From global forest governance to domestic politics: The European forest policy reforms in Cameroon

2020 ◽  
Vol 111 ◽  
pp. 102036 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandrine Andong ◽  
Symphorien Ongolo
2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 142-154
Author(s):  
H. Gregersen ◽  
P.A. Dewees ◽  
H. El-Lakany ◽  
B. Singer ◽  
J. Blaser

The late John Spears' international career coincided with the emergence of global forest governance. His contributions at the World Bank, the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) and at the World Commission on Forests and Sustainable Development (WCFSD) are characterized by an unfailing call to integrate objectives towards forests and trees into broader development goals and particularly to tap the power of forests and trees to contribute to poverty alleviation.<br/> This paper describes the evolution of global forest governance since the early 1970s, especially focusing on the period when Spears was highly influential in the global forest policy debate. It gives an emphasis to the efforts the international community has made in adopting a more comprehensive perspective toward the role of forests in sustainable development. Despite this, global forest governance has recently tended to focus more narrowly on climate change at the expense of attention to the problem of poverty. While climate change is a major priority in its own right, we argue that this limited perspective needs to be overcome to unlock the full potential of forests in sustainable development, aimed at combating poverty.


2021 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 321-337
Author(s):  
E. Majambu ◽  
M. Tsayem Demaze ◽  
S. Ongolo

The promotion of good governance in the forestry sector in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) was one of the major components of the policy reforms initiated by international organisations in the mid-1980s. This paper analyses concepts of 'good governance' in the forestry sector in the DRC between the mid-1980s and 2020 and highlights the recent history of forest policy reforms. From an empirical perspective, our analysis builds both on an extensive review of policy documents and field observations, as well as interviews with actors who have been involved with forest policy reforms or seen how they were implemented. The paper also describes the key actors involved in those reforms and investigates the coalitions formed between some of them to influence the forestland governance in the country. The paper demonstrates that international organisations have often played a decisive and intrusive role in the promotion of 'good governance' in the DRC forestry sector. Their strong involvement is sometimes seen as interference and has aggravated rather than alleviated the governance crisis. In some cases, politicians, military and administrative officers have used political and security unrest as a scapegoat to benefit from forest governance failure and the related business-as-usual in the DRC.


2014 ◽  
Vol 165 (5) ◽  
pp. 105-112
Author(s):  
Willi Zimmermann

Annual review of forest policy 2013 At the federal level, forest policy in 2013 was marked by a high number of implementation tasks on the one hand, and by the preparation of a renewed revision of the Forest Law on the other hand. The latter involved not only formal changes to individual legal articles, but also new regulations to protect against dangerous and harmful organisms, about the advancement of timber production and climate change adaptation. The traditional implementation tasks in 2013 included the approval of the budget, the controlling of different program agreements, the processing of parliamentary interventions as well as providing diverse documents. Particularly noteworthy this past year was a Federal Court decision, which, in contradiction to the cantonal lower court, classified test-drilling in a forest as a disadvantageous non-forest exploitation that requires authorization. At the international level, the adoption of a European Forest Convention was hindered primarily because the decision about the location of the secretariat stalled. In terms of forest-relevant policies, particularly spatial planning and energy policy can be expected to have noticeable effects on forests.


2011 ◽  
Vol 162 (4) ◽  
pp. 128-132
Author(s):  
Christoph Dürr

International forest policy is mainly shaped by the participation of countries at global level, which is why forest-related organisations in Europe and their political processes have received little attention up to now. Meanwhile, however, global forest policy is being increasingly influenced by regional processes. Efforts are underway in the context of various European processes to put sustainable forest management on a firmer footing and make it better known outside the sector. Hence the safeguarding of national interests in the European context is becoming more important for Switzerland. This contribution presents the main forest policy organisations in Europe from Switzerland's perspective, i.e. Forest Europe, the FAO European Forestry Commission, the UNECE Timber Committee, the European Union and the European Forest Institute, so as to provide a better understanding of where European forest policy originates.


