Activity page
Reforming Forest Fiscal Systems
CHALLENGE
An active debate on concession policies and forest fiscal systems has taken place for a number of years. Several countries, encompassing a diverse range of forest types and associated industries, are implementing or considering new approaches to allocating rights to utilize forests. While their situations are different, in all cases the objective is to identify the practical ways to ensure that forests can be utilized sustainably and make a more positive contribution to national poverty reduction objectives (as defined in PRSPs or similar statement of policy) through stimulating growth and providing regular and enhanced revenue flows to governments.
APPROACH
In this context, the International Workshop on Reform of Forest Fiscal Systems took place October 19-21, 2003 at the World Bank in Washington DC. The workshop provided a valuable forum for frank discusion on the political economy of forest fiscal reform.
RESULTS
Over the course of the two-day workshop, participants discussed their experiences with such reform processes, focusing on lessons learned in how to manage the reform process and best practices for applying various forest fiscal instruments. Specifically, the Workshop focused on three key themes:
- How to define the mix of fiscal instruments and set the right levels?
- How to use revenues collected?
- How to manage the politics of forest fiscal reform processes?
Read workshop proceedings for more detail.
The following year, on May 3, 2004, PROFOR organized a side event at UNFF-4 on reforming forest fiscal systems. Representatives from Ghana and Brazil delivered updates on fiscal reform in their countries since the October 2003 workshop.
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Last Updated : 06-16-2024
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Related Links
Global Partnership on Forest Landscape Restoration
Attachments
Ghana national landcover map_0.pdf
Ghana FLR PRESENTATION PROFOR_0.pdf
Ghana FLR PROFOR final report 29 September_0.pdf
Keywords
Authors/Partners
IUCN, PROFOR, DFID, World Bank
Forest Landscape Restoration: Ghana
Assessment of forest landscape restoration potential in Ghana to contribute to REDD+ strategies for climate change mitigation, poverty alleviation and sustainable forest management
CHALLENGE
The negotiations on mitigating climate change have moved from a narrow focus on avoided deforestation to a broader approach to reduced emissions called "REDD+". The "plus" encompasses conservation, sustainable management of forests and enhancement of forest carbon stocks. The importance of forest landscape restoration in addressing climate change and other societal needs was brought home in November 2009 when the Global Partnership on Forest Landscape Restoration (GPFLR) concluded that more than 1 billion hectares of lost forests and degraded lands worldwide present restoration opportunities that could sequester significant amounts of carbon.
Ghana, a country where gradual degradation is more of a threat to tree cover than outright deforestation, is eager to assess and harness the potential of forest landscape restoration. It is an active participant in the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) and was chosen as a pilot country for the Forest Investment Program (FIP).
APPROACH
With support from PROFOR, IUCN and the UK government, the World Bank's Africa region lead the following analytical work in partnership with the GPFLR:
- Preliminary national assessment of forest landscape restoration (FLR) potential, including mapping, assessment of carbon potential and economic analysis
- Development of recommendations on the contribution of FLR within the national and global REDD+ debate and identification of opportunities for investment
- Development and dissemination of a methodology that could benefit other countries
The project was carried out in a participatory manner to ensure that the analysis is credible and has the support of multiple stake-holders.
RESULTS
The activity produced forest reserve cover maps indicating whether the forests are degraded or not, but did not deliver an assessment of the potential for forest landscape restoration nationwide. There was a strong interest in Ghana in assessing the degradation status of the forest reserves against a 1995 baseline. There was also an opportunity to gain experience comparing remotely sensed and ground-based information that could later be extended to other parts of the country.
The project generated a methodology for assessing forest degradation in Ghana as well as information showing that significant degradation had indeed taken place since the last systematic assessment carried out by Hawthorne and Abu-Juam in 1995.
The methodology for assessing forest degradation involved:
- Image acquisition and pre-processing (Landsat data between 1999 and 2010)
- Image classification (using Iterative Self-Organizing Data Analysis) and field validation to assess mapping accuracy
- Map composition and presentation
After the end of the PROFOR grant in September 2011, the work on forest landscape restoration assessment continued under the German-funded International Climate Initiative.
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Author : IUCN, PROFOR, DFID, World Bank
Last Updated : 06-15-2024
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Malcolm Childress, Senior Land Administration Specialist at the World Bank
Examining Land Management Policies in the Brazilian Amazon
CHALLENGE
There is enough land in the Amazon region to satisfy Brazilian society's demands for economic development, environmental management of a resource base of global importance and the challenges of agrarian reform. Yet Brazil has been unable to create a fully coherent and manageable land policy and administration system for the region which permits sustainable development goals to be achieved while reconciling special interests and uses. Instead, resource waste, private appropriation of the public domain and social conflict have characterized land relations in the region.
As the region becomes increasingly accessible for a variety of economic activities, and more central to Brazil's economy, the resolution of the land questions looms large as a foundational element for reconciling and ordering economic development, resource management and social priorities. A better understanding of the dynamics of land grabbing and land speculation as well as of the impact of current policies and of the institutions mandated to implement them could help to influence and design new policies to better manage the race for property rights in the Amazon.
APPROACH
Along with other donors, PROFOR helped finance a study focusing on land management policies in the Brazilian Amazon. The study was conducted by Malcolm Childress, Senior Land Administration Specialist at the World Bank.
