What Matters for Adaptation: Forest Access or Ownership?

Fobissie KalameJohnson Nkem

Center for International Forestry Research

Forest Tenure, Governance and Enterprise: New Opportunities for Central & West AfricaYaoundé, Cameroon May 25-29, 2009

Forest policies in West Africa & CC adaptation…

• Forest Ecosystems (FE) provide goods & services used by communities to adapt to impacts of CC (forest for adaptation) but are themselves (FE) vulnerable & need also to adapt as well (adaptation for forests)

• Forest policies & governance determine access & ownership of forest resources that can support or hinder adaptation of communities & FE in WA.

• CC objective is lacking in existing forest policies in WA

• If effectively implemented, some elements of forest policies in WA can help forest at some locations adapt to climatic disturbances (Kalame et al. 2009)

Access to forest resources for adaptation…

Climate change

Forest ecosystems

Crops

systems

Firewood exploittn

NWFP

Construction materials

Forest manag’tpractices

Policy instrum’ts& calibration

Nonclimaticdrivers

Livestock fodder

Conditionality:

-human activities are impacted by cc

-these activities are not always adaptation actions in all circumstances

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-

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-/+

-

-/+-/+

-/+

-/+

+

+

Current characteristics of adaptation, forest access & ownership…

Decentralisation, an opportunity to enhance local forest ownership

Forest access mostly controlled by staff from the ministry incharge of forestry

Decentralised structures involved in the implementation of adaptation actions e.g. DA in Ghana and CVD/Mayors in Burkina Faso

Forest resource governance

Firm grip, control or ownership by governments on income generating resources such as timber & game in Ghana, and firewood in Burkina Faso

Less complicated local access to low / undocumented financial value resources such as most NTFPs. Weak / absence but increasingly growing recognition of policy objectives and programmes on NTFPs

Both low & high economic value resources are important for adaptation but depends on the resource location

Forest resources type

Stagnant or very slow legal & policy shift to local forest ownership

Address immediate household needs of NTFPs for either subsistence or income generation

Address immediate adaptation needs while planning for medium & long-term responses e.g. NAPA of Burkina Faso & Mali, national adaptation action plan of Ghana

Temporal scale

Ownership of forest resources

Access to forest resources

Adaptation to CC

“Supportive nonclimatic policies” OR “potential planned adaptation strategy”?

Yes but in effective in practiceYes but still challengingMonitoring & improvement

Yes (desertification & biodiversity)Partially (support desertification control but not biodiversity promotion)

Support other conventions

Yes (prevent forest degradation, household NTFP extraction)

Yes (land rehabilitation, household food production)

Non-financial benefits

Yes, benefit out ways costYes, benefit out ways costCost effective

yesyesInclusionary, participatory & develop’t goals independent of CC

Yes Yes but unclear medium term benefits

Short, medium & long-term benefits

Yes (rotational 15 yrs)Yes (25 yrs)Long-term

Yes (fight drought & desertification)Yes (fight drought & desertification)

Reduce vulnerability & increase adaptability to CC

No, but is part of existing forest policy programme

No, but is part of existing forest policy programme

Clear CC policy objective

Organized commercial firewood exploitation (BF)

Modified Taungya System (Ghana)

Elements of an adaptation strategy

Conclusion• Although they are both important, neither forest access nor ownership is a

silver bullet solution for increasing the adaptation of socio-ecological systems.

• Considering a suite of FEGS under a specific governance context, forest resource types, locations and temporal scales can help forest-related decision making on adaptation planning.

• Finding the right incentives for forest policy and governance reforms for promoting adaptation requires flexibility rather than steadfastness on only one type of reform.

• Focusing on access to resources could pay more dividends in the short and medium term for adaptation, meanwhile, ownership of resources could provide the leverage for sustainability of the adaptation actions in the long term and to future climate scenarios.

Acknowledgement

•Stakeholders•EU for funding•Partners and collaborators•Colleagues & Students

Thank youCenter for International Forestry Research

www.cifor.cgiar.org