Forests for People

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Responsible sourcing

– While public procurement policies, bilat-

eral agreements and legislation prohibiting imports of illegal timber

are working,

there is a need to strengthen and expand these efforts,

sending clear signals across the global supply chain that products

made from illegally and unsustainably harvested forests are no

longer welcome in the marketplace. Regional and international

bodies, such as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the

Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum present clear opportuni-

ties to reach multiple countries with sound technical support and

advice on responsible forest sector development.

Training and technical assistance

– From 2006-2010, the number

of timber concessions engaged with RAFT Program partners grew

from 5 to 59. At a time when demand for tools, training and technical

assistance in progressive approaches to forest management continues

to grow, it will be important to adapt training materials for dissem-

ination and use by associations and institutions with national and

regional reach. This will require moving from a model of working

one-on-one with timber concessionaires and factories to working

primarily through industry associations, government extension serv-

ices and training and educational centres.

Rolling out REDD+

As governments develop new regulations and institutions to

meet climate change commitments, it will be important to shape

the mechanisms that create incentives for improved

management of all types of forest. These processes must

be informed by practical land management experience

while remaining keenly attuned to political sensitivities.

Since 2009 The Nature Conservancy – with support

from the governments of Australia, Germany, Norway

and the United States – has been working with the

District of Berau, East Kalimantan, Indonesia and

its partners in developing the Berau Forest Carbon

Program (BFCP). Operating across an entire political

jurisdiction, the BFCP will demonstrate how REDD+

can be applied in an area large and complex enough

to provide important lessons for scaling-up to provin-

cial and national implementation but small enough

to establish and attribute responsibility for delivering

measurable reductions in carbon dioxide emissions.

The BFCP has a suite of specific emission reduc-

tion strategies around different land-use types (such as

protected areas and production forests) and a suite of

enabling strategies (including land-use planning and

stakeholder engagement) designed to lock in gains and

make them durable over the long run. It will also demon-

strate how incentives for mitigating emissions from

deforestation and forest degradation can be used not only

Adelberts Mountain Range, Madang, Papua New Guinea