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Commonwealth
Forests | | |
 SUMMARY
There is evidence that forest management in Commonwealth countries has moved towards
more sustainable practices in recent years. For example more (but not all) of the permanent
forest estate is regulated by management plans than twenty years ago, not only in the
developed economies but in developing member countries, and more concessions are
controlled by license. Information is far from complete, and the existence of a management
plan is not proof of the implementation of sustainable management, but taking into account
other information discussed below it appears that management practices have improved.
Bruenig (2006), in discussing the ITTO studies which form the basis of Tables 2.1 and
2.2,
noted that a much greater input of funds, qualified personnel, methodology … is necessary to
procure an accurate, reliable and sufficient data base for the state and role of SFM in the
tropical forests and forestry economy.
Forty-one Commonwealth countries are members of one or other of eight Criteria and Indicator
Processes, the exceptions being some Caribbean countries. Several have placed at least
some forest area under one of the certification schemes, and four have developed their own
schemes; the UK government and several large UK timber retailers use certified timber
exclusively. Over 17% of the forest area of the Commonwealth appears to be certified.
The global trend towards participatory processes has been reflected in forest management in
several Commonwealth countries. Three initiatives - Joint Forest Management (JFM), the
Iwokrama International Centre for Rain Forest Conservation and Development and the
International Model Forest Network (IMFN) - have participation at the heart of their programmes
and Iwokrama and the IMFN are disseminating their experience of sustainable forest
conservation and use to other countries. A more recent concept, Forest Landscape
Restoration (FLR) considers forest management and restoration within the broader landscape
rather than solely the tree cover at a particular location; the partners in FLR are also
disseminating this message.
But these developments in forest management are concerned with temperate and tropical/sub-tropical moist
forest types. Apart from the Dry-zone Africa and the Dry Forest in Asia
Processes there appears to be little development of forest management techniques for
savannah woodlands.
Planted forests will be a component of all forms of forest management in all zones. Large-scale plantations
will continue to be established by industry, but there will be increasing
emphasis on planted forests established by smallholders (see Chapter
1), often to produce raw
material for industry. Government policies and incentives will have a crucial role to play in
encouraging this (see Chapter 4), but investors’ perceptions of economic and political stability
will determine where plantation programmes are established.
There is much less information on the conservation of forests, partly because of difficulties in
defining forest conservation areas and distinguishing them from the permanent forest estate.
There are, however, examples of countries establishing forest conservation areas and of acting
in partnership to establish cross-boundary protected areas. There are many botanic gardens
in Commonwealth countries, which are a form of ex situ conservation.
The sustainable management of forests in the Commonwealth has been constrained by a
number of institutional factors, including shortages of funds and capacity. The development of
effective forestry institutions and good governance at the national level will also be essential in
combating the other major threat to sustainable management of illegal logging. The illegal
activities largely occur in developing countries, but combating it will require not only the
country of origin but also the developed countries of destination. International action is now
being taken, but whether it will be sufficient remains to be seen. Neither does certification
appear to be the complete answer.
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