International Forest Governance Research Articles

FLEGT Voluntary Partnership Agreement implementation in Ghana: insights from a SWOT analysis

The European Union Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) Voluntary Partnership Agreements (VPA) is an important international forest governance initiative, yet various implementation challenges remain. The FLEGT VPA implementation challenges are well-documented in the scientific literature, where various methodologies and research approaches have been used. As the empirical case indicated various contradicting and overlapping claims, where different respondents framed the same situations as strengths as well as weaknesses, and/or as threats as well as opportunities, we used the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) approach to assess the associated governance changes in FLEGT VPA implementation in Ghana. This paper offers new insights derived from participant observation of the second independent technical evaluation of the Ghana Timber Legality Assurance System (GhTLAS) conducted in July 2019, and from semi-structured interviews with key informants and a document review. What are considered the greatest perceived strengths – namely multi-stakeholder engagement, clarification of regulatory frameworks, and access to information – are brought into question once the identified weaknesses and threats are explored in more detail. The identified weaknesses include the top-down nature of the multi-stakeholder process, fatigue related to additional legality principles, and bureaucracy of the GhTLAS, which negatively affect VPA implementation activities and processes in Ghana.

Theoretical and methodological framework for the analysis of international forest political processes by stakeholders´ perceptions at national level

Abstract Forests cover about 30% of the world´s land area and provide people and nature with essential ecosystem services and goods. Despite their importance, forests continue to be degraded. A variety of international forest governance and policy arrangements have developed to foster protection and sustainability of forests. However, number of studies point to nonexistence of a global forest policy regime per se, and growing institutional fragmentation of forest governance arrangements. In line with continuing priority of national sovereignty in the international regulation of forest policy, the role of domestic policies, mainly domestic forest policy actors, is considered central to international forest governance analysis by many researchers. The paper aimed to set the framework for the international forest policy analysis by domestic forestry stakeholders´ perceptions. The dimensions of Policy Arrangements Approach modified for purpose of meeting the nature of research, serve as theoretical foundations. In the first part, the paper aim to define dimensions theoretically. In the second part, specific international forest-focused political processes are described through adapted dimensions. The two steps serve as the basis for research to be subsequently applied in selected European countries.

International Forest Governance and Policy: Institutional Architecture and Pathways of Influence in Global Sustainability

This paper reviews the design of the international forest governance and policy, and analyses its impacts in addressing deforestation and forest degradation as global sustainability issues. Informed by literatures on international relations, regulatory governance of global commodity production, and international pathways of domestic influence, key arrangements are aggregated into six types, and mapped in terms of their main aims, instruments, and implementation mechanisms. Key analytical dimensions, such as the actors involved (state–private–mixed), the character of legal authority (legally binding–non-legally binding), and the geopolitical scope (global–transnational) helped to identify the potential and limitations of arrangements. They were assessed and compared in terms of their main pathways of influence such as international hard-law rules, cross-sectoral policy integration, non-legally binding norms and discourses, global market mechanisms, and direct access through capacity building. Our results reveal important challenges in the design and implementation, and in the pathways of influence, of the forest governance arrangements, including major inconsistencies with forest-adverse economic sectors. We conclude about the need for coherent international forest-related policy cooperation and integrative actions in agriculture, bioenergy, and mining to enhance the prospects of achieving the UN 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.

What future for primates? Conservation struggles in the forests of Cross River State, Nigeria

While deforestation and forest degradation have gained attention in recent years not least at the UN climate negotiations, a third “de”, i.e., defaunation, has to a great extent been overlooked. Human-induced faunal loss does not only reduce tree species diversity, but also significantly erodes key ecosystem services and functions and further disadvantages local communities. In this article, we analyze these impacts, and the associated multi-level governance gaps, through a case study of Nigeria’s Cross River State and make suggestions for more encompassing conservation approaches that take defaunation into account. To this end, we analyze the interplay between current forest governance and REDD+ in Cross River State and local hunting of forest fauna. Drawing on Ostrom’s social-ecological systems framework and a mixed-methods approach, we identify shortcomings and gaps of international and domestic forest governance, for instance, the ongoing expansion of agriculture in forest areas, a lack of collective action on forest fauna conservation at the local level, as well as conflicts amongst key actors at the sub-national level. Current REDD+ governance in Cross River State largely fails to address fauna loss and local hunting practices, but also affect allocation and access of environmental benefits and burdens for local people.

