Sustainable forest management inCentral Africa - past, present, futurePeter Holmgren, Director-General CIFOR

Yaoundé 22 May 2013

Outline

Conference objectives and opportunitiesSFM in Central AfricaCIFOR and Central Africa 3 issues:

• Where to from here? Putting SFM in context• Taking the Landscape approach• Science and Policy

Vision

CIFOR vision:Forests (and Landscapes) on the agenda – their values recognized

Decisions that influence forests and people supported by solid

science and principles of good governance

How it started Founded in 1993 after Earth Summit in

Rio de Janeiro; 2013 is 20th Anniversary

Founding sponsors were Australia,Sweden, Switzerland and the US

Indonesia bid successfully to host CIFORheadquarters in Bogor

Cameroon Regional Office opened in 1995

Conference objectives

Evaluate the impact of research, laws and policy on SFM Identify knowledge gaps Enhance collaboration among research and policy

institutions Provide a forum for stakeholders and leaders on forest

management and governance Clarify role of Central African forests in handling climate

change Highlight progress over the past 20 years

Opportunities!

Strengthen the role of forestry in the broaderdevelopment agenda

New partnerships across old boundaries in theLandscape

Stimulate public and private investments

Progress of SFM in Central Africa

UNCED 1992 – milestone• 3 conventions and forest principles• Focused importance of region

Strengthened institutions• Regionally (CBFP, COMIFAC, CBFF)• and also Nationally

Certification and trade Capacity developmentBut also challenges: Poverty and unrest Low return on investments Infrastructure

CIFOR and Central AfricaLong and deep engagementCertificationManagement planningNon-Timber Forest ProductsDomestic timber marketsUniversity educationState of Forests of the CongoBasinCOMIFAC collaborationForest ObservatoryRegional and national partnersConferences, networks,dissemination, media training

Issue#1:

HowcanForestrycontinuetoberelevanttothebiggerpicture?

What defines our focus and priorities? Post-2015 development agenda

• Sustainable Development Goals• Poverty reduction

Food security aspirations, with increasing focus on• Nutrition and health• Climate-smart agriculture and food systems

Handling climate change mitigation and adaptation• Rural communities and land-based sectors

Maintaining biological diversity Green growth with equity

• Return on investments in a green economy

Forestry and the bigger picture

Politicalrelevance

Positivecontributions

Not onlyproblems

Poverty

Foodsecurity

Climatechange

Biodiversity

Greeneconomy

MDG

WFS

UNFCCC

CBD

Rio+20

SustainableDevelopment“Big5”

Forestry

Issue#2:

WeneedtheLandscapeapproachtofindcombinedsolutions

Silos and fragmentation

Agriculture

Forestry

Fisheries

Citie

s

Poverty

Biodiversity

Foodsecurity

Climatechange

Greeneconomy

MDG

WFS

UNFCCC

CBD

Rio+20

MDG1c MDG7a MDG7a MDG7dZerohunge

rnil CCRF FCIT

notyet REDD ? indirect

AWP FWP

tbd tbd tbd tbd

MWP ?

An approximate mapping ofmajor intergovernmental actionsand the land-based sectors Land‐

basedSectors

The“Big5”

Sustainable Landscape framework (proposed)- objectives and performance measures

• Landscapes are a large part ofsustainable development

• Combined solutions needed• Strengthens role of sectors• Local stakeholders in chargeFramework needs to be:• Easy to understand• Applicable everywhere• Applicable on any scale

Allmeasuresstableorimproving=SustainableLandscape

Global Landscape Forum

Warsaw 16-17 November 2013, at UNFCCC COP-19 Joins Forest and Agriculture Day Wide support from all key partners

Issue#3:

WeneedtostrengthentheScience‐Policylink.

WeneedEvidence‐basedForestry.

It is increasingly difficultto know what we know

Science does not provide the solutions

…but without science, good solutions will not be found…

Bestscience

Society’sneeds&

preferences

Expertopinion

EBF

Bewareofexperts’bias!

Evidence-based Forestry initiative

First tranche of key policy questions

• Impactsofbiofuelcropsonbiodiversity

• Gender,forests&foodsecurity

• Conceptsofsciencequality&researchevaluation

• Biodiversitybenefitsof“alternativelivelihood”projects

• Propertyrightsandtheenvironment

Nomoreissues.

Take home messages

Forestry contributes to broader developmentgoals – but this is often not well explained

Sustainable Landscapes can be part of a newdevelopment narrative

Our plans for the future must be evidence-based

Thank you for your attention!