FINDINGS
The study revealed that large-scale users, agrarian reformists, conservation interests, and others are racing to claim property rights in the Amazon. With illegal occupation, fraudulent and inconsistent land records, and flawed land laws, the resulting land administration is chaotic. Some actions have begun to bring more order to land administration. An effort to re-inspect and document land records, called recadastre, has uncovered illegal occupation, but is incomplete. Creation of new protected areas has slowed illegal occupation, however these areas still face threats of encroachment. And other factors contribute to the problem: the federal budget process gives land administration low priority and inconsistent support, with predictable results.
The study suggested the creation of a new social and political pact to reform land administration. The reformed system of administration would seek to reclaim illegally occupied lands, rationally identify and allocate lands suitable for agrarian reform, recognize and regularize rights of good-faith occupiers, and expand and consolidate protected areas. The pact would lead to local agreements among a broad range of interest groups and officials, backed by federal enforcement. The goal would be a fair, transparent, and workable allocation, recorded in a multipurpose land information system.
RESULTS
Some of the study's recommendations were reflected in a land regularization program which has brought more order in the Amazon.
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Author : Malcolm Childress, Senior Land Administration Specialist at the World Bank
Last Updated : 06-15-2024
Encouraging smallholder cocoa farmers to make forest-smart decisions
CHALLENGE
The expansion of agricultural commodity production is a key driver of deforestation in many countries, particularly with cocoa in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana, the world’s two largest cocoa producers. In Ghana, cocoa cultivation caused 27 percent of the total deforestation between 1990-2008. Climate change is also exacerbating deforestation by causing marked shifts in cocoa production levels and quality. Unfortunately, West Africa’s smallholder cocoa farmers are at the epicenter of the twin threats of deforestation and climate change. In Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana, nearly 2 million farmers till the lands of two to three hectares that produce 60 percent of the world’s cocoa. It is estimated that nearly 1.5 million existing cocoa farms require urgent and progressive renovation and/or rehabilitation of up to 4.5 million hectares of land. With the pressure to increase productivity through intensification, farmers turn to expanding the area of cocoa production to increase yield, which further drives deforestation.
In their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC’s), both Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire committed to decoupling deforestation from agriculture to mitigate climate change and promoting agroforestry and other climate smart practices, which also contribute to the countries’ REDD+ objectives. Achieving this, however, will require important structural changes to address a range of challenges, including the need for sustainable forest management, consistent production standards and practices, improved know-how and technologies among field practitioners, more financing directed at core issues, and more understanding of the barriers and distortions that prevent better practices from being widely adopted.
The World Bank is supporting engagement with the cocoa sector through a partnership with the World Cocoa Foundation (WCF), an alliance of cocoa producing companies committed to promoting a sustainable cocoa economy. PROFOR’s program seeks to leverage partnerships and building knowledge through an extensive stakeholder engagement process to address key challenges to enable cocoa sector actors to move toward sustainable forest smart and climate smart solutions.
APPROACH
PROFOR’s analytical work seeks to build knowledge on the following issues:
1) Finding common ground on climate smart cocoa value chains by working with the private sector;
2) Aligning efforts to address cocoa production as a driver of deforestation in Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire;
3) Describing funding options that can address challenges while moving toward forest smart and climate smart smallholder production methods; and
4) Aligning countries, multinationals, and local buying companies to support farmers in sustainable cocoa intensification that reduces expansionary pressure on remaining forest resources.
A White Paper will be produced that will focus on smallholder cocoa farmers in Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire. The paper will outline a menu of options that government agencies, development partners and cocoa sector businesses can employ to advance the following objectives:
- Keep smallholders engaged in sustainable cocoa production;
- Ensure that cocoa production / practices do not increase deforestation;
- Encourage rejuvenation of cocoa farms; and,
- Promote reforestation and afforestation for mixed agroforestry that diversifies both shade in the landscape and farmers’ income generating potential.
This White Paper will build on work already initiated through collaboration with WCF, Climate Focus, The Sustainable Trade Initiative (IDH), Prince of Wales ISU, and other relevant stakeholders.
RESULTS
This activity ended in August 2018. This effort produced a report focused on smallholder cocoa farmers in Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire and identified policy and investment opportunities for promoting climate smart, zero-deforestation cocoa production.
The report summarized options for rehabilitating West Africa’s aging cocoa stock and integrating shade-cocoa production into climate smart agroforestry mosaics. It advanced the stakeholder engagement process, contributed to cocoa sector action plans, and advanced thinking about how to finance these kinds of interventions. On-the-ground outcomes from the work are still being realized (and will take some time), but it is certain that it has influenced companies’ and countries’ cocoa action plans as well as the direction of their forward investment planning.
The report, published in December 2017, contributed to discussions of the Cocoa and Forest Initiative (https://www.idhsustainabletrade.com/initiative/cocoa-and-forests/) and to the UNFCCC COP23 in Bonn.
The report and the associated engagement process contributed options and ideas to inform the action agendas of countries, companies, and producers to support farmers in sustainable intensification of production – with the aim to improve livelihoods and reduce expansionary pressures on forests and the environment.
This work also supported a dialogue process and collaborative working relationships with the World Cocoa Foundation, Climate Focus, IDH, Prince of Wales ISU, and the governments of the two target countries. Through workshop discussions in the two countries (Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire), this activity brought together key policy makers (Ministries of Environment, Agriculture, Finance; cocoa parastatals; REDD+ implementation agencies) and cocoa producing and buying companies; the topics and suggestions in the paper were shared, refined and validated for further use in developing a Zero-Deforestation Roadmap and action plans for the cocoa sector (see WCF and IDH websites).
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Last Updated : 06-15-2024
