Biodiversity Offsets Toolkit and Sourcebook

CHALLENGE

In many African countries, native forests are under pressure from rapidly-spreading roads, dams and other infrastructure, as well as the allocation of large forest areas to mining, commercial agriculture, and other non-forest uses. Biodiversity offsets are one of the tools available to address such pressures. Offsets can be used to strengthen protected areas of similar or greater conservation value than the area lost to specific projects. The driving impetus for such offset schemes is usually biodiversity protection, although the associated conservation areas provide additional ecosystem services such as soil and water conservation, flood mitigation, and habitat for sustainably exploitable fisheries. In an era of often flat -- and sometimes declining -- governmental support for forest conservation in general and protected areas in particular, biodiversity offsets provide an underutilized opportunity to mobilize substantial new funding from public infrastructure accounts as well as the private sector.

Biodiversity offsets are not a panacea, nor are they always the best tool available for achieving forest conservation. As part of the “mitigation hierarchy” underpinning the World Bank’s Safeguard Policies and the IFC’s Performance Standards, offsets are considered a last resort, after efforts to avoid, minimize, and restore any significant damage to forests or other natural habitats. Nonetheless, given that many infrastructure, extractive, and other large-scale projects have an inherently large footprint, a biodiversity offset scheme may be warranted (and required by some funding entities).

A key challenge is systematizing and scaling-up biodiversity offsets through a national or other aggregated offset approach in order to overcome limitation like: (i) the high transaction costs often borne by each separate project; (ii) sub-optimal selection of conservation offset areas due to uncoordinated, ad-hoc approaches; and (iii) insufficient participation and ownership by governmental authorities in arrangements negotiated primarily between large private firms and conservation NGOs. The cumulative impacts of multiple (including smaller-scale) projects could also be more effectively addressed through an aggregate offset approach.

APPROACH
 

Under this activity, the team produced a Biodiversity Offsets User Guide containing key information about biodiversity offsets that practitioners should know about, with references provided where readers could obtain further information. Three case studies of reasonably successful biodiversity offsets were added to the User Guide as annexes. The case studies involved two private sector mining projects (in Liberia and Madagascar) and one World Bank-supported hydropower project (in Cameroon). These case studies are intended to show readers how the concepts explained in the User Guide can realistically be applied to achieve positive results on the ground. 

In addition, in response to a strong expression of interest from the Government of Mozambique, this activity also provided legal technical assistance for incorporating biodiversity offsets into the Government’s official Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) process. Two reports were produced: (i) An analysis of Mozambican environmental legislation with respect to the use of biodiversity offsets; and (ii) a draft revision of the actual EIA regulations.

Finally, two pilot Country Roadmaps were completed to assess the potential for large-scale biodiversity offset systems in Liberia and Mozambique. The Roadmaps are intended as preliminary country examinations of legal and regulatory frameworks, national policies, land use plans, financial structures, and other relevant information.

RESULTS

The research team found that multiple detailed publications already exist about the details and controversies of biodiversity offsets, but that a concise reference with practical advice on how actually to do them was still lacking. This is the void that the Biodiversity Offsets User Guide seeks to fill.

The Liberia Biodiversity Offsets Roadmap emphasizes industrial-scale mining. Since adequate funding for Liberia’s protected areas remains a challenge, biodiversity offsets offer the potential for improved financial sustainability. The Liberia Roadmap outlines a series of steps for scaling-up biodiversity offsets in Liberia; among the most important is the establishment of a national Conservation Trust Fund to enable the reliable and transparent transfer of funds from extractive firms to priority Protected Areas. The new Liberia Forest Sector (REDD+) Project, approved in April 2016 with support from the World Bank and Government of Norway, provides a vehicle for moving forward the Roadmap’s key recommendations.

In Mozambique, existing Conservation Areas (CAs) cover about 26% of the country’s land area, and encompass most types of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. However, most are seriously underfunded. The Mozambique Biodiversity Offsets Roadmap (also available in Portuguese) proposes using Mozambique’s BioFund to transfer biodiversity offsets funding from infrastructure and extractive industry projects to selected CAs that are ecologically similar to the project-affected areas. Implementation has begun of the Roadmap’s recommendations, through the Government’s recently revised Environmental Impact Assessment Regulations.

