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Forests and governance
Forest governance is about how decisions that affect forests and the people who depend on them are made: Who is responsible, how do they exercise their authority and how are they accountable? It encompasses decision-making processes and institutions at local, national, regional and global levels. Forest management is increasingly globalised yet also increasingly decentralised, so policy makers, forest managers and other stakeholders face competing pressures emanating from both local and global processes. This and the growing array of stakeholders with diverse interests and unbalanced power have made forest governance increasingly complex and prone to conflict. The programme has identified the following priority research themes with some supporting subthemes to contribute to achieving the goal of sustainable forest management, social justice and equity.
- Governance and multistakeholders in forested landscapes
- Forest finance and trade, law enforcement and corporate accountability
Goal
The forests and governance programme seeks to promote good forest governance based on social justice, equity, accountability and transparency.
Objectives
Research and related activities under the forests and governance programme are organised to catalyse action to achieve the following objectives:
- Enhance the capacity of poor people who depend on forests to meaningfully participate, exercise their rights and represent their interests in local, national and international processes for forest-related agenda setting and management decision making
- Promote greater social and environmental corporate responsibility and accountability of key enterprises that operate in forests and affect them
- Support the strengthening or transformation of national and local government policies, processes and practices to better promote sustainable forest management and to more equitably balance competing stakeholder needs and interests based on norms of good governance
- Strengthen the capacity of scientists and partner organisations from developing countries to conceptualise, design and implement relevant, high quality research through collaboration and association with CIFOR
Intermediate Results
The programme’s collaborative research and partnership activities are designed to yield two or more of the following intermediate results:
- generate rigourous analysis, useful information and practical tools for target audiences
- create opportunities for raising awareness among partners, key stakeholders and the general public, especially in developing countries, to network, exchange information and engage in peer learning
- enhance collaboration, conflict management and adaptive learning through strategic use of participatory and action-oriented approaches
- strengthen the capacity among those who govern and manage for joint planning, analysis, action and monitoring
- develop the capacity of scientists in developing countries and of future leaders in forest policy and governance research.
Expected Impacts
This programme seeks to influence forest governance happ through these longer term impacts:
- International processes, national governments and other stakeholders can better recognise the rights local communities hold to govern forests where the live
- Communities and grassroots forestry organisations can better representing their interests as they negotiate, manage and participate in decision-making about forests
- Local, regional and national decision makers can use and adapt CIFOR approaches and tools for social learning, conflict mitigation and improved governance
- Financial institutions are more accountable and practice better due diligence toward forest stakeholders; key enterprises practice greater corporate social responsibility in relation to forests
- Improved regulatory processes, from local to global levels, and adoption of equitable and practical approaches to illegal logging and forest law enforcement that do not unfairly discriminate against the poor
- Enhanced sensitivity of donor governments’ policies and programmes to links between forests and violent conflict and their increased support for efforts to facilitate dialogue, prevent and mitigate forest-related conflicts
- Increased capacity of local governments at different levels to implement decentralized forest management and improved impacts of decentralization on forests and the poor
- Greater capacity of developing country scientists and partner organizations to conduct research and provide research leadership in forest policy and governance
Target Audiences
The products of the Programme’s research are targeted to key decision-makers and actors in each thematic field. Depending on the issue, these could include: forest users and dwellers; local communities; civil society organizations and citizens groups; extension agents; training providers; forestry bureaucracies; legislators, elected public officials and law enforcement authorities; forest enterprise operators, workers, owners, stockholders and financiers; forest product consumers and the general public.
Important audiences at the global level include donor organizations, multilateral development agencies, inter-governmental bodies and conventions, international conservation NGOs and global corporations dealing in forest resources. Mass media organizations and scientific and policy research community are also important audiences for the Programme. Depending on the topic, the methodology employed and follow-up action required to achieve impact, many of these target audiences can also be partners and collaborators.
Research Themes
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