ForestPACT

Forest Partnership for Action and Commitment Today

Workshop
Summary Report

29 February - 3 March 2000

Cortes de la Frontera, Spain
 CONTENTS

1. INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................3

2. OUTPUTS......................................................................................................3
2.1 Draft Vision........................................................................................................................................3

2.2 Draft Objectives.................................................................................................................................4

2.3 Governance and Institutional Arrangements..................................................................................4

2.4 Monitoring and Evaluation...............................................................................................................5

2.5 Model Pledges to Action....................................................................................................................5

3. NEXT STEPS.................................................................................................7

4. CONCLUSION...............................................................................................8

LIST OF PARTICIPANTS.................................................................................9

CONTACT INFORMATION

ForestPACT@iucn.org

Interim Secretariat: IUCN Forest Conservation Programme & WWF Forests for Life Programme

c/o IUCN –The World Conservation Union

Forest Conservation Programme
Rue Mauverney 28
1196 Gland
Switzerland

Tel. ++41 22 999 0263

2
Fax ++ 41 22 999 0025

1. INTRODUCTION

Background
The rate of deforestation is increasing in many parts of the world, while forest quality is
declining in others. The result is loss of biodiversity, loss of ecosystem services and reduced
human well being. Old debates, outdated approaches and inadequate action on the ground are
hampering efforts to deal with these challenges and fostering a 'crisis of confidence'.
Frustrated by the lack of action, over the last couple of years a number of organizations,
institutions and governments have discussed the need for a new action-oriented
multistakeholder approach to conserve and sustainably manage forests.

To move these discussions forward and build upon broad-based support for a new initiative,
IUCN and WWF organised a workshop on the ForestPACT (Forest Partnership for Action
and Commitment Today), which was held during the first week of March, 2000, in Cortes de
la Frontera, Spain.

Purpose of Workshop
The purpose of the workshop was to scope out the potential for the ForestPACT; seek
commitment from the participants for the concept of the ForestPACT; and decide on further
action necessary to take the ForestPACT initiative forward.

Attendance
The workshop was attended by thirty people from governments, companies, community-
based organizations, non-governmental and indigenous people's organizations, and
multilateral institutions. The full list of participants is shown on page 9-10 of this report.

2. OUTPUTS

The workshop addressed key aspects of the ForestPACT through a facilitated process. This
summary report describes the main outputs produced by the workshop, and it gives an
overview of some of the workshop discussions. At an early stage of the workshop there was
general agreement about the urgent need for a new approach to forest conservation and
sustainable forest management. The question of the nature of the mechanism to be developed
was discussed intensely throughout the meeting and a range of opinions and expectations
regarding the initiative were expressed.

The draft outputs highlighted below will be further developed over the next couple of months
in collaboration with the steering group and in consultation with the wider group of
participants. More detail of the workshop can be found in the workshop history, which
includes a workshop process report and the large number of documents produced covering the
work done at the meeting. The history is available on request from ForestPACT@iucn.org.
Please note we will set-up a non-IUCN email address as soon as we can.

2.1 Draft Vision

A draft vision statement was prepared on the basis of individual vision statements and key
words from the participants. The draft vision statement is:

3
  We see the forest of the future as cherished for their spiritual, cultural, social, ecological
and economic values.

 We see the forest of the future as living spaces, where people fulfil their needs in
harmony with nature.

 We see the forest of the future as a diverse heritage, nurtured and secured for future
generations.

2.2 Draft Objectives

The workshop produced a set of draft objectives to guide the specific action to be undertaken
by ForestPACT partners.

1. Promote sustainable production of forest goods and services and support fair trade based
on products from ecologically and socially responsible forest management, ensuring that
consumption patterns are sustainable.

2. Secure forest-based livelihoods, rights and equity.

3. Establish socially appropriate and ecologically representative forest protected areas

dedicated to the protection of forest biological diversity, ecological processes and
cultural values.

4. Implement environmentally sound and socially equitable restoration of forests building

in future resilience to climate change and pollution.

