The first global assessment on forest progress since 2010 has been launched at the United Nations Forum on Forests (UNFF19), on Monday.
Compiled by world-leading forest scientists at the International Union of Forest Research Organisations (IUFRO), this landmark report distils about 14 years of forest governance research to reveal that the escalating climate crisis has shifted our primary focus on forests to their role as carbon sinks, jeopardising their diverse social functions in the process.
The report also reveals that Africans have the most trust in their traditional systems of governance leading to an urgent call for policymakers to prioritise community over commodity to deliver direct benefits to local communities.
The report is called “International Forest Governance: A critical review of trends, drawbacks, and new approaches.” It was produced by the Science-Policy Programme (SciPol) of the IUFRO.
The report reveals the increasing reliance on market mechanisms to manage forests in Africa is failing and there is major untapped potential for long-term, locally driven alternatives.
The report shows that the increasing urgency of the climate crisis has influenced the commodification of forests for their carbon sequestration potential.
This has led to the rise of new markets for carbon and biodiversity that often focus on short-term economic gains over long-term sustainability and justice.
Finance that includes philanthropic and community-led mechanisms offer a just alternative, but so far, have played a limited role.
The new study also reveals that the success of international forest governance to slow down deforestation remains limited and hard to measure. Although there has been some progress in reducing the global rates of tropical deforestation, there is still a rising sense of crisis over climate change, biodiversity loss and increasing social and economic inequalities.
Professor Constance McDermott, lead author of the report, states: “Market-based approaches to forest governance such as forest carbon trading and zero deforestation supply chains are becoming an increasingly popular pathway for forest governance and finance, but unfortunately, as the report shows, they risk perpetuating inequalities and producing perverse effects on sustainable forest management. Non-market-based mechanisms such as state regulation and community-led initiatives offer important alternative pathways for just forest governance.”
In an era marked by an ever-growing appetite for green finance, catalysed by Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, markets for forest carbon and ecosystem services have rapidly expanded within Africa over the past decade.
This report concludes such efforts are failing to deliver transformative change. For example, $120 million of REDD+ financing has been introduced into the province of Mai-Ndombe in DRC, yet this is revealed to have perpetuated inequalities without delivering long-term forest protection.
Also Read: Eight Ekiti varsity students arrested for cultism
