Forests Sourcebook - HCV Resource Network

Take into consideration the dynamic nature of ecological
processes and livelihood strategies. The time lag
between when an action is undertaken and when its impact
on the forest resource and its users is manifested must be
recognized. A temporally explicit framework is required to
accommodate these important considerations.
Recognize that economic forces are not set up for
landscape considerations. Economic forces have a profound
impact on both the long-term and short-term behavior
of forest stakeholders and ultimately determine the balance
between competing management objectives (see box 4.3). Such
factors as location, accessibility, vegetation type, and management
determine the value of forests for timber production versus
environmental services. The adoption of ecosystem
approaches currently provides limited financial rewards.
Box 4.2
Moving Beyond Optimization Models in
Tri National de la Sangha
In the Tri National de la Sangha area of the Congo
Basin, a World Wildlife Fund (WWF) initiative
focused on determining the sort of landscape configuration
that would be optimal for achieving two
contrasting objectives—improving livelihoods
and conserving biodiversity. The project used simulation
models to determine the relative utility of
different mixes of protected areas, logging concessions,
and community lands. Models were developed
in a participatory manner so that the model
provided a framework for discussion and negotiation.
Economic benefits to different stakeholder
groups and employment created by different types
of land management were quantified. Similarly,
the costs of protection and the benefits from hunting
safaris, bushmeat harvesters, and taxes paid to
the government and local communities from these
different activities were calculated.
Modeling exercises can result in counterintuitive
conclusions. In this case, modeling showed
that if the proportion of land under well-managed
concessions increased, the funds allocated to conservation
could be used to increase the intensity of
conservation efforts in national parks. Overall biodiversity
outcome in landscapes with high proportions
of well-managed concessions might therefore
be better than in landscapes with a high
proportion of totally protected area.
Source: Sayer and others 2005.
Box 4.3
Incentives for Sustainable Forest
Management in Fragmented Forest
Landscape
The conservation project for sustainable development
in Central America, implemented during the
1990s by CATIE (Tropical Agricultural Research
and Higher Education Center, Costa Rica) and several
local partners, demonstrated the feasibility of
applying sustainable forest management to forest
areas under 50 ha as an integrated component of
diversified farming systems based on agriculture or
livestock production. Communities in the Maya
Biosphere Reserve in El Petén, Guatemala, could
act as forest conservation agents but for them to do
so required more sustainable and profitable agricultural
systems and guaranteed legal access to forest
resources. The project pioneered community
forest concessions and was reinforced by subsequent
initiatives. The community groups obtained
legal access to forests by means of concessions that
allowed them to protect and use the resource. In
the process, the communities improved their organizational
and management capacities, their silvicultural
ability, and their environmental awareness.
Source: Campos Arce, Villalobos, and Louman 2005.
Innovative payments for environmental services (see
note 2.3, Innovative Marketing Arrangements: Payments for
Environmental Services) and other compensation arrangements
can provide economic incentives for a more landscape-based
approach to optimizing forest functions.
Work across political and agency boundaries. A
landscape of interest often crosses multiple political (local
or national) and agency boundaries, with government and
community capacity and presence varying widely. Because
legal governance authority is seldom available at the landscape
level, consensus must be achieved among all relevant
stakeholders and government agencies for implementation
of natural resource and forest management plans on the
landscape. Collaboration among these entities may be weak
and might need to be strengthened to cost effectively supplement
and complement landscape efforts. This can
require convening and facilitating interaction among relevant
stakeholder groups, working closely with these groups
over time, and clarifying, or in some cases providing, the
incentives for each of them to accept restrictions on the use
of resources that would otherwise be unregulated.
126 CHAPTER 4: OPTIMIZING FOREST FUNCTIONS IN A LANDSCAPE