Forests for People

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While responsible practices create long-term bene-

fits and savings, natural production forests continue to

come under pressure in the face of lucrative alternative

land uses such as oil palm and timber plantations. This

will continue until the many values forests provide are

accounted for in the incentive structures that guide land

use in Asia and the Pacific.

In the International Year of Forests, 2011, the

enabling policy environment for moving from ‘business

as usual’ to responsible forest management is stronger

than ever, making this the best moment in decades to

focus our efforts and support squarely on actions that

continue to turn opportunities into positive changes for

tropical forests.

to combat climate change, but also to improve the overall regulatory

framework for natural resource management. To make the most of

this opportunity, there are two important areas for further work:

Policy and institutional design

– Delivering credible reductions

in emissions will require institutions with a role to play in land

management to move out of silos and institute new approaches.

Decision-making processes must also engage government depart-

ments at multiple levels, from the local to the provincial and

national, while integrating the expressed needs and aspirations

of local communities and business interests. Such integrated and

shared decision-making will require new institutions and/or coor-

dination mechanisms. Countries should begin experimenting with

these sorts of processes to get some practical experiences that can

be adapted and ultimately taken to scale.

Improving existing mechanisms

– It is rarely necessary to develop

entirely new REDD+ solutions. For instance, in Indonesia there are

many natural resource management mechanisms that can be imple-

mented more rigorously or altered slightly to meet the needs of

REDD+. One example is the annual development planning process,

which could be strengthened with better trained staff, better inte-

gration of local results and increased transparency. This could be

expanded to include REDD+ issues, such as planning village-level

mitigation actions or obtaining the free, prior and informed consent of

local stakeholders on REDD+ activities. Similarly, Indonesia’s Timber

Legality Assurance System could become the vehicle communicating

and auditing specific low-carbon management practices.

Conclusion

Demand for responsible wood products and efforts to pilot REDD+

programming in the field are creating incentives for sustainable

forest management as part of a green/low-carbon economy. This

will improve forest ecosystem quality, help forests to mitigate and

adapt to climate change and ensure that forests continue to help

meet the changing socio-economic development needs of the region.

Tractor, PT. Belayan River Timber concession, East Kalimantan, Indonesia

Image: ©Allison Bleaney/RAFT

A new opportunity for old technology in Borneo

Bulldozers tear through the forests of tropical Asia,

wreaking havoc on soil, trees, the long-term profitability of

timber companies and, ultimately, the global climate. But

in the forests of Borneo, former illegal loggers operate a

‘monocable’ winch that pulls logs through the forest with

minimal damage. This same winch, as it turns out, is also

pulling forest concessions down the road towards sustainable

forest certification.

The monocable is a motor-driven winch that pulls one log

at a time from the harvested tree stump to a stacking area

on the log hauling road. “When combined with pre-harvest

mapping of both the trees to be cut and the ‘skidding’ paths

that will be used to pull the logs out, use of a monocable can

reduce damage to the soil and surrounding trees by up to 70

per cent,” says Bambang Wahyudi of The Nature Conservancy

(TNC). This is largely because the monocable reduces the

width of a skidding trail from 5 metres with a bulldozer to

the width of a log. This small, portable and less detectable

machine has long been used by illegal loggers.

In 2009, TNC staff in Indonesia introduced the monocable

for sustainable forestry in Indonesia, when it was not yet

recognized by the Ministry of Forestry due to its association

with illegal logging. TNC worked with Government partners to

get approval to test the technology in two concessions. After

visiting one concession in 2010, the Ministry of Forestry was

eager to see the monocable expanded to others. Along with

its smaller footprint on the forest, the monocable promises

more legal jobs for local loggers. “Now we are working

full-time without feeling guilty,” says Ami Daud of his new

job managing monocable crews at Belayan River Timber

concession in East Kalimantan.

Early research suggests that the monocable is one example

of an improved management practice that, when combined

with others, could reduce carbon emissions from logging by up

to 35 per cent, without reducing timber production.