5. Promote positive impacts and eliminate negative impacts from outside the forest sector.

2.3 Governance and Institutional Arrangements

The main issues considered in the deliberations about governance and institutional
arrangements were:
 The nature of the partnership
 Membership criteria
 Decision rules, including voting categories and weights
 Conditions for exclusion and rewards for action
 How to ensure broad, diverse and representative membership

The governance questions gave rise to discussions concerning the nature and purpose of the
mechanism to be developed. Resulting from these discussions, an outline of the basic
constitution of the mechanism was drafted and agreed upon as the basis for moving forward:

A suggested partnership mechanism for ForestPACT

A leadership coalition will be established. The partners will be mutually recognised as

demonstrating high standards and be able to promote a culture of success. It will include all
major stakeholder groups (private sector, governments, NGOs, IPGs, research institutions
etc.) and not be dominated by any one group. The leadership coalition will create the space

4
 to help prospective partners up to best practice without setting up a system that ‘green-
washes’ bad practice or allows status quo to prevail.

The Forest PACT will require genuine progress towards improvement, check compliance
and ensure incentives and disincentives are in place to achieve compliance – including
suspension or expulsion for non-compliance and strong and clear rewards (political,
financial, social) for compliance.

A two-tier model will enable prospective partners to collaborate with the ForestPACT
partners. Entry into the PACT as a partner will be subject to the prospective partner
demonstrating that they are making progress towards their pledges and not intentionally
undermining the objectives. Prospective partners will not be entitled to use the name of the
ForestPACT to promote their organisation until they have been accepted as a partner.

2.4 Monitoring and Evaluation

The workshop participants proposed a series of elements essential to the monitoring and
evaluation system of ForestPACT. A transparent and independent monitoring and evaluation
system will be crucial to establishing and maintaining the credibility of the ForestPACT. In
summary, the key points expressed and essential elements proposed by the workshop are
covered below:

 Monitoring and evaluation should rely, as far as possible, on good faith and internal self-
evaluation and self-monitoring combined with some kind of transparent and
independent review mechanism.

 The purposes of Monitoring and Evaluation are to:

 Promote change
 Assess progress towards the achievement of targets and specific objectives
 Maintain confidence in the PACT
 Prevent ‘greenwash’ or free-loading
 Ensure that the PACT's structure is logical and coherent
 Encourage, reward and highlight progress - it should be an identifiable benefit to
pledgers.

 Easy, obvious indicators are necessary.

 All pledges must be SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, timebound).

 Monitoring and evaluation should be built into the pledging process - this will be
particularly relevant in the case of joint pledges.

 To avoid duplication, existing systems for monitoring and evaluation and data
collection should be used as far as possible or modified for efficiency and other
principles.

2.5 Model Pledges to Action

The workshop produced a large number of ideas for pledges, to be developed into examples
of action pledges. A selection of SMART pledges developed from some of these pledge ideas
follows:

5
  A Government pledges to review and revise (if necessary) policy framework (including
laws) through a consultative process. The Government will review existing Forest Act
X, organize a consultative process which involves all stakeholders and revise policy
framework (if necessary) for ratification by 2003.

 An individual pledges to become involved in local forest management and decision

making. He or she will research the local forest area D and the B Group, which is
actively involved in its management and join that group by the start of 2002 and
contribute to the management and decision-making of the area.

 A Government will set aside an additional (and biologically diverse) 2 per cent of its
forested land in protected areas by 2002 working in consultation with the local
communities to establish an effective management regime for these new protected areas.

 A community pledges to promote or create local-level certification schemes by working

with the FSC to adapt the criteria to its local situation; by working with the Government
to nationally recognize this scheme; by applying the scheme to its production processes;
and by marketing product(s) in compliance with the local-level certification scheme.

 An individual consumer pledges to buy and ask for certified forest products, including
non timber forest products. The consumer will research local stores that carry forest
products, research alternatives and best practices, visit 3 stores that do not carry certified
forest products and educate them on the alternatives and demand certified forest
products and follow-up to see if the stores stock up if not, write a letter to local paper H.

