Category: Theme 5: Impacts of trade and investment on forests and people


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  • Challenges and opportunities for sustainable rubber in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic

Challenges and opportunities for sustainable rubber in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic

20 October, 2016

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Authors: Kenney-Lazar, M.; Wong, G.

Key points

  • The opportunities provided by rubber cultivation in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR) have been offset by sustainability challenges, such as low prices, food insecurity, land expropriation, deforestation and a loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services.
  • Smallholder rubber has had the greatest success in alleviating poverty while limiting environmental impacts and should be the preferred form of rubber production.
  • Improved and extensive credit, technical and extension services are needed to support a robust smallholder sector that cultivates rubber in ways that are economically, socially and environmentally sustainable.
  • Large-scale land concessions for rubber should be limited and highly regulated to prevent expropriation of rural people’s lands, unfair compensation, deforestation, agro-chemical pollution and exploitative labor practices

Series: CIFOR Infobrief no. 153

Publisher: Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), Bogor, Indonesia

Publication Year: 2016

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  • Impacts of industrial tree plantations in Indonesia: Exploring local perceptions

Impacts of industrial tree plantations in Indonesia: Exploring local perceptions

18 October, 2016

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Authors: Pirard, R.

Key messages

  • Based on a survey about perceptions of industrial tree plantations of 606 respondents living in the vicinity of such plantations over three Indonesian islands, we find a clear divide, with evidence of more negative perceptions around acacia (pulp and paper) plantations in Sumatra and Kalimantan compared with those around pine (resin and timber) and teak (timber) in Java.
  • Acacia pulpwood plantations develop in more remote areas, where they contribute to opening up jobs and infrastructure; these facts are only partly acknowledged by local populations, as expectations have not been fully met. The plantations generate manynegative impacts such as deprivation of access to land for locals, environmental damage such as loss of biodiversity, and various annoyances such as dust or noise.
  • Pine and teak plantations are usually found in more developed areas and have a much longer presence in the landscape, dating from before Independence in many cases; they are therefore much less associated to negative changes, and their contributions to local development through the provision of jobs or environmental services are acknowledged.
  • Intermediary institutions have already proved their effectiveness in the Javanese context with pine and teak plantations, and could be mainstreamed with support from the government.
  • We find reasons to hope for better impacts if proper management decisions are made. For instance, companies can adapt rotation periods and involve local people early in the planning process in order to satisfy the most important needs and requests, mitigate risks of conflicts, and eventually improve local impacts.

Series: CIFOR Infobrief no. 152

Publisher: Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), Bogor, Indonesia

Publication Year: 2016

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  • Bundling forest ecosystem services for FSC certification: an analysis of stakeholder adaptability 11

Bundling forest ecosystem services for FSC certification: an analysis of stakeholder adaptability 11

13 October, 2016

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An expansion of Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification to forest ecosystem services (FES) is a potential tool to improve FES management. Certification of FES in bundles is an expected strategy because it could decrease trade-offs among FES, increase forest owners’ incomes, and reduce certification costs per FES. However, there is insufficient evidence of which bundles FES would be most feasible to certify. This study assesses the adaptability of the FSC system to FES bundles through analyses of FES projects and surveys of FSC certification bodies, enabling partners, and certificate holders. Exploratory factor analysis and multiple correspondence analysis identified two bundles: 1) soil and watershed conservation and 2) cultural ecotourism with non-timber forest products or agricultural goods. These findings indicate potentially manageable FES bundles, given the current FSC system and FES projects, as well as some implementation challenges.