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Author : World Bank Africa Region
Last Updated : 07-18-2024

Impact of Artisanal and Small Scale Mining in Protected Areas

CHALLENGE
 

Artisanal and small scale mining (ASM) is an important source of income for millions of poor people around the world. The past decade has seen increasing numbers of individuals and households turn to ASM, and this trend is likely to grow in the face of high mineral prices, population growth, poverty and climate change. Because ASM activities contribute to poverty reduction in remote rural areas, efforts to simply eradicate the activity tend to fail.

However ASM tends to  destroy and degrade forest ecosystems (through habitat destruction, the use of toxic chemicals, pollution of waterways, etc) and threatens the practices on which mining populations depend (for example, gathering firewood, bushmeat hunting, timbering for construction, etc). It is also a growing driver for internal migration and colonization of frontier forest lands that may lead to permanent land clearance.

APPROACH
 

With PROFOR support, the World Bank's Africa regional staff contracted WWF and Estelle Levin Ltd to conduct studies in Liberia and Gabon to analyze the impacts of artisanal mining activities on high-value natural landscapes and the people who live nearby. Drawing lessons from the assessment of two national parks (Ndangui in Gabon and Sapo National Park in Liberia) and existing literature on succesful park management, the case studies, the global solutions study and the methodolgical toolkit offer recommendations on how to reconcile socio-economic development based on artisanal mining and preservation of important ecological sites.

MAIN FINDINGS

The study looked at 36 countries and found that artisanal and small scale mining was taking place either inside or along the borders of 96 out of 147 protected areas in those countries. In the end, the project looked in more depth at experiences in three countries: Liberia, Gabon and Madagascar (case study is forthcoming) -- see videoclip for findings.

It concluded that military efforts to permanently remove illegal miners from protected areas were not sustainable in the long run (particularly if a source of minerals is well known), and that other solutions could help breach a compromise between conservation goals and mining activities:

• For example, there are potential opportunities to develop sustainable mining through a sustainable supply chain approach, notably in Gabon where miners do not use mercury to extract gold.
• Short of eviction, co-existence and degazetting parts of protected areas are also options that allow negotiated access to mineral resources.
• Although replacing artisanal and small scale mining with large-scale operations may be attractive from a government regulation point of view, they do not offer the same number of jobs that smaller operations do.

The Methodological Toolkit has been designed to help users:
 1.Rapidly assess and map environmental, social and economic impacts of Artisanal and Small-scale Mining,with a particular focus on protected areas, critical ecosystems and vulnerable groups.
 2.Identify potential solutions and alternative approaches through assessment of past efforts (both successes and failures) to address the identified short- and long-term environmental impacts.
 3.Identify and develop measures that can produce concrete improvements in critical ecosystems through sustainable solutions that reduce the environmental and social damage caused by ASM, while building on its economic, social, and empowerment potential.

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Author : WWF, Fauna and Flora International, and Estelle Levin Ltd, for the World Bank Africa Region.
Last Updated : 06-16-2024

Forest-Smart Strategies Are Taking Off

By Werner Kornexl

The more we know about our rapidly changing environment, climate, and demographics, the more we learn about how critical forests are for our resilience, overall wellbeing, livelihoods, and economies. Unfortunately, in a world of budgetary constraints and competing interests, governments face increasingly complex decisions when it comes to supporting different sector priorities. The solution is to move away from the traditional approach of sectors operating in isolation or in competition with one another, and more towards an integrated win-win approach. But how?

There is, in fact, increasing evidence that thinking across sectors makes the most convincing business case for forests and for sustainable economic growth, job creation, and poverty alleviation, all at the same time. At the World Bank’s Program on Forests (PROFOR), this cross-sectoral thinking is called “forest smart.” At its core, the forest-smart approach entails maximizing the benefits from development investments, while minimizing the negative impacts to forests and forest biodiversity (See more about this in PROFOR’s 2016 Annual Report and the World Bank’s Forest Action Plan).

