92. Africa has diverse types of natural and plantation forests which cover about 675 million hectares or 23 per cent of the land area of the continent. These forests make important contributions to national and local economies in the region. The value of wood removals (fuel-wood and industrial round-wood) increased in the region from $2.6 billion in 1990 to about $2.9 billion in 2005. Fuel-wood, which accounts for about 90 per cent of the energy used by African households, is the most important forest product for many countries in the region. Forests also contribute about 6 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product in sub-Saharan Africa, though the provision of valuable non-market services may suggest a much higher contribution.
ECAIADF/8/Inf.3 Page 25 93. Many people also depend on non-wood forest products (NWFPs) for food security and income generation, including forest plantations and wood-processing industries. The lack of value addition and thus the export of unprocessed round wood and NWFPs are putting Africa at a serious disadvantage in terms of employment creation as well as income generation due to the low international market prices for the raw products.
94. Forests also provide other vital services which underpin economic performance and the viability of other sectors, people's wellbeing and environmental sustainability. These services include the vital role of forests in climate-change mitigation and adaptation. Forests account for about 17 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions but are at the same time important in the storage of carbon. Globally, it is estimated that carbon stored in forests is double the amount of carbon in the atmosphere. Other services provided by forests include stabilizing soils, protecting land from erosion by wind and water, and maintenance of a steady supply of clean water.
95. Despite the crucial role and importance of forests in Africa's socio-economic development and overall sustainable development, the rate of loss of Africa's forest is alarmingly high and a source of serious concern. With an annual loss of about 3.4 million hectares of forests between 2000 and 2010, Africa recorded the second largest net loss of forests in the world. Most forests are threatened by the clearing of forest land for agriculture and settlement, illegal logging, extraction of wood for firewood and charcoal, and uncontrolled bush fires. Policy, legal, institutional, technical and economic constraints have also undermined wider application of sustainable forest management (SFM) in the region. Measures are therefore needed to ensure the sustainable management and development of forests in Africa.
96. The increasing awareness of environmental challenges and global climate change and their impact on humans, economic growth and ecosystems sustainability has rendered greater public attention to the critical functions of forests and the deleterious impacts of loss of forests. Moreover the challenges of food security, persistent poverty, unemployment and economic crises have led to the rethinking of pathways to enhance economic growth. This underlies the emergence of climate-change schemes, in particular reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD) and the role of conservation, sustainable management of forests and enhancement of forest carbon stocks in developing countries (REDD+). It is also against the above backdrop that the role and importance of transitioning to green growth or a green economy has surged in the recent past. The challenge is to harness the opportunities offered by REDD+ as well as by the transition to a green economy to foster sustainable forest management and to expand economic and social gains taking into account equity issues. The Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security also offers a framework for sustainable use and governance of forest resources.
97. ADF-VIII offers a platform to carefully analyse these issues and explore ways to address them and lor harness the opportunities that they offer. The aim is to enhance the sustainability of Africa's forests and their contribution to human and social wellbeing and to economic development.
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Policy, legal and regulatory issues
98. In order for forests to sustainably contribute to economic development, effective forest policies and legislation that make provisions for the generation and equitable sharing of economic benefits need to be in place and effectively enforced. Moreover, the underlying causes of forest loss and degradation need to be addressed. In this regard, it is noteworthy that many challenges in the forest sector are cross-sectoral and indeed many of the problems relating to unsustainable forest management emanate from outside the sector. Enhancing SFM and economic contributions of forest requires raising the profile of forests on the political agenda, effective engagement with and integration of forest considerations into other sectoral (such as land, agriculture, climate change, energy, transportation, trade, education and environment) policies, strategies and legislation. The following issues will be explored:
(a) How do existing forest policies and legislation make provision for enhanced economic benefits? What current policy, legal and regulatory barriers are impairing the development and enhancement ofthe contribution offorest sector to economic development?
(b) What are the major constraints and challenges for effective enforcement offorest policies and legislation?
(c) What are the existing experiences and good practices in forest policy and legislation development or reform and enforcement? What underlies success? How can these experiences and practices be scaled-up and replicated?
(d) To what extent are forest considerations integrated into national and sectoral policies in the region and how can this be strengthened? In this regard, how can the coherence offorest and other sectoral policies and legislation (particularly land, agriculture, energy and trade) be enhanced?
(e) What success stories and good practices exist with regard to effective integration of forest considerations into national and sectoral policies and legislation? How could these successes
and good practices be scaled-up?
(f) What kind and level ofsupport is available to assist countriesand strengthen their capacity for development and implementation ofeffective forest policies and legislation?
Economic issues
99. Forests have a significant potential to improve human wellbeing and economic development.
Two issues particularly stand out and need to be examined for enhancing the role of forests in this regard. These issues are: enhancing backward and forward linkages between the forest sector and the rest of the economy; capturing opportunities offered byREDD+ initiatives to enhance economic gains and achieve sustainable forest management; and harnessing opportunities offered by the transition to green growth to enhance economic gains and achieve sustainable forest management.