Source : CIFOR Publication

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  • Four decades of forest degradation: Fire And oil palm expansion in Borneo

Four decades of forest degradation: Fire And oil palm expansion in Borneo

30 September, 2016

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  • Towards more sustainable and productive independent oil palm smallholders in Indonesia: Insights from the development of a smallholder typology

Towards more sustainable and productive independent oil palm smallholders in Indonesia: Insights from the development of a smallholder typology

22 September, 2016

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Working Paper 47 pid=2893
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The rapid expansion of Indonesia’s independent smallholder oil palm sector is posing important productivity, sustainability and legality challenges. As a result, the need to better regulate independent oil palm smallholders is increasingly being acknowledged by Indonesian polity. Because the sub-sector is comprised of highly diverse stakeholder groups that face and pose distinct challenges, a targeted and stakeholder-disaggregated approach to sector regulation is required. Efforts to that effect have, however, been frustrated by an inadequate understanding of independent oil palm smallholder characteristics and associated challenges. This paper aims to contribute to this knowledge gap by developing a typology of independent oil palm smallholders. Through a hierarchical cluster analysis employing field data collected on 1840 smallholders in one of Sumatra’s largest oil palm producing districts, Rokan Hulu, six sub-groups are identified, which are differentiated here on the basis social, economic, and geographic characteristics. Drawing on these results, the paper identifies a number of specific intervention priorities for each of the sub-groups

Source: CIFOR publications

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  • Agroforestry and Forestry in Sulawesi series: Unravelling rural migration networks: land-tenure arrangements among Bugis migrant communities in Southeast Sulawesi

Agroforestry and Forestry in Sulawesi series: Unravelling rural migration networks: land-tenure arrangements among Bugis migrant communities in Southeast Sulawesi

31 August, 2016

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Authors: Elok Ponco Mulyoutami, Ekawati Sri Wahyuni, Lala M Kolopaking

Spontaneous rural-to-rural migration has many impacts on every dimension of human life. Migration driven by the hunger for land has been stimulated by the development of high economic value crops. The study of migration networks will contribute to a better portrait of continuing migration and the related actors: their influence on the decision to migrate and their role in facilitating the migration. This study focussed on Bugis migrant communities-famous as great wanderers-in Southeast Sulawesi Province, Indonesia. In the province, smallholders’ cocoa plantations are dominated by Bugis migrants, contributing two-thirds of the total 137 833 tonnes of cocoa production in 2010. Research was conducted at the migrants’ destination (Konawae District) and origin (Sinjai District). The study showed that the main motivation for Bugis to migrate was to obtain land. The three main waves of migration to Southeast Sulawesi are characterized by development of a major commodity in each time period: 1) the ‘green revolution’ with paddy-rice development in the 1970s–80s; 2) the cocoa boom in early (1980s–2000s) and late phases (2000s until present). Four migration network patterns were deliberately or unintentionally developed by the Bugis migrant community: 1) kinship network; 2) patron–client relationship; 3) migration owing to work displacement; and 4) the pioneer migration: early migrants who have lived in Southeast Sulawesi for a long time. In each wave, the central actor in the migration is the land broker, linking different villages and families.

Publisher: World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF), Southeast Asia Regional Program, Bogor, Indonesia

Working Paper 225

Download PDF at World Agroforestry Centre

 

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  • Inclusive Forest Industries for a Green Economy

Inclusive Forest Industries for a Green Economy

16 August, 2016

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  • Smallholder representative explains what’s wrong with development finance

Smallholder representative explains what’s wrong with development finance

15 August, 2016

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Short anecdote about development finance told by smallholder representative Zwide Jere at the Global Landscapes Forum: The Investment Case 2016 in London.

Zwide Jere is the Managing Director of Total LandCare, improving access to finance and technology for smallholders in Southern and Eastern Africa. Zwide has 30 years of experience working with rural communities in partnership with government, non-governmental and private sector organizations. This gives him a unique privilege in handling issues that cut across these sectors. His strong capability is assessing and analyzing issues/problems of watersheds and resolving conflicts arising from resource uses by the different groups will add value to the planned program.

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  • Negotiating across difference: gendered exclusions and cooperation in the shea value chain

Negotiating across difference: gendered exclusions and cooperation in the shea value chain


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Author: Elias, M.; Arora-Jonsson, S.

Shea butter, derived from the African shea tree, has acquired a pivotal position in global agro-food and cosmetics industries. In Burkina Faso, public and private actors as well as civil society are converging upon the product to boost the incomes of rural female producers. As a result of these trends, the shea value chain is increasingly segmented; shea nuts are sold in a low-return, conventional market and simultaneously enter an alternative, high-value niche market.

