I take pleasure in introducing this report, which conveys private sector views on factors affecting private sector investment in Sustainable Forest Management (SFM). The report seeks to better understand how this important stakeholder group can be encouraged to play a more central role in SFM. It is one of the results of a workshop held in Oslo in January 2001 that was organised by the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) in support of the recently launched United Nations Forum on Forests (UNFF). The Oslo workshop brought together experts from governmental, academic, and civil society backgrounds to discuss financing for...
The quest for sustainable forest management (SFM), like that for overall sustainable development, has lofty motives. It is important that the ultimate goals be achieved, but many developing countries and countries with economies in transition need international financial, technological and capacity building support if they are to do so. How can they secure this support from the international community? This question has vexed policy makers engaged in dialogue under the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Forests (IPF) and Intergovernmental Forum on Forests (IFF) processes; it will continue to do so under the United Nations Forum on Forests (UNFF) launched in...
The objective of this report is to outline the extent of the private sector investment in SFM in humid tropical Africa. In order to meet this objective, the report is broken down into the following five sections:
Introduction.
The second section outlines the importance of the private sector in the region and its historical development. The most important points noted are the importance of the forestry industry to countries national incomes, as an employer and in the provision and upkeep of local infrastructures. The dominance of large trans-national companies is noted in terms of their positive role in the above...
Sustainable forest management (SFM) has too many benefits which are not enjoyed by the private sector alone, therefore the public sector is a critical partner in implementing SFM. In Asia, the timber business currently faces critical commercial problems like market saturation, weak demand and market failures. These problems create the following concerns: (1) SFM needs both private and public sector involvement, (2) international markets have yet to recognise SFM, (3) tropical against temperate timber, and (4) pivotal role of planted forests. These concerns can be addressed if the United Nations Forum on Forests (UNFF) creates a new fund specially for...
South America is a large continent and most of its land is still covered by forests. As in other parts of the world, countries of the region have for many years considered forests as an obstacle to development and to have relatively low economic importance.
The total forested area in Latin America is around 880 million ha. Most of it is natural forest located in Brazil, Peru, Bolivia and Argentina. Forest plantation area is relatively small, only 8.8 million ha, but the plantations have an important contribution to the socio- economic development of the region.
Most forest plantations, which are...
Latin America is an important forestry region at present as well as having great potential for the future. In line with a worldwide trend of growing sensitivity towards the multiple values of forests, their conservation and development have become an issue of increasing concern in the region. Many countries have considered sustainable forest management (SFM) among their development policies. In addition, the region, as in other parts of the world, has seen the evolution of a powerful and influential segment of Non-Governmental Organisations (NGO’s) seeking to promote forest conservation, which acts and has an influence on the public and on...
This document by Peter Mertz was originally in POWERPOINT. In the conversion to WORD, some editing has been done to unify the text but the bullet points format has generally been left as it was. Some charts have been converted into tables. The presentation communicated the following among its key messages:
Sustainable timber development will be required globally to meet society’s future needs for wood.
Low impact harvesting of indigenous tropical forests can only provide part of these needs.
Plantations offer more promise for addressing these needs as well as social, environmental and economic aspirations.
An introduction to UBS Timber...
Forests provide many ecological and environmental services that are unrecognised by financial markets. Yet recent research indicates that if these services were priced, their value could contribute substantially to achieving sustainable forest management. The recognition by the Kyoto Protocol of a limited role for forests in efforts to address climate change has provided a foundation for innovation and commercial development of a market for an environmental service from forests. The conceptual work is now expanding to include potential markets for the recovery of land degradation and the conservation of biodiversity. However, the challenges in establishing these new ‘environmental infrastructure’ funds...
A case study of the South African plantation forestry sector is presented. Plantation forests make up a large majority of the country’s forested area in South Africa and the country’s experience provides useful insights into ways in which private sector investment in commercial plantations can contribute to sustainable forest management (SFM).
The main mechanisms through which the private sector has steered investment towards SFM in the country have been through plantation certification and the promotion of out-grower schemes. Certification has been widely adopted in the country (the country has the world’s largest area of certified plantations) and has been a...
Chapter 9 is a composite one, consisting of four sub-chapters. The first, on certification, is the full paper by Muthoo (Forest Stewardship Council). It addresses an activity that almost all the regional papers from Africa, Asia and Latin America referred to as important but which they saw as a cost-raising factor while also helping to defend market shares, with the possibility of aiding the capture of additional markets. The other three chapters are not the full papers prepared for the Oslo Workshop; only the sections most relevant to the private sector have been extracted and constitute the chapters in this...
The paper addresses the following questions related to expanded private investment in sustainable forest management (SFM): (i) What is the nature and magnitude of private investment in forest management and utilisation? (ii) What is SFM and where and why do we need expanded private investment in SFM in the future? (iii) Why are the needed levels of investment not taking place spontaneously? What are the constraints - the market, policy and other institutional failures that need to be corrected? (iv) What are the most appropriate policy mechanisms to use to overcome the constraints?
Many types of private investment are relevant...