Accountability and reciprocal interests of bilateral forest cooperation under the global forest regime

International forest governance is being established and implemented and influences national forest policies and strategies and international relationships among countries. International forest-related negotiations, including climate change, desertification, and biodiversity pressure states to respond to environmental and forest issues. States cooperate to achieve the shared goals of forest resource management. Bilateral forest cooperation is one way to implement agreements made by the global forest regime. This paper examines the contributions of international forest governance to bilateral forest cooperation through a case study of the Republic of Korea (ROK). The ROK has shared its knowledge and experiences of successful reforestation in the context of the South-South Cooperation. The cooperation areas, activities, and structures determined in bilateral international forest agreements (memorandum of understanding) were analyzed in the context of the history of international forest governance. This paper examines the roles of voluntary agreements by focusing on global accountability and reciprocal interests in forest cooperation between the ROK and its partner countries when implementing global forest regimes. The findings provide information on bilateral forest cooperation agreements as an institutional policy instrument and contribute to solving global issues, such as deforestation, desertification, and climate change, and fulfilling the reciprocal interests among countries in the field of forestry.

The rational design of regional regimes: contrasting Amazonian, Central African and Pan-European Forest Governance

Forests have been an important issue in world politics at least since the UNCED conference in Rio in 1992. Since then the focus of academic attention has been on global forest governance by an international forest regime complex consisting of several forest-related regimes. This strong focus leaves a research gap regarding regional regimes addressing forests as an issue area, which recently greatly gained in empirical and academic relevance. It is particularly important to understand the institutional structures on the one hand, and the policies developed within such regimes on the other. In order to obtain a better understanding of this in the forest case, the aim of this article is to analyse the institutional design of three regional forest regimes and to develop fields and hypotheses for future research. We built upon the rational design of international institutions framework developed by Koremenos et al. (Int Organ 55(4):761–799, 2001), and based our findings on content analysis of key documents as well as participant observations and expert interviews in selected occasions. The regional regimes chosen for this study were Amazonian, the Central African and pan-European forest cooperation. The results indicate that the designs of the three regimes greatly differ regarding membership, scope, control, centralisation, and flexibility. This seems to be mainly due to differing degrees of formality of the regimes (from treaty to non-treaty to hybrid regimes) as well as different power structures amongst members and regional hegemons involved. Based on our findings, future research fields for the study of regional forest-related environmental, trade, commodity, and management regime structures as well as regime policies are identified. Such insights advance our understanding of international forest governance not only by global, but by regional forest regimes as well. This is particularly true for our understanding that similar issue-specific problems, such as sustainable forest management, in terms of regime structures and regime policies may be addressed quite differently, largely depending on the preferences of regional powers and hegemons and other potential region-specific factors. We conclude by questioning a hypothesised diffusion of international institutions and propose the more precise concept of institutional osmosis instead.

Translating Sustainable Forest Management from the global to the domestic sphere: The case of Brazil

In the context of fragmented global forest governance, Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) has gained force as a strategy to improve forest conditions and livelihood outcomes. Accordingly, SFM related ideas and norms are translated across different environmental domains, levels of governance, and social-ecological systems. This article discusses how SFM related rules, norms, and discourses are translated from the global to the domestic level of Brazil. Results show how international forest governance is translated to multiple forest policy contexts of Brazil. First, international conventions related to forest lead to specific translations of SFM into national policies. Second, international discourses on SFM have failed to have much influence on the main piece of domestic forest legislation, the Brazilian Forest Code. Third, the confluence of international ideas and norms of SFM with the social-ecological systems of different Brazilian forest biomes produces a set of very different SFM translations on the domestic level. We conclude that translations of SFM, from the global to the domestic level, are shaped by domestic policy and social-ecological systems. Thus, the role of domestic policies and the specificity of forest ecosystems deserve more attention in global forest governance than is currently the case.

Towards a donut regime? Domestic actors, climatization, and the hollowing-out of the international forests regime in the Anthropocene

Political responses to global deforestation, as a defining characteristic of the so-called Anthropocene, are a key field for scholarship and policy analysis. In the past decade, research has proliferated on global forest governance and the international forest regime (IFR), yet the academic literature on the IFR is just as dispersed and fragmented as the IFR itself. An emerging body of literature now suggests the key role of domestic actors in international forest governance, questioning an implicit top-down logic of global arrangements. In spite of all the resources at its disposal, the IFR is characterised by complexity, fragmentation and ineffectiveness regarding its main objective of reducing global deforestation.Based on an extensive literature review, the authors’ long-standing observations and selected own empirical findings, this review article aims to provide an updated historical account of the IFR and proposes a from-below approach for analysing the IFR from the viewpoint of domestic actors. In this bottom-up perspective the IFR is conceptualised as a set of resources that key domestic actors can pick and choose from according to their interests and in the light of domestic politics.Using illustrative empirical examples from recent research and own observations, the article finds that the IFR is being hollowed-out by (i) the growing policy links between forests and climate change - a process referred to as “climatization”- and (ii) domestic influences. We conclude that our from-below approach is instrumental in further explaining why deforestation has largely continued, despite the emergence of the IFR some three decades ago. Our findings about the importance of domestic actors illustrate that global governance arrangements cannot operate effectively, relative to their ambitious mandate and for tackling policy issues relating to the Anthropocene, unless they are granted adequate resources and support by key domestic actors.