The case for a combined forest conservation-and-production approach becomes even stronger as we see the performance of other sectors being affected as a result of environmental stress caused by deforestation. For example, traditional agricultural production and hydropower generation are under growing pressure from unsustainable practices, leading to further temperature increases, and extreme precipitation patterns. Recent PROFOR research even suggests that a downward spiral of droughts, vulnerability to fire, and improper land-use practices could lead to a point of no return for the Amazon rainforest - with likely devastating implications for water resources, crop production, and people’s ways of life across an entire continent.

At the same time, there are already some powerful financial arguments for why other sectors should not only think about forests when planning their activities, but actively become forest champions. Consider the energy sector: in China, maintaining a forested watershed significantly reduces sedimentation around the Three Gorges River hydropower plant, resulting in savings of $40 million every year. Forest-smart thinking is also relevant in the water sector, where the economics of water supply speak a clear language. New York City, for example, saves $1 billion annually in water filtration costs by managing forests in the Catskills watershed, while Jakarta relies on Bogor’s forests for the city’s water supply and to control floods. And in the field of disaster risk management, governments increasingly recognize the value of including forests and mangroves, since grey infrastructure alone is unlikely to be either feasible or economically viable. In Vietnam, for instance, mangrove preservation avoids $7 million a year in flood prevention costs. In these and many other situations, forests may not have been the first consideration, but they ultimately provide the greatest co-benefits over the long-term.     

In a sign of growing momentum, the forest-smart concept is being taken up in different fora. The latest meeting of the United Nations Forum on Forests (UNFF12), for example, included inspiring discussions on how forests can contribute to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – not just the ones focused on forests and ecosystems, but also the ones linked to poverty, energy, food security, health, and water. In addition, the first-ever UN Strategic Plan on Forests, approved in January of this year, is a long-awaited and necessary step in linking forest services to other SDGs, and promoting cross-sectoral cooperation and financing for sustainable forest management.

The World Bank is resolutely supporting these efforts, not just through its overarching corporate commitments (ending extreme poverty and boosting shared prosperity, in a sustainable and inclusive manner), but also through direct initiatives like the new Atlas of Sustainable Development Goals, which tracks countries’ progress towards the SDGs and their related targets. The World Bank also supports more and more governments in applying forest-smart principles within larger landscape operations. This is the case in Indonesia and Mozambique, for instance, where land tenure, agroforestry, forest management, and forest conservation activities are harmonized under one landscape umbrella.

At PROFOR, we are committed to translating the forest-smart concept into actionable solutions, making it as straightforward as possible for policymakers and experts in different sectors to see forests as a viable and desirable component of their work programs. Our work includes:

• A PROFOR activity in the Republic of Congo resulted in an informed and participatory process that helped the government to better understand the economic, social, and environmental trade-offs of mining activities, and to work across ministries to align development initiatives.
• In Brazil, PROFOR and the BioCarbon Fund supported research into renewable charcoal production to help meet energy needs in the steel sector while reducing pressures on native forests.
• In Jamaica, ongoing research on the costal protection services provided by mangroves aims to guide government investment decisions around infrastructure, tourism, and fisheries.
• PROFOR’s activity on poverty is looking to tease out whether forests can provide not only a safety net for the poor, but also a pathway out of poverty.

The growing momentum for forest-smart strategies is encouraging and timely. Some 13 million hectares of forest are being lost every year, and many habitats are reaching critical tipping points, beyond which biodiversity and ecosystem services will be unable to recover. Whatever your professional sector, we can all play a role in being forest smart. But there is no time to waste – we must act now.

So what does forest-smart mean to you and your work? We look forward to your thoughts.  

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Last Updated : 06-16-2024

West Africa Forest Strategy

CHALLENGE
The Upper Guinea Forest, which covers six West African nations, is being severely threatened by commercial logging, slash-and-burn and plantation agriculture, weak governance, industrial-scale mining, and unsustainable bushmeat hunting.  Civil conflict adds a further strain when refugees turn to the forests for shelter and firewood.

At the same time, growing national interest in climate change and forest governance trade initiatives (REDD+, FLEGT) is encouraging radical re-thinking in fields such as timber supply and tree and land tenure. The importance of agriculture, energy security and mining to national growth strategies also has implications for forests, both positive and negative.

