C. Protection D. Production E. Conversion |
RECOMMENDATION 0 We recommend a period of facilitated active reflection on the analysis, recommendations and proposals set out in this report.
RECOMMENDATION 1 We recommend that there should be a single over-riding policy and policy process for the forest sector, ideally managed by a single Ministry/agency. This policy should be closely aligned to national goals of poverty reduction and embedded in national planning processes, such as the SEDP, GAP, NPRS and emerging MTEF.
RECOMMENDATION 2 We recommend that FA and DNCP are brought under the same roof through the establishment of a single Ministry or agency mandated with responsibility for an integrated forest sector policy.
RECOMMENDATION 3 We recommend the establishment of units in the new Ministry/Agency to support each of these functions:
· A process support unit. This would includes public consultation capacity, public relations to deal not only with advocacy groups, but also to develop a network or relationships with government at all levels
· An analytical support unit. This would commission and synthesise studies in order to develop an evidence-based understanding of the sector and the outcomes and incentives for the activities of different actors
· Intelligence and monitoring unit. This would be based on the existing model of the forest crime monitoring unit in FA, but would also be responsible for environmental and biodiversity.changes
RECOMMENDATION 4 Government should take the lead in setting and managing the policy agency; it is Government’s role to set policy and for stakeholders to contribute to it but not to form or control policy;
RECOMMENDATION 5 Interest groups should have mechanisms and opportunities to contribute to policy and engage with policy makers, but Government should ensure that decisions are taken in an open and accountable manner
RECOMMENDATION 6 Multi-stakeholder processes should be developed and managed at a policy level rather than at an operational level;
RECOMMENDATION 7 Donors should engage with RGC at the policy level, rather than become involved with implantation of site-specific transactions
RECOMMENDATION 8 A “Private Interests Register” should be established in which senior public servants declared any private interest in the sector. This would safeguard the interests of senior officials and assist them to resist pressure from relatives and associates as well as providing increased transparency to public policy making.
RECOMMENDATION 9 Relationships between donors and INGOs should be conducted in a more open and transparent manner. Care should be taken to ensure that donors are not used to promote the particular interests of civil society organisations: conditionality, as a tool to affect change, should be used with caution and with careful analysis of the political situation prior to its application.
RECOMMENDATION 10 A review of pay, within high value resource sectors, should be undertaken as a priority to enable ministries to pay adequate salaries. This is an essential condition for a regulatory authority. Pay scales should be attached to development of performance systems through support to human resource development programmes
RECOMMENDATION 11 We recommend that permanent public accountability mechanisms are established at appropriate levels e.g. structures for civil society oversight, policy dialogue and implementation guidance
B. Policy Choice step 1: Indigenous people’s rights
RECOMMENDATION 12 We recommend that no new land claims should be put in place until the collective titling process is complete.
RECOMMENDATION 13 We recommend that zonation should wait until this process is completed; in particular, there should be no demarcation of the permanent forest estate until indigenous people’s rights are secured.
C. Policy choice step 2: Protection
RECOMMENDATION 14 We recommend the development of a common rationalised policy for forests under protection. All protection forests should be managed by a single authority.
RECOMMENDATION 15 We recommend the rationalisation of the areas under protection, with the addition of new areas or sites that are of high significance, but are currently not protected, and the removal of degraded areas.
RECOMMENDATION 16 We recommend completion of the legal framework (the draft Protected Areas Law) as soon as possible to provide full legal protection to protected areas.
