - 17 step process for concessions (FSC required)

• Social organisation – ACOFOP, 1996, 22 community members, 15 FSC certified concessions, 560,000ha

• Business skills – FORESCOM , 2004, business training, marketing etc.

Examples – works in progress

• BRAZIL

• Secure commercial rights – 2001 National Forest Programme various provision for ‘community forests’ e.g. RESEX, Settlement reserva legal…bureaucratic

• Social organisation – Some – e.g. Cooperfloresta in Acre with 5 communities

• Business skills – Evolving fast but limited formal support, marginally profitable at small scales

Examples – works in progress

• INDONESIA

• Secure commercial rights – 1998 Reformasi and 1999 Law on regional government. New Forest Law…national / district tensions (e.g. Wonosobo, Java)

• Social organisation – Some – e.g. Communication Forum on Community Forestry (FKKM)

• Business skills – Limited, and often project specific e.g. Teak

Examples – works in progress

• MOZAMBIQUE

• Secure commercial rights – 1997 Land Law exemplary - 1999 Forest Law less so

• Social organisation – Many projects on CBNRM but few formal associations – only 3 community Simple Licences

• Business skills – At rural level, very basic.

Conclusions

• Advocacy for rights (e.g. Rights-holders initiative, Rights and Resources Initiative, Self-mobilisation, FIPPU – rise up etc.)

• Facilitation of social organisation - second level business organisations (IFFA but in developing countries?)

• Invest in facilitating business skills development (e.g. Forest Connect mainstreamed)

• Keep an eye on where the money (= threat /opportunity) is going e.g. forestry is now primarily an ENERGY business

Thanks!

http://forestconnect.ning.com