CIFOR’s research into sustainable forest management to help reduce poverty places considerable emphasis on promoting policies that benefit forest dependent people.
Crucial to achieving this is providing research-based advice and information to a range of forest stakeholders, including governments.
CIFOR was therefore very proud to be the only non-Brazilian institution invited in May 2005 to make a presentation to the Special Commission of the House of Representatives of the Brazilian Congress. Also invited were the Amazon Institute of People and the Environment (IMAZON), the Institute of Amazonian Environmental Research (IPAM) and the National Institute for Research in the Amazon (INPA).
CIFOR researcher, Sven Wunder, addressed the Special Commission on a proposed law that would increase the possibility to make public forest land available to the private sector through a forest concession system.
CIFOR’s research indicates the law could impact heavily on the Amazon forests in the medium term.
Sven focused on several points, including the need to proceed slowly in allocating concessions, to experiment with a variety of concession and forest access models (instead of exclusively favoring industrial uses), and to provide privileged access to more developed zones — rather than to remote and poorly governed zones that may present much greater environmental and social risks.
According to Sven, “CIFOR’s oral presentation and written handout on these issues had some resonance in the Commission’s discussion that followed the presentation.”
CIFOR News hopes to present a full report on the presentation in its next edition.