Development partners have the opportunity to generalize good practices and build regional capacity to confront the coming challenges in the West-Africa sub-region.

APPROACH
PROFOR supported an effort to analyze the forests sector in five countries (Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea (Conakry), Liberia and Sierra Leone) and define elements toward an effective West African forests strategy to ensure conservation and sustainable use of forests, the maintenance of forest ecosystem services, and the fair and equitable allocation of revenues and benefits from forest resources.

RESULTS
"Toward a West African Forests Strategy" was published in draft form in April 2011. It is based on five country studies and a synthesis of regional forests sector issues. Elements from this draft strategy will inform the World Bank's future work on forests for Africa and should be helpful to a variety of development partners and forest stakeholders in defining priority areas of support.

MAIN FINDINGS
Among the country level issues which could benefit from policy support, the report singles out: 

• restructuring of forest industry to promote value addition and foster economic growth;
• improving forest governance and public finance management;
• balancing supply and demand issues in export and domestic markets and addressing the issue of ‘illegal’ chainsaw logging;
• support for small and medium forest enterprises and community forestry;
• reforming tree and land tenure so as to favour forest conservation and regeneration;
• reforming revenue sharing arrangements and channelling these so that these provide incentives to farmers and land owners; 
• integrating REDD+ and other climate actions into forest policy;
• and improving the sustainability of rural energy (wood fuel & charcoal).

Some of the  primarily sub-regional issues identified in the strategy include:

• improving the governance of cross border trade in a context of FLEGT, and helping to harmonize sub-regional trade policies; 
• enhancing the geographical information and forest inventory data available for sub-regional policy making and trade controls;
• institutional capacity building to support sub-regional policy coherence;
• investing in the cross-border dimensions of protected area management;
• and developing awareness of the extra-sectoral implications of forest policies across the sub-region.

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Author : World Bank
Last Updated : 06-16-2024

The Role of Forestry in Low-carbon Growth Strategies

CHALLENGE

Many developing countries are proactively seeking to identify opportunities and related financial, technical, and policy requirements to move towards "green growth" on a low-carbon path. With the support of ESMAP, the multi-donor Enegery Sector Management Assistance Program hosted at the World Bank, selected pilot countries have initiated country-specific studies to assess their development goals and priorities, in conjunction with GHG mitigation opportunities, and examine the additional costs and benefits of lower carbon growth. For some of these pilot countries, addressing issues in the forest and land-use sector play an important role for developing low-carbon growth strategies. Because results have been provided until now in an aggregate manner, a detailed analysis of the forestry and land-use sector have not been separately presented. However, such an analysis would provide important information and guidance to develop low-carbon growth strategies for many other countries where forestry and land-use change are key GHG emissions sources. Such knowledge will be especially important for guiding work in developing countries financed by the World Bank, one of the most important implementing institutions of new programs promoting sustainable forest management for GHG mitigation (FCPF, FIP, BioCF, UN-REDD, etc.)

APPROACH

PROFOR will finance ESMAP's effort to produce a policy brief analyzing the role of forests and forest management for developing and implementing low-carbon growth strategies, including financing options related to low-carbon growth.  While the policy brief will build on experience and data analyses already undertaken in key pilot countries (Mexico, Indonesia, Brazil), they will provide general guidance on the integration of forestry in low-carbon growth strategies beyond the case study examples.

The policy brief is expected to serve decision makers and World Bank operations "task team leaders" in developing and implementing forestry-based low-carbon growth strategies for countries with significant GHG emissions from the forestry sector.

RESULTS

This activity is ongoing. Results will be shared on this page when they become available.

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Author : Energy Sector Management Assistance Program ESMAP 
Last Updated : 06-16-2024

Targeting Watershed Rehabilitation Investments in Turkey

CHALLENGE

The Government of Turkey has become a global leader in the fight against soil erosion, by making extensive investments in rehabilitating degraded landscapes.  With support from the World Bank, poor communities in upland catchments have been engaged in developing and implementing a program of watershed rehabilitation.  This integrated approach has succeeded in helping to tackle the problem of poverty in these communities.  It has also succeeded as a model for rural service delivery by providing a platform for multiple government institutions to work together to be responsive to locally identified constraints and needs.