The discursive structure of FLEGT (Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade): The negotiation and interpretation of legality in the EU and Indonesia

The FLEGT (Forest Law Enforcement Governance and Trade) initiative is among the recent attempts to combat deforestation and promote sustainable forest development. However, ideas about what the objectives of FLEGT are and how legality should be interpreted differ among different actors involved. Some advocate a narrow interpretation of legality that promotes a strong role of the state and focuses on law enforcement, while others advocate a broader interpretation that includes issues of participation and sustainability. These different interpretations mirror current developments in international forest governance which are influenced on the one hand by broader trends in governance, which focus on voluntary instruments, participation and marketization, while on the other hand, the nation state remains a very powerful actor. This article uses a discourse analytical approach to analyze the discursive structure of FLEGT, particularly the European Union FLEGT Action Plan and the Indonesian legality standards. Our findings show that FLEGT is first and foremost shaped by state oriented discourses that promote regulatory instruments and a narrow interpretation of legality. Sustainability and participatory considerations are present, both in the EU and in the Indonesian context, but they come in a secondary position. The article concludes by positioning these findings in the international forest governance debate and by discussing the implications of the discursive structure of FLEGT for sustainability, participatory governance and the state.

REDDuced: From sustainability to legality to units of carbon—The search for common interests in international forest governance

Abstract This paper examines the institutional history of international forest governance, from the emergence of global intergovernmental forestry forums, to non-state market-based certification schemes, to regional illegal logging initiatives, to Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation and forest enhancement (REDD+) under the UNFCCC. It observes how the early initiatives were criticised for their failure to achieve coordinated and widespread action on forest conservation due to a lack of economic incentives and conflict over environmental and social priorities. This failure has been proceeded by a narrowing of core focus across each successive institution—from sustainability to legality to units of carbon—thereby transforming forest conservation into an increasingly legible and tradable commodity. Indeed, a wide range of environmental, economic and social actors appear to share the goal of making forest management more globally legible. This narrowing of focus, however, has served to displace rather than resolve a large array of environmental and social conflicts. The issues have been displaced across both space and time, generating a growing plethora of institutions involved in defining REDD+ modalities and “safeguards”, including various UN bodies and programmes, international development banks, private certification schemes and national and subnational governments. Meanwhile there is little evidence of whether, where and how these efforts might affect forest change. In fact, the largest impact of REDD+ may ultimately be the production of information to facilitate exchange among states, investors and other actors rather than achievement of shared global forest goals.

Certification of community forestry enterprises: experiences with incorporating community forestry in a global system for forest governance

This paper discusses the history and present status of community forest certification as an illustration of the growing interactions between global and local processes in forest governance. The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification system is analyzed as an illustrative case of the trend towards increased incorporation of community-based forest enterprises (CFEs) into international initiatives for sustainable forest management and global markets. First the paper reviews the development of community-based forest management and the evolution in certification of community-based forest enterprises. Next it discusses the main challenges and opportunities for making CFE certification accessible and beneficial for communities. Finally it illustrates the importance of multi-level and multi-actor partnerships for creating effective interfaces between global standards and community forestry practices. The experiences with FSC certification of community-based forest enterprises demonstrate that community forestry is enlarging its scope from autonomous decision-making on local practice to incorporation in international forest governance systems. This experience also demonstrates that the application of global standards for sustainable forest management requires adaptation to local realities. These lessons are of relevance for further incorporation of community forestry in the newly evolving global programs for forest management and conservation.

Partnerships in forest governance

One of the major current global environmental challenges is the conservation of forest biodiversity. Deforestation and forest degradation continue despite international governmental agreements on forest conservation. In recent years private regulation in the international forest governance system has increased. Numerous partnerships between governments, business and/or civil society have been developed. Most of them focus on a single threat to forest biodiversity. This private regulation has had a limited positive impact. The most valuable contribution has been filling the gap of lack of implementation by governments. The forest governance system can become more effective if metagovernance is strengthened.