 A private company will promote and work towards and ecologically representative
protected area system in each country by contributing its Land Holding B to the
Biodiversity Corridor Initiative M in Country H by year 2001.

 Community and government pledge to map resources in the community. They will
engage in a "barefoot mapping exercise" of Forest G; conduct a multi-stakeholder
discussion about the outcomes of the mapping exercise; and integrate mapping results in
local forest planning.

 A private company pledges to respect the principle that activities only be introduced in
indigenous territories subject to their free prior informed consent as expressed by their
own representative institutions. The Company will - before commencing its project -
work in consultation with Indigenous Representative Institution F to develop an
agreement about whether and what mining activities can be introduced in Territory G.
Further, the company will set a strategy for moving forward and continuing participatory
process - if desired and discuss and agree upon the equitable sharing of benefits from the
project.

The workshop also considered the issue of joint pledges for action whereby different
stakeholders pledge to support one another in delivering action for forests that none of the
partners would be capable of implementing alone. The idea of such joint pledges was strongly
supported by the participants who viewed it as a unique and important feature of the
ForestPACT.

Examples from the joint action pledges that were developed by the workshop are shown
below:

6
 Example 1

 A government pledges to review and revise the policy framework (including laws) for
community forest management through a consultative process.
 A private industry company pledges to share Corporate Social Initiative experience
and make information from that process available as input into the policy process.
 An environmental NGO commits itself to work with communities in identifying policy
options for community development that can best maintain or restore the ecological
integrity of relevant forests.
 A local NGO offers to mobilise communities to participate, articulate their
requirements, and input effectively into the formulation of the new forest policy.

Example 2

 A national NGO pledges to contribute to a strategy, in partnership with others for a

sustainable forest management training programme in a number of communities;
 The government provides technical expertise and staff.
 A private company offers to provide the necessary and appropriate technology and
assist in developing markets, within 2 years, for 10 added-value non-timber forest
products, in exchange for a 50% share of the benefits from that marketing.

Example 3

 A government pledges to establish an ecologically viable and representative forest

protected area system within each country covering 12% of its forest area by 2010.
 Communities commit themselves to buffer zone management and the establishment of
corridors between protected areas.
 International and local NGOs and research organizations provide specific technical
support for the establishment of the network.
 Neighbouring countries and NGOs link up across borders to place the protected area
system within a regional context
 The Ministry of Tourism agrees to establish a viable environmentally sound tourism
plan for the area by 2005.

3. NEXT STEPS

The workshop participants agreed to hold a new meeting on or about the second week of July
2000 for the purpose of:
 finalizing the key elements of ForestPACT
 involving a broader group of potential partners in the initiative
 planning the launch of the PACT

There was consensus for IUCN and WWF to jointly host an interim secretariat for
ForestPACT. Until the July meeting a time-limited steering group of 10 persons will provide
oversight to the interim secretariat, giving feedback and guidance on all key issues. The
steering group will not be a decision-making body and it will report to the full group of
workshop participants (the 'reference group') who will be involved in all key decisions related
to ForestPACT.

The next key steps for the development of ForestPACT are:

 Finalise draft documents concerning ForestPACT (Vision, Objectives, Governance and
institutional arrangements, Monitoring and Evaluation System, Example pledges)

7
 Develop short and long term communication strategies
 Organise the next ForestPACT meeting (July)
 Develop mechanism for involving/adding new potential partners
 Secure funding to carry the process forward

4. CONCLUSION

Now that we have broad consensus among participants on the need for ForestPACT, we will
need to work hard at maintaining the level of enthusiasm and momentum generated by the
workshop and raise funds for the follow up work.

The workshop participants expressed strong commitment to further develop ForestPACT and
to work towards a global partnership for implementation of effective forest conservation and
sustainable forest management.

The workshop considered key issues related to the initiative and prepared draft texts on these
aspects of the PACT or outlined essential elements for further consideration in the follow up
to the workshop. The workshop participants prepared a clear plan of action for bringing
ForestPACT forward.

