INTERGOVERNMENTAL WORKING GROUP ON FORESTS (IWGF) REPORT
PARTICIPATION AND TRANSPARENCY IN FOREST MANAGEMENT
Background:
The importance of popular participation and informed decision-making by all stakeholders was made clear in the UNCED Forest Principles:
"Forest resources and forest lands should be sustainably managed to meet the social, economic, cultural, and spiritual needs of present and future generations" (2b), and "Governments should promote and provide opportunities for the participation of interested parties, including local communities and indigenous people, industries, labor, non-governmental organizations and individuals, forest dwellers and women, in the development, implementation and planning of national forest policies" (2d).
This sentiment was supported in the Brundtland Report (World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987) which noted:
"The pursuit of sustainable development requires a political system that secures effective participation in decision-making... This is best secured by decentralizing the management of resources upon which local communities depend, and giving these communities an effective say over the use of these resources. It will also require promoting citizen's initiatives, empowering peoples' organizations, and strengthening local democracy."
The challenge is to translate this mandate to encourage participation into effective policies and practices. IWGF participants agreed that no single formula or prescription will work in all cases, but rather, what is needed are flexible approaches which respect broad principles of participation but which are adapted to particular local, national and international circumstances. Good participatory processes cannot be designed by consultants and experts alone, but they need to evolve organically through experimentation utilizing a diversity of approaches.
There was also a recognition that all stakeholders are not equal and may need to participate in different ways. Some, such as indigenous people, local communities, and women, are often at a disadvantage with respect to information and resources needed to participate effectively. With regard to the nature of participation, it was pointed out that participation must be effective - that there must be a real opportunity to influence the management of forests. Real participation, therefore, is qualitatively different from mere consultation. The United Nations Research Institute on Social Development proposed the following definition of participation:
"Popular participation is defined as the organized efforts to increase control over resources and regulative institutions in given social situations on the part of groups and movements of those hitherto excluded from such control."
The rationale for NGO participation is to (a) tap into an additional source of ideas and solutions to problems, (b) generate a wider, more effective political consensus, and (c) identify human resources to implement proposals.
Participation is improved by making relevant information available to all stakeholders and in a format which is comprehensible to a non-technical or not formally educated audience. Participation at a national and local level can be made effective by exploring land tenure arrangements and forest harvesting rights which devolve authority to local people. In some cases, support will be needed to improve the capacities of certain stakeholders to influence forest sector decisions and to carry out management activities. Governments, donor agencies, and multilateral agencies may need to coordinate stakeholder participation exercises in order to avoid duplication of effort and confusion.
At a regional level, the Central American Convention on Forests should be considered as one model for promoting participation and transparency in the forest sector.
At the international level, governments can broaden participation by inviting NGOs to participate on official delegations. In order for NGO involvement to be effective and constructive, it is important to determine the most appropriate and interested NGOs. Governments may help by being explicit about what they want out of NGO participation and NGOs can help by engaging in self-selection processes. The relevant chapters of Agenda 21 regarding "Major Groups" should serve as a starting point for identifying the range of non-governmental concerns to be represented. The IWGF process itself should be considered to be one of the important models for international level participation of NGOs. The structures and process used by IUCN-the World Conservation Union provide further examples of effective approaches to government/NGO collaboration.