One weakness of the approach, however, is that the selection of the most critical catchments for investment in land rehabilitation activities remains somewhat subjective.  The current choice of investments which seek to balance the need to rehabilitate badly degraded areas with prevalence of rural poverty and areas hard-hit by urban migration are based largely on perceptions.

APPROACH

This project seeks to identify land degradation hot spots in Turkey, and, working with available datasets on wealth and poverty in Turkey, overlay these with information on where the poorest households are most vulnerable to the problem of land degradation.

The findings will be useful for the Ministry of Environment and Forestry to better target its already extensive investments in watershed rehabilitation on the most critical areas in Turkey where land degradation is both a serious problem and where problems of poverty are most severe and improve the efficiency of public spending on watershed rehabilitation.

The findings will also be linked to ongoing national policy and institutional processes, to complement Turkey’s Action Plan for Combating Deforestation, the measures outlined in the 9th National Development Plan which focus on reducing land degradation, and institutional measures which are expected to complement Turkey’s efforts with respect to accession to the European Union.

RESULTS

This activity is ongoing. Findings will be shared on this page when they become available. You can also follow us on twitter (twitter.com/forestideas) or subscribe to our mailing list for regular updates.   

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Author : ISRIC World Soil Information and Wageningen UR
Last Updated : 06-16-2024

Taking tree-based ecosystem approaches to scale

CHALLENGE
 

Land management approaches that use trees have led to an increase in yields and income, an increase in climate resilience, and more carbon sequestration than conventional approaches (thus yielding a ‘triple win’). These tree-based systems (TBS) can assist in improving food security and resilience because they contribute to soil productivity, water availability and genetic variability. They also ensure the overall robustness and resilience of an agricultural system to external shocks. With appropriate policy conditions, these tree-based systems can also assist in diversifying the income portfolio, especially when trees on farms can be sold for timber or firewood. Examples include the planting of the nitrogen-fixing tree Faidherbia albida, which has been shown to double maize yields in Malawi. The same species is being grown on millions of hectares of cropland throughout Niger at densities of up to 200 trees per hectare, which has tripled the yields of the crops growing beneath them. Few of these ‘triple win’ systems, however, have been replicated at scale.
 

APPROACH

This activity aimed to strengthen the application of TBEA policies in African countries. This involved: (i) examining how existing TBS contribute to enhancing food security and mitigating climate change; (ii) identifying appropriate policy and institutional measures to scale up such approaches; and (iii) improving our knowledge of how agents’ preferences, biophysical characteristics, resource endowments, market incentives, and risk and uncertainty influence the adoption of TBS.

RESULTS

The key outputs from the project are:

1. A state-of-knowledge report done in partnership with Ecoagriculture, IFPRI, WRI, CATIE, and ICRAF. The report reviewed over 100 examples of TBS and found that only a small subset of the case studies had quantitative evidence on how these systems generate a triple win (i.e., increased carbon sequestration, improved food security, and income for resilience to weather events). Moreover, while several studies examined the motivations for adoption and offered evidence of how adoption at scale could be achieved, few had looked at adoption that was already occurring at scale and traced the reasons behind these trends. Findings from the review informed an expert meeting on the conditions for scaling up TBS. The report was also disseminated at the Landscapes Forum in Warsaw (a side event at the 2013 UNFCCC COP) and presented at the World Agroforestry Conference in New Delhi in February 2014.

2. Country studies for Malawi and Rwanda that include analysis of primary household data, done in partnership with ICRAF and WRI.

   The Rwanda study found that the country’s environment is suffering from land degradation, soil erosion, deforestation, loss of biodiversity, and pollution, mainly due to agricultural expansion, livestock farming and unsustainable fuel wood extraction. TBS mainly include agroforestry systems managed by smallholders. The study found that sustained adoption of TBS at scale is only guaranteed if communities collectively recognize tangible benefits such as provisions of fuel and bean stakes, and compatibility with the sustainable intensification of existing farming system, supported by favorable tenure, market, and institutional conditions.