8
LIST OF PARTICIPANTS

 BAMFO, Robert Kofi - Principal Scientific Officer, Acting Head of Planning,

Monitoring and Evaluation Unit, Ghana Forestry Commission, GHANA, email:
robertbamfo@forestrycommission.com
 BARCLAY, William - Greenpeace, Forests Campaign, USA, email:
bbarclay@sfo.greenpeace.org
 COLCHESTER, Marcus - Forest Peoples Programme, email:
marcus@fppwrm.gn.apc.org
 COSTA, Juan Carlos - Consejeria de Medio Ambiente, Junta de Andalucia, SPAIN
 COX, Chris - Timbmet Ltd., email: chriscox@patrol.i-way.co.uk
 DESAI, Pooran - BioRegional Development Group, email: addressee@bioregional.com
 DULYAPACH, Sawat - Royal Forest Department, THAILAND, email:
s_dulyapach@hotmail.com
 GONDO, Peter - SAFIRE, email: peter@safire.co.zw
 JACKSON, Bill - Programme Coordinator, Forest Conservation, IUCN, email:
wjj@iucn.org
 JEANRENAUD, Jean-Paul - Head, Forests for Life Programme, WWF International,
email: jpjeanrenaud@wwfnet.org
 JOHANSSON, Olof G. - Senior Ecologist, Assi Domän, email: Olof.Johansson@asdo.se
 JOHANSSON, Olof T. - Saami Council, email: otj_glen@algonet.se (private)
 KNUDSEN, Odin - Senior Advisor, Environmentally & Socially Sustainable
Development, The World Bank, email: oknudsen@worldbank.org
 LUNA Terrazas, Alvaro - Coordinador del Programa de Bosques, UICN - Officina
Regional America del Sur, email: alvaro.luna@sur.iucn.org
 MADRIGAL, Eduardo - Despacho del Viceministro, Sistema Nacional de Areas de
Conservacion del MINAE, COSTA RICA, email: emadriga@ns.minae.go.cr
 MANKIN, William E - Director, Global Forest Policy Project, email: gfpp@igc.org
 ODENDAAL, Pieter - SAFCOL, email: bosbok@safcol.co.za
 OKRAH, Lambert - Executive Director, The Institute of Cultural Affairs - Ghana,
email: icagh@ghana.com
 PALMER, Martin - Alliance of Religions and Conservation (ARC), email:
icorec@icorec.nwnet.co.uk
 PETER, Elisa - International Coordinator Taiga Rescue Network, email:
elisa.peter@ajtte.com or taiga@ajtte.com
 SAINT LAURENT, Carole - Forest Policy Advisor, WWF-IUCN, email:
carsaintl@compuserve.com
 SIZER, Nigel Sizer - Director, Forest Policy, World Resources Institute, email:
nigels@wri.org
 THORNBER, Kirsti - Forestry and Land Use Programme, IIED, email:
kirsti.thornber@iied.org
 VORRATNCHAIPHAN, Chamniern Paul - Director of Grassroot Action Program,
Thailand Environment Institute, email: chamniern@tei.or.th

SUPPORT STAFF-RESOURCE PERSONS

 ALCÁNTARA VALERO, Andrés F. - IUCN Mediterranean Office, email:

uicnma@ari.es
 BJØRVIK, Astrid - Assistant, Forests for Life Programme, WWF International, email:
abjorvik@wwfnet.org
 CANGER, Sonja - WWF-IUCN, email: sonjacanger@hotmail.com

9
 DEUTZ, Andrew M. - Temperate and Boreal Forest Programme Coordinator/World
Bank FPIRS Advisor, IUCN, email: adeutz@iucn.ca
 HAGGITH, Mandy - Worldforests, email: hag@worldforests.org
 RITCHIE, Bill - Worldforests, email: bill@worldforests.org
 TIMMER, Dagmar - Forest Conservation Programme, IUCN, email: dat@iucn.org

Full contact information is available from ForestPACT@iucn.org

10