Workshop on forest governance, decentratlisation and REDD+ in Latin America and the Caribbean
31.8.-3.9.2010, Oaxaca, Mexico
Hosts: Mexico, Switzerland
Organisers: Comisión Nacional Forestal Mexico (CONAFOR), Federal Office for the Environment Switzerland (FOEN), Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), Secretariat of the United Nations Forum on Forests (UNFF), Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Group, United States Agency for International Development, Intercooperation
Co-sponsors: Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), Department for International Development of the United Kingdom (DFID), Ministry of Agriculture Sweden, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Finland, Norwegion Ministry of the Environment, Ministry of Agriculture Sweden, Ford Foundation, International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO), Ford Foundation, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), UN-REDD, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)
Participants: 230 participants from 34 countries
Background
At the closing of UNFF8 on 1 May 2009, Mexico and Switzerland announced that an international workshop on forest governance and Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) in Latin America and the Caribbean would be held in Mexico in 2010. The Oaxaca workshop was the fourth country-led initiative focusing on the theme of governance and decentralisation in forestry.
Governance issues are of fundamental importance to sustainable forest management (SFM), the core objective of the UNFF. REDD+, as an emerging climate change mitigation mechanism, has considerable potential to alleviate poverty, but its implementation needs to be better understood in the contextof forest governance. Thus, the Oaxaca Workshop aimed to improve understanding of the linkages and synergies between decentralisation and broader forest governance reforms, SFM, the improvementof living conditions for forest-dependent people and the increasing role of forests in climate change mitigation and adaptation.
Workshop themes
- People, forest governance and forests
- Landscape change, forest management and REDD+
- Forest finance and finance for REDD+
- Rights, livelihoods and forests
Workshop goals
- Better understanding of the concept and implementation of decentralization in the region;
- Identification of opportunities for complementary national policy responses, capacity building and best practices;
- Identification of strategies and instruments for overcoming constraints to effective decentralization and sustainable forest management at all levels;
- Determination of mechanisms and activities to ensure the follow up on the recommendations of the workshop.
Report to the UN
The findings of the four workshops in Interlaken 2004, Yogyakarta 2006, Durban 2008 and Oaxaca 2010 are documented in a ‘four countries report’ by the Governments of Switzerland, Indonesia, South Africa and Mexico to the UN Secreatry General:
English | Spanish | French | Russian | Arabic | Chinese
Main workshop documents
Workshop report: English
Field trips
- Field trip 1: Santa Catarina Ixtepsji – PES, linking different environmental services and local communities (other models and arrangements)
- Field trip 2: Forest enterprises in in Ixytlán de Juárez – Community governance, diversified economy and building a REDD+
strategy based on community forestry and SFM, carbon markets (including community structures, cooperatives, intermediaries, voluntary carbon markets), natural resources councils - Field trip 3: Capulápam de Méndez – Forests, environmental services and communities
- Field trip 4: San Antonio Arrazola Xoxocotlán – Oaxaca programme