   The Malawi study focused on farmer managed natural regeneration (FMNR) approaches because of their low-cost nature and few constraints. The spontaneous scale-up of FMNR in Malawi has been driven by many factors, including declining soil fertility and agricultural production. The study estimated that Malawi could save $71 million per year as part of its Farm Input Subsidy Program (FISP) if participating farmer intercropped maize with Gliricidia trees.

3. A brief on the Malawi country report;
4. A synthesis report on the framework for scaling up, which drew heavily on the World Resources Institute’s diagnostic for forest restoration and the work conducted by Linn and Hannmann on scaling up; and

5. A PowerPoint presentation (with voice-over).

   In order to raise awareness about the extent of trees on agricultural landscapes, this project sought to engage and reach development partners and the government counterparts throughout the implementation process. Workshops were successfully conducted, and countries are applying the results. In Malawi, these results will inform the national landscape restoration assessment and strategy/action plan. They will also inform discussions on how a watershed-based comprehensive approach to scaling-up TBS might be pursued through upcoming World Bank support to Malawi, in connection to the FISP in particular.

   For stories and updates on related activities, follow us on Twitter and Facebook, or subscribe to our mailing list for regular updates

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Author : Diji Chandrasekharan Behr (PROFOR), Ecoagriculture Partners, WRI, ICRAF
Last Updated : 06-16-2024

Sustainable Use of Natural Resources in Indonesia

APPROACH
 

This project was carried out by CSIRO with support from PROFOR and AUSAID as a part of an ongoing project (Developing Tools for Modeling the Impacts of Macro-economic Policies on Local Livelihoods and Natural Resources).
 

RESULTS

The main output of the project is an Agent-Based Modeling (ABM) tool that could potentially lead to a better understanding of the linkages between forests, livelihoods, and national policies, and could also be used to investigate questions of interest to planning, management, and budgeting agencies concerned with natural resources management and sustainability.  

During this particular project in East Kalimantan, Indonesia, PROFOR supported a survey of 3,000 households across six districts in the southern half of the province and detailed interviews of 540 households in the area, and funded analytical and descriptive work as well as activities that strengthened collaboration with stakeholders from government and civil society.  

The household survey was designed to provide data about household use of a range of natural resources as well as information about the values that people place on them.  Household interviews were used to identify households’ changes in natural resource use in response to rising energy prices.  While designed largely to develop behavioral response functions as a base for the agent-based model, the survey provides valuable stand-alone information.   A key finding from the survey is the high proportion of households that use or value natural resources in the study area. 

Based on the workshop response, regional policy makers are now engaged in the modeling process from the ground up. They anticipate that the agent-based model will benefit local governments (specifically the provincial level economic development planning agency (Bappeda) by providing an analytical tool for understanding the consequences of macro-policy decisions on dynamics within a region.  The model is spatially explicit, enabling users to analyze economic, social and environmental dynamics between and within districts. It provides a tool for regional planning in the context of macro-policy decisions and will quantify results in diagrams, and visualize results in maps.

A baseline analysis of users’ impressions and project impact (May 2008) found that policy makers were engaged in the process, interested in the results, and ready to commit staff time to apply the models and incorporate findings into NR planning processes. 

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Author : CSIRO, AUSAID, PROFOR
Last Updated : 06-16-2024

Mobilizing Private Investment in Trees and Landscape Restoration in Africa

CHALLENGE
Growing demand for food, fuel and other commodities, coupled with natural resource scarcity, has created an urgent need to produce more with less. Intensified production on farmed land in the tropics will be necessary to protect intact ecosystems from conversion and reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD), and most ongoing efforts to prepare national REDD+ strategies have rightly acknowledged this potential.

A range of agroforestry and landscape restoration practices can respond to this intensification challenge, increasing soil fertility and crop productivity very significantly, often by an order of two to three times compared to current yields in many parts of the tropics. Agroforestry farming systems and more intensive tree planting and management systems can also act as a safety net for rural families during times of environmental stress, and provide a wide range of timber, fuels and non wood forest products. Arguably, no other form of agricultural land use can potentially lock up more carbon per hectare of cropland than farm forestry and agroforestry making these technologies the ideal vector for addressing both food security and climate change in overpopulated and degraded landscapes.

