David Gritten, RECOFTC Senior Programme Officer, discusses how FLEGT (Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade) provides a great opportunity to address illegal logging IF it is based on strengthening the rights of local communities.
My grandparents used to have a stuffed alligator that stood on a teakwood stand beside the gas fire in their living room. As a child I never thought anything of it, never asking where it came from. It is the same about so many of the things in our homes. We never think to ask: where did they come from? who made them? who benefited from their purchase? and who may have suffered in the process? These questions are particularly important for goods coming from tropical countries, including the Asia-Pacific region. This is especially the case for tropical wood products – with many coming from unknown and often from illegal sources.
Knowing the source of the wood products in your home is important because:
Millions of people rely on forests for their livelihoods. According to the World Bank, more than 1.6 billion people around the world depend to varying degrees on forests for their livelihoods. In the Asia-Pacific region this number is estimated to be between 481-579 million. Considering 70 percent of the region’s poor live in rural areas, this is significant.
Illegal logging is a massive problem and destroys the lives of many forest dependent people. In Indonesia it is been estimated that roughly 60 percent of all logging is illegal, in Lao PDR and Papua New Guinea rates are as high as 80 percent and 70 percent respectively.
Thankfully, numerous initiatives are trying to address the blight of illegal logging. One initiative is the European Union’s Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) Action Plan. The Action Plan aims to reduce illegal logging by strengthening the sustainability and legality of forest management, improving forest governance and promoting trade in legally produced timber.
The Action Plan has two main pillars:
- The FLEGT Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) which is an agreement between the European Union and a timber exporting country to ensure that an effective system is in place to ensure that only legal timber products are imported into the EU.
- The EU Timber Regulation (EUTR) requires timber importers and traders within the EU to take appropriate steps to ensure legal supply chains.
RECOFTC, along with many of its partners (governmental and non-governmental), recognises that FLEGT-VPA can provide benefits on many levels – beyond addressing illegal logging. Positive dimensions are highlighted in a recent review of the effectiveness of the FLEGT Action Plan initiated by the European Commission and coordinated by the FLEGT Facility of the European Forestry Institute. The evaluation finds the Action Plan is a relevant and innovative response to the challenge of illegal logging and has improved forest governance in all target countries.
RECOFTC works on FLEGT-VPA projects in four (Cambodia, Myanmar, Thailand and Viet Nam) of its target countries. For example, in Cambodia and Thailand RECOFTC, with FAO support, is working to create an environment where those doing the illegal logging, those affected by it and those trying to control it are able to discuss ways to stop it in an effective way that, that does not penalise local communities. One key area is through providing capacity development to civil society organisations to support effective participation in VPA processes. In Myanmar, RECOFTC, also with FAO support, works with International Alert to develop the capacity of key stakeholders, particularly government staff to manage forest conflicts in a sustainable manner. FLEGT provides a window of opportunity for efforts such as these. Governments and companies realise that Europe will no longer be a market for timber products if they cannot prove the legality of these products. They also realise that to do this, they need to strengthen forest governance.
The starting point of RECOFTC’s work in this area, as with all our work, is that any efforts to achieve sustainable forest management in the region must be based on recognising and promoting the rights of forest communities, including smallholders. This comes from the basic understanding that local communities know the forest best, depend on the forest the most, are the most effective forest managers and most importantly, have rights to their forests. The VPA process provides a great opportunity to address illegal logging if it is based on strengthening the rights of local communities. However, if it marginalises these rights, as many initiatives in the past have, then it will be surely doomed to fail, and will result in continued devastation for forests and forest communities throughout the Asia-Pacific region.
For more information on RECOFTC’s FLEGT-VPA projects, visit www.recoftc.org/basic-page/transforming-forest-conflict
RECOFTC's Blog for People and Forests 
Enhancing human rights through responsible community forestry: a case from Myanmar
Khin Moe Kyi, Khin Thiri, Kerry Woodward & Jeffrey Williamson – RECOFTC
On the 10th of December 1948, the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). The UDHR sets out the inalienable “economic, social, political, cultural and civic rights that underpin a life free from want and fear”. These rights are extended to “all people, at all times, and in all places”.
