Thumbnail Image

Why is there no global legally binding agreement on forests? A qualitative literature review to identify conflicts within the negotiations and the way forward for sustainable forest management

XV World Forestry Congress, 2-6 May 2022

Year of publication 2022

Place of publication Rome, Italy ;

Pages 1p.

Author Schubert, M., Sotirov, M.

Publisher FAO ;

Product type Document

Synopsis (short abstract) The enhancement of global forest management practices was long thought to be subject to a binding agreement, comparable to other United Nations Conventions. Unlike other environmental challenges of similar importance, the countries of the world did not come together to establish a legally binding forest convention. More than 25 years since the start of the initial negotiations at the United Nations Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, four institutions and five non-binding agreements have been established to govern forests, none of which extends to similar lengths as the Framework Convention for Climate Change, Desertification, or Biodiversity. This paper investigates the conflicts present in the forest policy arena that have hindered the successful progression of a legally binding agreement. By conducting an extensive qualitative literature assessment of 51 peer-reviewed publications and building onto the policy arrangement approach by Arts, Leroy & Van Tatenhove (2006), the authors categorize and explain the conflicts present during and prevailing beyond the negotiations. The results are validated through expert interviews and observations from the 14th session of the United Nations Forum on Forests (UNFF). The authors identified 13 critical conflicts across the dimensions of ideology, interests, institutionalism, and coalition dynamics. While some conflicts have changed or were resolved, many persist today and will prevent a successful conclusion of the process. A legally binding agreement in the originally proposed form as overarching institution seems unlikely to happen in the future. Yet, the momentum surrounding sustainable forest management is greater than ever before, and a changing political culture raises new hopes for significant progress in the implementation of sustainable forestry beyond a mere agreement. Institutions like the UN FAO and the UNFF will play a crucial role in advancing the global transition to sustainable management in the future. Keywords: Policies, Conflict, Deforestation and forest degradation, Sustainable forest management, Research ID: 3617722

Statutory body / Meeting title World Forestry Congress (WFC)

Language English

Also available in:
No results found.

Related items

Showing items related by metadata.

  • Thumbnail Image
    Document
    How Brazilian Tree Industry can help complying with climate change agenda linked to Sustainable Development Goals, Global Forest Goals and Brazilian NDC under Paris Agreement
    XV World Forestry Congress, 2-6 May 2022
    2022
    Also available in:
    No results found.
    The Brazilian Tree Industry (Ibá) is the association responsible for institutionally representing the planted tree production chain with its main stakeholders. Ibá represents 50 companies and 9 state entities for products originating from planted trees, most notably wood panels, laminate flooring, pulp, paper, charcoal steel industry and biomass, as well as independent producers and financial investors which together contribute with 7% of Brazil’s industrial Gross Domestic Product. The sector holds 9 million hectares of planted trees and 5.9 million hectares for conservation.
    The Brazilian NDC aiming at reducing GHG emissions in 37%by 2025 and 43% by 2030. Such an ambitious goal will demand, according to the Government, the restoration of 12 million hectares of forest, achieve zero illegal deforestation in Amazonia, attain 45% of renewable energy and 18% of bioenergy and ensure compliance with the Forest Code.
    This industry has a substantial contribution to several Global Forest Goals of UNFF and SDGs from Agenda 2030, in terms of adaptation and mitigation of climate change. Regardless the goal and governance related, both in national or international level, Brazilian planted-tree sector plays an important role and this paper aims to show how.
    As a brief the sector is now monitoring dozens and reporting 17 KPIs on water management; 89% of the energy is renewable and 67% is produced in-house; 67% of paper is recycled, 4.48 billion tons of CO2e is stored in almost 15 million hectares of forests for commercial and conservation purposes. At steel industry, each ton of pig iron produced with charcoal coming from planted forest as a substitution from coal, avoids the issue of 1.8 ton CO2eq. At civil construction, the use of wood stocks 0.5 on of CO2e per square meter of construction, compared to the use of conventional materials. The carbon removed from atmosphere is fixed in the biomass that will become products and can store from 45% up to 85% of the mass products. Keywords: Climate change, Adaptive and integrated management, Economic Development ID: 3487149
  • Thumbnail Image
    Article
    Understanding natural resources-based conflict management on borderland: A systematic review
    XV World Forestry Congress, 2-6 May 2022
    2022
    Also available in:
    No results found.
    Conflicts over finite and shared natural resources continue to dominate headlines around the world. In particular, border regions have challenges in natural resource management. The regions include abundant natural resources, such as forests, energy, air, and rivers, typically associated with distance from the central authority. However, natural resource management becomes sensitive between each side of countries because of power differences or relationships. This study aims to identify characteristics of natural resources-based conflict management at the border areas based on this context. Through a systematic review methodology, natural resource management conflict cases at the border regions were collected from SCOPUS's academic database between 2001 and 2021. A total of 303 selected pieces of literature were analyzed with the categories, focusing on the published year, location levels, and types of natural resources. Moreover, this study utilizes the Earth system concepts which consist of Atmosphere, Lithosphere, Hydrosphere, Biosphere, and Anthroposphere to categorize the natural resources. The research results display the pathways and distribution of the selected studies. The overall academic studies were increased steadily. Among the natural resources, Hydrosphere, especially river and ocean contain the dominant subject and Forest, Animal has followed in the Biosphere. Furthermore, these studies were examined the case studies for the key findings to determine the conflicts, cooperation, and geographical characteristics in the borderlands. This research contributes to a better understanding of natural resources-based conflicts and suggests recommendations to design natural resource management strategies or models at border areas. Keywords: Biodiversity conservation, Governance, Landscape management, Policies, Partnerships ID: 3623073
  • Thumbnail Image
    Article
    Geographical variations of woodfuel supply and trade within 30 km of two forest protected areas in northeastern Bangladesh: The question of sustainability
    XV World Forestry Congress, 2-6 May 2022
    2022
    Also available in:
    No results found.
    We studied woodfuel vendors in 112 markets within 30 km from the borders of Khadimnagar National Park (KNP subregion) and Lawachara National Park (LNP subregion), evaluating how two subregions differ in relation to market attribute (degree of urbanisation), environmental attributes (tree coverage and seasonality), vendor characteristics, and woodfuel sources utilised. A total of 206 vendors were interviewed, including wholesalers, mixed wholesalers, and sawmill operators. Survey results revealed that vendors in rural areas sold greater quantities of woodfuel within KNP subregion, and semi-urban vendors sold higher quantities within LNP subregion. A total of 126 sawmills in two subregions sold greater amounts of woodfuel than the 58 wholesale woodfuel vendors and 22 mixed wholesale vendors, with significant differences. In terms of seasonal variations in woodfuel sales, significantly lower amounts of woodfuel sold in monsoon months and higher amounts in winter months. Non-forest sources including homestead forests, roadside social forestry plantations, tea estates, and via sawmills supplied 72% of the total woodfuel sale. The study suggests that roadside social forestry plantations and homestead forestry are key for sustainable supply of woodfuel for meeting sustainable development goals in forest and energy sectors of Bangladesh. Keywords: woodfuel vendors; woodfuel sources; non-forest sources; forest protected area; Bangladesh ID: 3486783
Show more

Users also downloaded

Showing related downloaded files

No results found.