Yet, despite the very considerable body of on-farm experience which has been gained in agroforestry and other tree-based technologies, investment in these approaches has been lagging. The challenge ahead is not so much a shortage of scientific knowledge about suitable agroforestry or more intensive farm forestry systems, but rather a lack of understanding of farmers’ specific constraints to adoption, and deficiencies in policy support and investments to scale up already well proven techniques.

APPROACH
Building on PROFOR's past experience with Investment Forums in Africa, PROFOR organized with a number of partners a new investment forum hosted by the World Agroforestry Centre in Nairobi, Kenya. Gathering representatives of leading private sector financial institutions, forest and agribusiness companies, non-governmental organizations. national forest associations and high level national government policy leaders, the Forum helped to identify immediate investment opportunities, to discuss the main constraints to investment and to identify policy and institutional reforms needed to overcome those constraints, as well as mechanisms to help create an enabling climate for accelerated private sector investment.

MAIN POLICY MESSAGES

• Policies and institutions need to be reoriented to ensure that investments in trees and landscape restoration are addressed in the decentralization agenda.
• Improving value-addition at the local level can increase incentives for better management of landscapes and trees in farming systems.
• Payments for environmental services can help.  Markets for environmental services from trees and from better managed farming landscapes are potentially important for carbon sequestration, for biodiversity conservation, for tourism, for and watershed management.
• Forest organizations need to be revitalized.
• Rural development efforts should work across sectors to encourage synergies.
• Policies that support good governance encourage private investment.
• Conversely, policies that improve land, water and tree governance can minimize the risks of large-scale land acquisitions.

RESULTS
Besides a very successful forum which was attended by 100 participants in Nairobi in May 2011, this activity yielded a collection of background papers available on this page and an Overview piece for distribution at Forest Day 5. The theme is also resonant with the World Bank and development partners' growing interest in climate-smart agriculture.  

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Author : PROFOR with the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF), the World Bank Group, IUCN, Ecoagriculture Partners and TerrAfrica.
Last Updated : 06-16-2024

Policies and Incentives for Managing the Miombo Woodlands of Southern Africa

CHALLENGE
The miombo woodlands cover 2.4 million km2 in Southern Africa, stretching from Angola to Mozambique. They are the most extensive tropical seasonal woodland and dry forest in Africa. Because they cover such a large area, the miombo woodlands hold large amounts of carbon. And although they are less diverse than moist tropical forests, they are home to elephant, rhino, and other animals and to thousands of species of plants, a high proportion of which are endemic. But just as important, for around 100 million residents the woodlands offer resources such as firewood, building material, wild foods, medicine, and fertilizer and places for grazing and beekeeping.

For the poorest of these residents, these multiple resources are a safety net, providing the necessities of life. Many factors hamper the woodlands’ management: the technical complexity of providing for multiple uses, the economics of low margins and weak markets, irrelevant institutions, and poorly crafted policies and laws.

APPROACH
In 2007-2008, PROFOR supported a study on the miombo woodlands, exploring policies, incentives and options for the rural poor. The ongoing public debate about the value of forests and woodlands in the face of climate change provides an important opportunity to revisit policies, incentives and options for managing the miombo woodlands in ways which benefit the rural poor in the context of a changing climate, growing food insecurity, and increasing demand for woodfuel and charcoal. An updated, peer reviewed version of this study (available as a PDF on this page) will be launched on December 1, 2011 in Durban, South Africa at the Dry Forests Symposium organized by CIFOR and sponsored by Norway, the European Union and PROFOR.

RESULTS
Ths study identied four necessary components of reform:  

• Policies and institutions must embrace decentralization and devolution.
• To encourage good management, governments must foster markets for the local products and services that good management can produce.
• Forestry organizations must switch their emphasis from regulation of use to delivery of services, empowering local people to become better woodland users and managers.
• Planners must keep in mind the cost of deforestation and degradation to rural populations.

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Author : Peter A. Dewees, Bruce M. Campbell, Yemi Katerere, Almeida Sitoe, Anthony B. Cunningham, Arild Angelsen, Sven Wunder.
Last Updated : 06-16-2024