100. Enhancing backward and forward linkages between the forest sector and the rest of the economy has the potential to expand employment and income growth. The following issues will be discussed in this regard:
(a) What are the barriers to enhancing backward and forward linkages between the forest industry and other productive sectors of the economy? How can these barriers be addressed including through policies, strategies and incentive mechanisms?
(b) How can the forest value addition be enhanced and the value chain strengthened?
ECA/ADF/8/Inf.3 Page 27 (c) Given that small and medium forest enterprises (SMFEs) have a great potential to enhance the contribution offorest economic benefits, what are the existing barriers to the creation and development ofSMFEs in community forest enterprises (CFEs)? How can these barriers be overcome?
(d) What experiences and good practices exist in enhancing the economic benefits offorests, what underlies success and how can these experiences and practices be scaled-up and replicated?
(e) What infrastructure development will be needed to integrate forest development with related sectors?
101. Capturing opportunities offered by REDD+ initiatives to enhance economic gains and achieve sustainable forest management is another aspect. The issues to be explored include the following:
(a) How can REDD+ initiatives be used to improve sector- and economy-wide productivity and value addition, expand economic benefits and address poverty and other needs at national and local levels? In particular, how can/will the diverse interests including those of local and indigenous communities and socially disadvantaged groups, be factored into REDD+ ?
(b) What are the potential sustainable forest management outcomes that can be realized by adopting and promoting REDD+ initiatives?
(c) In light of the diverse interests and the need to enhance the economic benefits offorests and reduce poverty, what are the experiences in Africa? What has and has not worked in efforts to adopt REDD+ initiatives?
(d) What are the threats and risks associated with the adoption of REDD+ initiatives in the context ofAfrica's urgent needs to enhance economic benefits, reduce poverty and achieve sustainable forest management?
(e) What regional and subregional initiatives could be undertaken to support and enhance knowledge management and scale-upREDD+initiatives in Africa?
102. Harnessing opportunities offered by the transition to green growth to enhance economic gains and achieve sustainable forest management is another economic issue. The issues to be discussed include the following:
(a) What does transition to green growth entail in the context ofthe forest sector?
(b) How can the transition to green growth in the forest sector be used to improve sector-and economy-wide productivity sector-and value addition, expsector-and economic benefits sector-and address poverty sector-and other needs at national and local levels? In particular, how can/will the diverse interests including those of local and indigenous communities and socially disadvantaged groups be factored into green-growth initiatives in the forest sector?
(c) What are the potential sustainable forest management outcomes that can be realized through economy-wide and in particular, forest sector-based initiatives to transition to green growth?
(d) What has been the experience in Africa? What has and has not worked in the efforts to transition to green growth in the forest sector?
(e) What policy, legislative and incentives environment is needed to underpin successful transition to green growth in the forest sector?
(t) What are the threats and risks associated with the transition to green growth in the forest sector, in the context of Africa's urgent needs to enhance economic benefits, reduce poverty and achieve sustainable forest management?
(g) What regional and subregional initiatives could be undertaken to support and enhance knowledge management and scale-up forest sector-based green-growth initiatives in Africa?
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Governance, equity, human rights and social issues
103. Issues of accountability, transparency, equity, upholding rights and democratic principles which are key tenets of good governance of natural resources underpin the success in enhancing and increasing economic as well as social and environmental benefits from forests. Given the multiple interests and goals (including income generation, food security, energy, climate-change consideration, cultural needs) that need to be simultaneously and synergistically met, and the diverse and multi-level stakeholders in the sector, addressing these issues with regard to forests is challenge and is of utmost importance. The main policy issues to be discussed include:
(a) What are the major forest governance and rights issues and barriers in the region and how can these barriers be overcome?
(b) How can indigenous and local community and women participation, rights to access forest and equitable sharing offorest-related benefits be strengthened?
(c) How are traditional and local institutions for forest management integrated and capacitatedfor effective forest governance?
(d) How can the participation of all stakeholders, in particular the most vulnerable and marginalized groups, along the forest industry value chain be enhanced?
(e) What are the existing good practices and experiences in good governance in the sector, what underpins their success and how can these practices be scaled-up and replicated?
(f) What initiatives exist to support and promotion good forest governance, what is their scope and how could they be made more effective in responding to the priority support needs for forest governance in the region? What regional and subregional initiative for forest governance can be undertaken?
(g) What governance framework enables effective monitoring/enforcement to limit illegal logging?
(h) What opportunities exist and how can they be used to track and enforce good forest management within the framework of enhancing good political, economic and environmental governance?
Environmental and material stewardship issues
104. Beyond economic benefits, forests provide a wide variety of other ecosystem services which underpin the economic performance and viability of other sectors, people's wellbeing and environmental sustainability. These services include the vital role of forest in climate-change mitigation and adaptation. Other services provided by forests include stabilizing soils, protecting land from erosion by wind and water, and maintenance of a steady supply of clean water. It is therefore essential to secure the provision of these services while enhancing the economic benefits. The following policy issues will be explored:
(a) What are the current barriers to enhanced recognition, development and provision of rewards to safeguard the sustainable supply ofenvironmental services?