In the latter strand of the value chain, some producers are improving their prospects by forming an association. Tracing relationships across the two strands, we demonstrate how ‘horizontal’ relations based on gender, ethnicity, age and geography contribute to shaping participation and benefit capture in the shea value chain. We argue that processes of social inclusion and exclusion operate in parallel, as differentiated actors both cooperate and compete to secure their place within the chain.

While collective organizing brings positive social and economic benefits, we show that producers’ associations need not be empowering for all women. The significance ofcollective enterprises, but also their drawbacks must be considered when valorising pathways to women’s empowerment. Our study reinforces calls for greater integration of horizontal elements in value chain analyses.

Download full text here

Journal or series: Environment and Planning D: Society and Space

 

Publication Year: 2016

Also available at Bioversity International

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  • FTA event coverage: Highlights from the 2016 Asia-Pacific Rainforest Summit

FTA event coverage: Highlights from the 2016 Asia-Pacific Rainforest Summit


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By Leona Liu, originally published at CIFOR’s Forests News

The Summit’s 300+ participants brought perspectives from across geographic and sectoral boundaries to discuss ways toward a more integrated approach to forests, people and the region.

Global momentum is building to sustainably manage forests and landscapes, as a key factor for mitigating climate change and promoting development.

The Asia-Pacific, a dynamic region with rich natural assets, will be a crucial focus of this movement going forward. Rainforests in the Asia-Pacific account for 26 percent of the region’s land area, and support the livelihoods of some 450 million people.

Building on global commitments under the Paris Agreement and United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, the 2016 Asia-Pacific Rainforest Summit, brought together stakeholders from government, business, civil society and the research community to catalyze practical action on reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, and achieving sustainable development in the region.

The Summit, held from 3-5 August in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei Darussalam, was hosted by the Government of Brunei Darussalam and supported by the Australian Government.

In the video below, event participants including Peter Holmgren, Director General of CIFOR; Josh Frydenberg, Australia’s Minister for the Environment and Energy; and Dato Ali Apong, Brunei’s Minister of Primary Resources and Tourism, discuss the importance of integration- both across the region and between the private and public sectors – to achieve impact.

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  • Assessment of governance mechanisms, livelihood outcomes and incentive instruments for green rubber in Myanmar

Assessment of governance mechanisms, livelihood outcomes and incentive instruments for green rubber in Myanmar

09 August, 2016

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Authors: Kenney-Lazar, M.

Over the past decade, rubber cultivation has expanded throughout the Mekong region, from established centers of production in Thailand, China and Vietnam to new sites in Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia. Rubber has brought opportunities for increased incomes and livelihood improvement as well as social and environmental risks. The2012 drop in rubber prices has sent the sector into disarray, halting the expansion of rubber and constraining the ability of farmers and companies to profit. This study examines how rubber production in Myanmar is governed, especially the socio-ecological dynamics of varying forms of production: smallholding, contract farming and large-scale estate plantations. Based upon an analysis of secondary literature and interviews with key stakeholders, it was found that rubber production in Myanmar is for the most part not ‘green’, meaning that it has not reduced poverty and protected ecosystem services and forested areas. The price crash has prevented most smallholding farmers from increasing their income. Wages on large-scale plantations have been low and only a limited amount of work for Myanmar people is available. Large-scale estates have been developed on land expropriated from communities and have replaced forested areas that provide important ecosystem services to local communities. The paper argues that if rubber is to be truly green then significant changes to production and trade must be made, including minimum price supports from the state, appropriate land use planning measures, the establishment of cooperatives, the protection of community land rights, and the implementation of agroforestry rubber production models.

Series: CIFOR Working Paper no. 207

Publisher: Bogor, Indonesia, Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR)

Publication Year: 2016

Also published at Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR)

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  • Challenges and opportunities of bioenergy development in Indonesia

Challenges and opportunities of bioenergy development in Indonesia

25 July, 2016

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A synthesis of the workshop co-organized by the Ministry of National Development Planning/Bappenas and the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), 31 May 2016, in Jakarta.

