Oaxaca 2010
Impact of the workshop series at international and national level
Looking back at the different workshops and remembering the challenges to achieving sustainable forest management and sustainable development at the time, the workshops had several key effects with lasting impacts on policy processes at national and international levels.
Over the ten years of the workshop series, the significance of forests has gained in visibility and importance e. g. in the UNFCCC, and the overall global development framework that evolved further from the Millennium Developments Goals (MDGs) to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the Agenda 2030. The MDGs included only rather vague references to forests whereas in the SDGs forests feature quite prominently in several goals. Also, a common understanding evolved over the years that forests have to be seen as a central element for food security and environmental balance, e.g. through initiatives such the Bonn Challenge on forest landscape restoration, the New York Declaration on Forests, the emergence of a global FLEGT programme and more recently engagements in respect to zero deforestation and deforestation-free supply chains.
As a major global contribution, the workshops offered a level platform for exchange and learning on forest governance issues between countries and governments, policy and decision makers from the local to the international level, representatives of local communities, civil society, the private sector and research. Insightful field trips stimulated the exchange of experience and ideas amongst stakeholders with different origin and background and contributed to the openness of the dialogue and facilitated learning.
From this platform and these exchanges new initiatives were inspired or emerged. Examples include the discussion on forest law enforcement and governance in the workshop in Yogyakarta in 2006 that led to the deepening of FLEGT processes in Indonesia and Vietnam. The workshop in Oaxaca in 2010 bridged the understanding between SFM and REDD+. Another example is the emergence of the Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI) as an independent initiative to advocate for land and forest rights for local communities and indigenous peoples.
In general terms, the deliberations at the workshops captured in the respective reports enriched the debate on forests within the United Nations with new concepts and agreeable wording to tackle forest governance issues. To give an example: When parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) were invited to submit their views on REDD+ in 2009, Switzerland submitted concepts and wording that were developed in this CLI/workshop series. These were subsequently incarnated in the social safeguards framework in the negotiations on REDD+ in Cancun.
The workshops were instrumental in positioning and mainstreaming the topic of governance within UNFF. Back at the first workshop 2004 in Interlaken, the entry point were the concepts of decentralisation and federal systems in the forestry sector and their reflection in national forest programmes. Over the years, the scope of the discussions on governance was continuously extended – as reflected in the titles of the subsequent workshops – to accommodate emerging issues and encompass a more comprehensive understanding of the concept of governance and forest governance in particular.
In parallel, there was also a shift from a more sectoral perspective looking at governance in the forestry sector during the early workshops to adopting a broader view on forests, their roles and management by people in the broader landscape. The latter is illustrated by the approach chosen for the concluding 2015 CLI on ‘governing forest landscapes‘.
Forest tenure rights is a key aspect of forest governance that was repeatedly discussed and exchanged on in the workshops. As such, these exchanges were part of a broader debate on forest governance and forest tenure rights which contributed to the recognition of indigenous and local communities as ‘real custodians of the forest’ at the multilateral level. This is reflected in the adaption of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples by the General Assembly of the UN in 2007. At the national level and consequently also in the UNFF, forest tenure and tenure rights of local and indigenous communities to forests and their resources continue to be debated at formal, law enforcement level and informal level, linking traditional to modern law enforcement.
Over the years of the workshop series, the importance of climate change for humanity and the urgency to address it became increasingly apparent and REDD+ emerged as a key topic in forestry. This evolution reflected in the foci of the Oaxaca and Lviv workshops on REDD+ and green economy respectively. Functioning forest governance mechanisms and tenure arrangements ensuring rights to forests and carbon that build on good governance principles are key to the success of REDD+. The regional 2010 CLI in Oaxaca informed the debate on governance in REDD+. In late 2010, shortly after the workshop, the UNFCCC CoP in Cancun adopted important governance elements such as transparency, participation or protection of the rights of local and indigenous peoples as elements for the successful implementation of REDD+ actions.
The concept and understanding of governance in the forestry sector and recognition of its relevance for sustainable forest management has equally evolved substantially over the decade during which the workshops were held, from a rather government-centred understanding of governance and law enforcement to a recognition that sustainable forest management depends upon good governance at all levels, especially at the local level. This is also reflected in the United Nations strategic plan for forests 2017-2030.
The findings of the workshops were fed into deliberations at regular sessions of UNFF and informed the development the United Nations strategic plan for forests 2017-2030, in particular the framing of the global forest goal 5 of the strategic plan on the promotion of governance frameworks to implement sustainable forest management. Various aspects of governance discussed in the workshops are included as indicative thematic areas for action under the global forest goal 5, including forest land tenure, stakeholder engagement at all levels, public involvement and civil society partnerships.