2012 ◽  
Vol 163 (5) ◽  
pp. 145-154 ◽  
Author(s):  
Willi Zimmermann

Annual review of Swiss forest policy 2011 The revision of the Forest Act, the adoption of the Forest Programme 2020 by the Federal Council as well as the preparation of the second contribution period of the New System of Financial Equalisation and Division of Tasks between the Confederation and the Cantons (NFE) shaped, in addition to the routine business, the forest policy of 2011. The parliamentary initiatives on forest and forest policy issues remained of about the same amount as in previous years, while the Federal Court decisions on forest legislation have declined significantly. In various forest-related sectoral policies, the government and parliament made important decisions. In climate policy, the Parliament adopted the CO2 Law. However, this has not yet happened to the revision of the Spatial Planning Act. In nature and landscape policy, the administration has prepared the Swiss biodiversity strategy so far that the Federal Council could send it out for consultation. The revision of the Hunting Regulation, with changes in the management of large carnivores, is nearing adoption. At the international level, the Federal Council has submitted the European Landscape Convention to the Parliament for ratification, and the European forestry ministers have agreed to the preparation of a European Forest Convention.


1991 ◽  
Vol 67 (6) ◽  
pp. 674-690
Author(s):  
W. T. Stanbury ◽  
Ilan Vertinsky ◽  
John L. Howard

Structural and regulatory changes in Europe are expected to have major implications for the forest products industry and forestry in Canada. In this paper, the changes associated with the completion of the internal market of the European Community, the introduction of a new European forest policy, and structural, political and economic changes in eastern Europe are surveyed and their impacts on the demand and supply of forest products analyzed. The paper also explores the appropriate strategic responses of Canadian firms. The paper concludes with the implications of the political and economic changes brought about by Europe 1992 for public policy.


Forests ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 608 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ratna Chrismiari Purwestri ◽  
Miroslav Hájek ◽  
Miroslava Šodková ◽  
Mathy Sane ◽  
Jan Kašpar

Background and Objectives: Forest-based bioeconomies have been adopted as the national forest strategies in many European countries. However, in the Czech Republic, the bioeconomy has not been officially included in national policies. The main objective of the paper was to review the current forest policy in the Czech Republic in meeting the purposes of the European forest-based bioeconomy. To better understand the opportunities and shortcomings of the forest strategy and the implementation of a forest-based bioeconomy in the country, a comparison study in the Czech Republic and Germany was also carried out. Methods: A review of the forest strategies was done based on the following research questions: (1) How are the bioeconomy principles and priorities present in the Czech National Forest Programme (NFP) as reflected in the EU Forest Strategy, and how does the Czech forest strategy compare to that in Germany? (2) What is the situation concerning the national wood production and consumption to understand the opportunities and challenges of the bioeconomy implementation in the studied countries? Results: The Czech NFP was approved following the pan-European process for the protection of forests in Europe; therefore, it does not directly reflect the 2012 bioeconomy principles, although most of these approaches have been included in this strategy. Different national measures in two studied countries were revealed to achieve the objectives of the forest bioeconomy. The primary contribution from the Czech forestry to the bioeconomy is sustainable forest-based products. A forest bioeconomy is also targeted at mitigating climate change by providing forest biomass for bioenergy. Conclusions: The Czech Republic is in the midst of the adoption process of the bioeconomy strategy. The main challenges faced by the forest-based sector in the country is to fulfil the demand for sustainable forest biomass and high value-added products. Multisectoral collaboration, business diversification, and education for public consumers are needed to increase the growth and job opportunities of the bioeconomy sector in rural areas.


2003 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 40-55 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Humphreys

John McMurtry and David Korten argue that by systemically depleting its social and environmental hosts, global capitalism has reached a carcinogenic stage. While there are life-protective forces in global governance, many are rendered ineffective by the routine functioning of global capitalism. The article applies this analysis to forests at two levels: the global forests regime (that is, public international law that seeks to govern forest use); and the broader structures and processes of global governance that affect forest use. The set of interactions between the two constitutes global forest governance. It is argued that in global forest governance carcinogenic life degrading forces prevail over healthy life conservation forces. The result is worldwide forest degradation. In this respect global forest governance represents a pathogenic invasion of the world's forests.


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