Human rights, though inalienable, are secured through various political, economic, cultural and social measures. Community forestry has played a part in supporting local communities to realise their rights. Strengthening land tenure, empowering women to assume leadership and decision-making roles in their communities, and facilitating livelihood activities have all contributed to the realisation of the economic, social, political, cultural and civic rights of communities living in forested landscapes.
Moreover, community forestry provides us with an example of how secure community rights, local knowledge, and clear roles within forest management can enhance socio-economic development whilst concomitantly maintaining healthy ecosystems.
Strengthening community land rights through community forestry
A community forest (CF) can be established in any forested area, aside from protected areas. Ethnic communities can formalize their rights over traditionally managed land through securing CF certificates. Some ethnic groups in Myanmar have been able to demarcate the boundaries of their traditional land through establishing community forest boundaries and signs, and consequently have reduced the frequency of encroachment into their forests.
Securing fair land rights is the first step in voicing local needs within official fora. By obtaining CF certificates, local communities can pursue equity and justice through legal avenues. A path that has often been historically denied to these communities. “If there is any land abuse by outsiders in our community forest, we can challenge them from a legal point of view, thanks to the CF certification,” reports U Mya Thin (CF chairperson, Taung Kan Kalay village’s CF, Bago region, Myanmar).
U Win Kyi, a Ranger from Myanmar’s Rakhine state, agrees that establishing CFs reduces illegal or unsustainable forestry practices from outsiders. “Illegal logging has been reduced in Ya Haing Bya village community forest area. Local communities are actively participating in forest management activities. They patrol their CF areas regularly to prevent illegal logging, hunting and wildfires,” he says. In so doing, local communities have been empowered to fight for their rights. Empowering women and securing rights through community forestry
Beyond empowering whole communities, CF also empowers integral stakeholders, including women. Inclusive participation of all stakeholders is crucial for CF establishment. Participation is ensured through capacity development trainings and awareness raising programs. Often, women do not participate in public events or local politics; if they do, it’s generally in a supporting capacity. CF programs, however, promote and create spaces where women can participate as decision makers. Consequently, women who may have traditionally remained silent in public spaces can share their knowledge and contribute to forest management programs. In addition to promoting the right to govern, women’s participation in decision making is vital – and a precondition – to securing other economic, civic and social rights.
“In the past, women had no chance to participate in village development activities. After participating in training and awareness raising programs about gender mainstreaming by RECOFTC, women like me have become members of the community forest user group and decision makers in the community forest management committee,” confirms Daw Hlwe Kwee (CFUG member from Chin State)
Through the realization of women’s inherent right to participate in the governance of communal land, CF provides women with the ability to acquire additional access to resources. Equity of resources is important to the economic right of securing one’s own livelihood and contributing to one’s community.
Fostering income generation and economic rights through community forestry
Acknowledging and respecting local knowledge, wisdom and practices in resources extraction and preservation are vital to ensure the sustainable management of forests. In Myanmar, people have long practiced shifting cultivation. Combining these traditional land use practices with modern approaches can lead to effective and efficient forest management systems. For instance, in Chin State, cultivation of elephant foot yam – a traditional crop – on fallow land in agroforestry systems has increased cash income for local communities. By restoring community access to forests, CF provides the opportunity to engage in traditional farming practices, and facilitates opportunities to secure a sustainable livelihood. In securing this important right, CF helps enable further social and economic progress.
“We not only have a community forest certificate,” reports U Naing Shein (CFMC member, Par-Kon’s CF, Chin State), “but we have also finished natural forest conservation activities (silvicultural practices) for this year. So, we can see that valuable tree species have regrown in our community forest. I can say that local people can improve their forests and life by establishing a community forest.”
In Myanmar, it is clear that through community forestry local people have been able to secure community land rights, promote women’s rights, and foster income generating activities. Community forestry is both environmentally sustainable and facilitates the advancement of universal human rights.
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Posted by RECOFTC on December 10, 2017
https://recoftc.wordpress.com/2017/12/10/enhancing-human-rights-through-responsible-community-forestry-a-case-from-myanmar/