Global and Regional Forest Land Tenure System In-depth review

Don Gilmour, David Cassells, Tint ThaungKunming, July 7 2010

CONTENTS

• TRENDS

• KEY ISSUES

• PRINCIPLES

• PROCESS

TRENDS

• Significant and radical changes in forest tenure arrangement during past two decades

• State ownership and management still dominate but

• A significant move towards ownership, management rights to households, communities, indigenous groups and others

OWNERSHIP TREND

Figure 4-5. Change of forest ownership (1990-2005)

0.0

500000.0

1000000.0

1500000.0

2000000.0

2500000.0

3000000.0

3500000.0

World

public 1990

public 2005

private 1990

private 2005

OWNERSHIP

Figure 4-2. Ownership by region 2005

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

Eastern and Southern Africa

Northern Africa

Western and Central Africa

East Asia

South and South-east Asia

Western and Central Asia

Europe

Europe - Russia

Caribbean

Central America

North America

South America

Oceania

World

Sum of Public

Sum of Private

Sum of Others

MANAGEMENT TREND

0.0

100000.0

200000.0

300000.0

400000.0

500000.0

600000.0

700000.0

800000.0

900000.0

1000000.0

Africa Asia Europe North and Central

America

South America Europe - Russia

state 1990

state 2005

individuals 1990

individuals 2005

corporate 1990

corporate 2005

communities 1990

communities 2005

KEY ISSUES

• Overlap between customary and state defined area• Gender imbalance• Need investment of time and resources from key stakeholders• Fraught with many risks and uncertainties, and frequently leads to

unintended consequences• Lack of Good governance that is critical to achieving forest management

objectives • Lack of an enabling and enforcing regulatory framework• Complex compliance procedures• Technical complexity• Historical, Social, cultural, economic and political uniqueness of each

country• Limited knowledge about rights and responsibilities of key stakeholdersEMERGING• Growing demand on SFM and legally traded timber• Multiple functions of the Forests particularly for Climate change mitigation

PRINCIPLES

1. Holistic approach2. Tenure Security3. Regulatory Framework4. Compliance Procedure5. Minimum standards for forest

management6. Customary rights and systems7. Governance8. Social equity9. Capacity building10.Adaptive action learning approach to

forest tenure reform

WIDER APPROACH

Governance

Tenure

Regulatory Framework

Forest Management Objectives

(e.g. SFM, economic development,

improved livelihoods, rights of indigenous

peoples, etc.)

KEY ELEMENTS OF PROCESS OF TENURE REFORM

• Analyse contexts

• Determine new or revised objectives for forest management in

the contemporary political and development context

• Consider tenure models to achieve forest management

objectives

• Revise/reform regulatory framework

• Modify governance arrangements to support the reformed

regulatory framework

• Analyse regulatory framework applied to other sectors

• Review implementation experiences

• Support implementation of reformed tenure arrangements

• Raise awareness of reformed tenure arrangements

• Build capacity of key stakeholders

TAKE HOME NOTES

• Forest Tenure Reform is a process not a static

• Complex and diversifying tenure systems

• Tenure reform has a human right perspective not only

biophysical and economic

• Learning by doing (Action research) and Adaptive Management

• Part of a national development agenda (wider approach)

• A key for the success of emerging REDD mechanism in climate

change mitigation and adaptation