(b) Schemes for Payment for Ecosystems Services have gained prominence as mechanisms to create positive economic incentives for environmental sustainability. To what extent are these schemes developed and applied in the forest sector in Africa? What barriers exist for their wide-scale application and how could these schemes be scaled-up in the region?
ECA/ADF/8/Inf.3 Page 29 (c) What global and regional mechanisms exist to certify and enforce environmental and forest sustainability in the production and distribution offorest products such as timber and NWFPs?
What are the barriers to effective and wide-scale adoption and application of these schemes in the region and how could these barriers be overcome?
Knowledge base, human and institutional capabilities
105. Forest resources are coming under increasing pressure to meet the escalating demand for economic, social and environmental goods and services. In spite of this, the reality that the region finds itself in is that of an alarming rate of loss or degradation of forest resources. This is associated with inadequate/poor forest development and management including poor harvesting of forest products. One of the key factors contributing to this state of affairs is inadequate government institutional and human resources capacity to develop, implement or monitor policies, plans and programmes to achieve SFM.
Furthermore, other forest sector stakeholders including farmers, forest communities, civil society and the private sector are also faced with poor know-how in developing and managing forests.
Additionally, knowledge including indigenous forest knowledge has not been adequately harnessed and shared to foster sound forest management. This, together with the lack of generation of additional knowledge, has major implications on the quality and effectiveness of decisions and practices adopted for forest management. Therefore, in order to strengthen the knowledge base, and human and institutional capabilities to achieve sustainable forest management and enhance the role of forests in inclusive economic growth and development, the following issues need to be considered and addressed:
(a) What are the key barriers and challenges in the strengthening of institutional and human resources capacity andformal and informal education training as well as knowledge generation in the formal and informal education systems?
(b) In light of the current and emerging priorities and challenges confronting the forest sector and the differentiated roles (of government, private sector, local communities and civil society among others) in forest management, what are the priority programmes that need to be undertaken at various levels to strengthen institutional and human resources capabilities, and enhance knowledge generation, management and networking to achieve the sustainable development and management of all types offorests? In this regard, what are the roles of the various actors such as governments at various levels, academia including research and training/education institutions, private sector, local communities, CSOs and development partners? How can such programmes be best integrated into national development programmes including in the civil service, and training and education sectors?
(c) What are the existing institutional, human capacity development and knowledge management and networking initiatives that could be replicated and scaled-up?
106. The theme, issues and topics that provide the vehicle to address the questions raised in the areas of economics, governance, environment, knowledge base and policy are summarized in table 4.
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Table 4: Forest Resources and Development - Issues and Topics of Discussion Theme: Seizing Green Growth Opportunities in the Forest Sector for Africa's Sustainable Development
Issue: Forest Policy and Legislation
Topic #35: Enhancing Forest Policy Reform, Integration and Implementation in National and Sectoral Development Policies and Strategies
Topic #36: Legislative and Policy Architecture for Integrating Gender in Forestry and Natural Resources Management
Issue: Economic Issues in Enhancing the Role of Forest Resources in Development Topic #37: Enhancing Linkages Between the Forest Sector and the Rest of the Economy Topic #38: Sustainable Management of Demand and Supply Gaps in Forest Products
Topic #39: Capturing Opportunities Offered by the REDD+ Initiatives to Enhance Economic Gains and Achieve Sustainable Forest Management
Topic #40: Leveraging Harvesting Opportunities Offered by Green Growth Initiatives Issue: Governance, Equity, Human Rights and Social Issues
Topic #41: Strengthening Governance of the Forest Sector to Enhance Multi-Benefits from Forests Topic #42: Managing Commonly Pooled Forest Resources: Balancing Use Rights and Ecological Functions
Topic #43: Managing the Impacts of Social Unrest and Displacement on Forest Resources
Topic #44: Participation of Men, Women, Youth, PWDs, Elderly and PLWHA in the Forestry Sector Development
Issue: Environmental Stewardship for Sustainable Forest Resources Development
Topic #45: Safeguarding and Enhancing Forest-based Environmental Services for Sustainable Development
Topic #46: Managing the Impacts of Mining and Land Development on Forest Resources Topic #47: Re-greening, Land Rehabilitation and Sustaining Livelihoods for Women and Men Issue: Knowledge base, Human and Institutional Capabilities
Topic #48: Forest Ecological and Harvest Informatics for Sustainable Resource Development Topic #49: Women and Youth Skills Enhancement in Sustainable Forest Resources Development
V. PARTNERSHIPS
107. ADF-VIII is organized in close partnership with United Nations agencies, the private sector, civil society, natural resources stakeholders, NGOs and agencies with proven leadership and contribution in natural resources management and economic development.
VI. Participants
108. The Forum brings together a large number of participants including Heads of State and Government, policymakers from African member States, development partners, other United Nations agencies, IGOsINGOs, academia, practitioners, CSOs, the private sector, eminent policy and opinion leaders, and other concerned stakeholders.