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ENVIRONMENT: Forests as Poverty-Fighting Tool

Gustavo Capdevila

GENEVA, May 3 2004 (IPS) - The slow process of transferring land titles and control over forests to local communities is undermining people’s interest in active participation in forest management, warns United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

The apathy of governments and society conspires against achieving the Millennium Development Goals, established by the U.N. and aimed at reducing poverty, illiteracy, disease and gender inequality, among other aims, say environmental activists.

But in countries where incentive policies and forestry concessions for small landowners and community groups have been implemented, the results have proved effective in protecting forests.

For example, in 2000, trees covered 35 percent of Guatemala’s 108,000 square km of territory.

A policy to sustain small landowners contributed to the fact that in 2003 forests covered 40 percent of Guatemalan territory, according to Luis Barrera, director of that Central American country’s National Forests Institute.

The phenomenon is not limited to Guatemala, because in the past 10 to 15 years there have been great shifts in forest ownership and management in developing countries, John Hudson, an official with the British Department for International Development, told IPS.

The origins of the investments in that sector confirm the changes. Governments spend 1.6 billion dollars, official development assistance represents 1.2 billion, while the contribution from landowners and rural communities varies between 1.3 and 2.6 billion dollars a year, according to Hudson.

The relationship between forest ownership and management and the fight against poverty emerged Monday as one of the central issues of the opening session of the U.N. Forum on Forests, under way here until May 14.

In his address to the Forum, Annan said that in the nations of the industrialised North and of the developing South alike there has been dramatic change in the perspective of forestry issues, now more focused on their social aspects.

The question is how to continue promoting sustainable access of poor populations to forestry resources, said Hudson.

But Guatemalan activist Freddy Molina, one of the independent panellists participating in the Forum, said he is concerned that some segments of the international community do not believe that forests pose an alternative for fighting poverty.

Among those groups, he identified private companies protecting their interests and governments who fear losing control over the wealth provided by forests.

The value of all of the world’s forests has been estimated at 4.7 trillion dollars, commented another panellist, Tony Simons, of the International Centre for Research in Agro-Forestry, based in Nairobi.

The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) calculates that in 2000 there were 3.86 billion hectares of forests in the world, of the more than 6.0 billion that existed before human activities began to have a serious impact.

José Antonio Ocampo, U.N. undersecretary-general for economic and social affairs, cited the importance of forestry resources, which contribute to the livelihood of 90 percent of the 1.2 billion people who live in extreme poverty worldwide.

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) says 63 percent of employment based on trade in products originating from the world’s forests contributes to sustaining the poor, said Ocampo.

The delegation from Brazil, home to the largest portion of the Amazon region, is taking advantage of the Forum on Forests to demand that the U.N. establish clear links between the issues being debated and the Millennium Development Goals.

Underscoring that relationship will help fight poverty and contribute to gender equality, two of the main objectives established by the U.N. in 2000, according to the Brazilians.

Approximately 425 million hectares – nearly half the area of Brazil – is covered in forest. Of the rest of the territory, 17 percent is bodies of water and non-forested natural ecosystems, such as savannahs and marshes. Urbanised areas make up the remaining 33 percent.

The Amazon, with its 400 million hectares, in 2003 saw 2.5 million hectares deforested, Tasso de Acevedo, director of the Brazilian Environment Ministry’s forests division, told IPS.

Historically, the deforestation rate has fluctuated between 13 and 15 percent of the extension of properties, said the official.

That should change when the implementation of the Amazon Law is finalised, aimed at preserving 80 percent of the forests while authorising logging in 20 percent.

Two weeks ago, Brasilia began applying “an aggressive plan” to establish sustainable management of the Amazon forests, Acevedo said.

Thirty percent of the Amazon lies within protected reserves. Of the remaining area, 75 percent belongs to the public domain and 25 percent is privately owned.

The portion in public domain is divided amongst 20 percent set aside for indigenous communities, 30 percent protected areas and 45 percent claimed by the state but which is in litigation.