RECOMMENDATION
17 (a) a panel of experts to provide a voice for biodiversity at the national level (b) local management boards to provide a voice for local stakeholders
RECOMMENDATION 18 We recommend the development of Strategic and regulatory instruments to guide and regulate programmes in Protected areas including: o development of guidelines for protected area management o strategy and priorities for allocating areas to protection o supervision, monitoring and control arrangements
RECOMMENDATION 19 We recommend that the partnership agreements with IENGOs should be strengthened and made more monitorable and enforceable
RECOMMENDATION 20 Protection practices should follow best international practice and should include compensatory mechanisms for local people whose access to forest resources has been reduced as a result of protection activities. As a broad policy guideline access to NTFPs and wildlife should be continued, following the recent principles and guidelines adopted by the Parties to the Convention on Biodiversity Conservation which recognise the principle of sustainable use of biodiversity. Establish co-management arrangements for protected areas and partnership forestry in adjoining areas; and ensure the draft Protected Areas legislation supports co-management. There should be no resettlement of people living within protected areas. Government needs to develop clear safeguard protocols for resettlement and set out high-level strategies concerning migration
RECOMMENDATION 21 We recommend that the RGC should explore a range of funding mechanisms to cover the costs of these recommendations, including imposing an environmental levy on concessionaires. Other options include the establishment of an Environmental Fund for regulatory functions, either funded by the national budget or from international sources. At a local level, there is scope to use eco-tourism as a local revenue source to finance local protection activities.
D. Policy Choice Step 3: Production
RECOMMENDATION 21 We recommend that the concession system is closed. The process is currently stalled at the preparation of SFMPs and the limited number of concessions recommended as satisfactory by the TRT still have to be approved by RGC. By transferring undisturbed areas from production to protection, there would be very few areas left for concession management.
RECOMMENDATION 22 We recommend that this moratorium is continued and remains in place. This will redirect attention from the commercial concession forest to apparently sub-commercial areas, currently unmanaged, but being degraded and meeting most of the post-concession demand.
RECOMMENDATION 23 We recommend that a major shift in focus for forestry, in terms of both silviculture and policy, in order to recognise and address the needs of multiple value forests. This is of more importance in terms of preserving forest cover and supporting forest livelihoods than addressing the problems of commercial concession systems
RECOMMENDATION 24 We recommend that forest planning is developed around a landscape approach. This could serve both as a basis for building public accountability through representation mechanisms for provinces, districts and communes, as well as other concerned ministries. It could also act as the line of disconnect between (a) the planning of the landscape and (b) the approval and monitoring of the landscape plan and its implementation.
RECOMMENDATION 25 We recommend that land-use zonation should be carried out at a landscape level and, if the partnership approach is accepted, land-use allocation should be delivered at commune level;
RECOMMENDATION 26 We recommend that governance mechanisms, associated with multi-value forest management are created to let local people play an active part in forest decision-making and management. This means that (i) clear and legitimate rights are assigned and enforceable, and that these act as an incentive for longer term planning; (ii) local knowledge and technologies are utilised; (iii) locally regulated forest management systems allow costs and returns for different courses action to be brought together under same governance structure; and (v) consideration of the role of forests within the broader rural landscape and the contribution of forests across the range of services from environmental, livelihoods, and national contribution.
RECOMMENDATION 27 We recommend that a programme is developed to study the management of multi-value forests, including landscape planning and technical silvicultural issues. This may require (a) reviews of existing literature, (b) study tours; (c) survey and research and (d) consultancy.
RECOMMENDATION 28 We recommend that new effective legal rights and prior claims are established in post-concession area and non-concession areas. These claims need to be exercisable by state, commune, community, individual or private organisation in order for them to be effective;
RECOMMENDATION 29 We recommend that tracking systems for legal logs are introduced, if and when, the logging moratorium is lifted.
RECOMMENDATION 30 We recommend that the community forestry initiative should be continued and supported. A major priority is to determine the legal and economic conditions required to make community forestry self-financing and self-sustainable in different settings. This analysis should feed into a review of the Community Forestry Sub-decree and consider some of the issues raised in Part II Chapter 10.
RECOMMENDATION 31 We recommend that the current structure of the FA be split to separate the regulatory functions from the planning and management functions.
RECOMMENDATION 32 We recommend that no new roads are built into undisturbed forest, effectively transferring them into protection status
E. Policy Choice Step 4: Conversion
RECOMMENDATION 33 We recommend that conversion of forest lands should be considered as a residual process only after all other claims have been put in place and not be allowed until all other options have been considered, namely: a) intensification of existing agriculture and b) bringing ‘unused’ land into agricultural production;
RECOMMENDATION 34 We recommend that analytical capability should be developed, within the forest sector, to address conversion issues and, in particular, the legal and economic incentives which encourage speculative conversion.
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