This stakeholder workshop is part of the project “Forests in the global bioeconomy: Developing multi-scale policy scenarios” funded by the German Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), and the study by Bappenas “Development of forest energy to support the forest industry cluster”. The research forms part of the CGIAR Research Program on Forests, Trees and Agroforestry and the document synthesizes the main inputs and messages that were delivered.

It was originally published at CIFOR.

Download the full text here.

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  • Asia-Pacific Rainforest Summit invitation video

Asia-Pacific Rainforest Summit invitation video


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Hon. Dato Ali Apong, Minister of Primary Resources and Tourism for Brunei Darussalam invites you to the Asia-Pacific Rainforest Summit 2016.

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  • FTA at Asia-Pacific Rainforest Summit: Empowering smallholders

FTA at Asia-Pacific Rainforest Summit: Empowering smallholders


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Originally published at CIFOR’s Forests News

Mediating the push and pull of agricultural expansion and conservation is no easy task. Add to that smallholders – who play a crucial role in producing agricultural commodities but whose economic disenfranchisement can incline to unsustainable practices – and the situation becomes even more complex.

With increasing corporate commitments to eliminate deforestation from supply chains, the integral, and precarious, situation of smallholders must be addressed. But how can companies help to empower them, disincentivizing deforestation and unsustainable practices? What must government, civil society and the financial sector do? And, what would a successful smallholder empowerment project look like?

At the upcoming Asia-Pacific Rainforest Summit in Brunei from 3 to 5 August, these questions will be discussed by diverse representatives from government, business, civil society and the research community.

Pablo Pacheco is principal scientist with the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) and coordinator of the Trade, Investment and Governance theme of the CGIAR Research Program on Forests, Trees and Agroforestry. He will be chairing the smallholder session at the summit. In an interview on the sidelines of the recent Global Landscapes Forum: The Investment Case he addressed the thorny question of smallholders, investing and sustainability.

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  • Company-community conflict in Indonesia’s industrial plantation sector

Company-community conflict in Indonesia’s industrial plantation sector

18 July, 2016

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Authors: Persch-Orth, M.; Mwangi, E.

Key messages

  • Competing land claims are the primary cause of conflict between communities and companies in most industrial tree plantation conflicts.
  • Conflicts manifest in different ways. Communities often conduct physical protests and media campaigns, whereas companies frequently avoid dialogue and enlist the services of security forces to suppress conflict.
  • The involvement of security forces should be regulated. Conflicts where external security personnel were involved had fatalities in 32% of the cases, versus none of the cases where external security personnel were not involved. In cases where violence occurred, the violence was mostly conducted by or directed against security personnel, army and police forces. However, we cannot differentiate between whether they were involved in a conflict already about to escalate, or whether their involvement escalated the conflict into violence.
  • Mediation is widely misinterpreted and poorly implemented. However, efforts are being made by government and non-governmental actors to build capacity in principles and practices of mediation.
  • More effort should be made to support communication between parties in conflict and to offer professional mediation services at an early stage of conflict. For the many conflicts that have already escalated to levels of physical violence, efforts to transform how the conflict is expressed or external intervention to enforce a solution may be most appropriate.
  • While communication between conflicting parties may be supported by government, it should not be mediated by government, as government is in itself an actor in most of the conflicts (as it issues the permits to the land). Ideally, mediation services can be provided by professional mediators who are part of the Impartial Mediators Network or registered under the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) or the Chamber of Commerce.
  • Concrete actions that signal the parties’ commitment to ending or de-escalating the conflict are critical.
  • Local activists and community members report that companies that are RSPO members are more easily held accountable. They also respond faster to complaints, even without direct intervention of the RSPO. Most conflicts with fatalities (67%) occurred on plantations that were not associated with an international sustainability initiative such as RSPO or FSC.

CIFOR Infobrief no. 143

Published 2016 at Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), Bogor, Indonesia

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