Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Room: JB1-075, Time 1:00 - 2:30pm Event Description:
Development experts, policy makers, and community leaders from around the world all recognize that good local governance is critical for addressing the major national and global challenges we face. Good local governance in forest areas is particularly urgent, as the coming decades will intensify pressure on forests and forest peoples. Forest lands are also at the center of the evolving debate on climate change mitigation, and forest peoples are among those who will need to adapt the most to a changing environment.
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Donor agencies and policy makers can change historical patterns of forest governance and management as a critical step toward addressing the impending global challenges of climate change, ongoing conflict, and persistent poverty. Past models of forest management demonstrate the weaknesses in prior governance structures, but also offer evidence of opportunities for strategic involvement of the international community. To seize these emerging opportunities will require engagement from a variety of actors pursuing steps such as: - The global development community should condition REDD and other conservation funding on the recognition of rights and adequate forest governance;
- National governments should scale up efforts to clarify local rights and access to forest resources;
- Civil society actors should help smallholders in forest areas acquire expertise by investing in long-term training of leaders within community networks; and
- Actors in the private sector can promote the widespread adoption of practical and enforceable standards for responsible corporate practice.
Following these next steps to take advantage of the emerging opportunities may help facilitate improved livelihoods and well-being for forest dwellers, and simultaneously support success in facing some of the world’s greatest challenges.
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Speaker:
Andy White, Coordinator, Rights and Resources Initiative, and President, Rights and Resources Group
Prior to joining Rights and Resources Andy served as Senior Director of Programs at Forest Trends and Natural Resource Management Specialist at the World Bank, as well as worked as a consultant to the International Food Policy Research Center, Save the Children Federation and the Inter-American Foundation. He has worked extensively in Haiti, Mexico and China and supervises policy research and engagement Asia, Latin America and Africa. His own research and project work has focused on forest tenure and policy, as well as international trade and forest industry. He has a PhD in forest economics and a MA in anthropology from the University of Minnesota. About the Rights and Resource Initiative (RRI)
The Rights and Resources Initiative is a coalition created by leading community associations, regional NGOs and international organizations engaged in conservation, research and development in forest areas. The coalition works to promote greater global action on forest policy and market reforms to increase household and community ownership, control and benefits from forests and trees. For more information, please visit http://www.rightsandresources.org.
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Discussant:
Jonathan Lindsay, Senior Counsel, ESSDÂ and International Law, World Bank
Jonathan Lindsay is with the Environmental Law practice group of the World Bank Legal Department, where he specializes in land and forestry law, supporting Bank operations and analytical work in numerous countries. Prior to joining the Bank, he worked at FAO in Rome for 13 years, where he focused on issues such as legal frameworks for community-based forest management, governance and corruption in the forestry sector and land administration reform. He is a co-author of "Forest Law and Sustainable Development," published last year in the Bank's Law, Justice and Development Series. |
 
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