Forests Sourcebook - HCV Resource Network

NOTE 6.1
Using National Forest Programs to Mainstream
Forest Issues
The NFP concept aims to promote forest sector
reform and development as contributors to sustainable
development and poverty alleviation (see
box 6.5). It responds to global concerns about unsustainable
exploitation of forests and deforestation and widespread
discontent with the outcomes of earlier concerted
efforts by the international community 1 to halt the destruction
of predominantly tropical forests. The NFP expands
the focus beyond the tropics, reflecting the principle of
shared responsibility for the success of sustainable development,
as defined during the United Nations Conference on
Environment and Development (UNCED) in 1992.
The NFP refers to a process rather than a tangible program
and operates on a set of procedural principles 2 that
define how the exercise needs to be conducted. Its elements, 3
in turn, outline the scope of individual outputs—that is,
what is to be accomplished. The NFP principles determine
the concept’s most characteristic features and underpin
each country’s sovereign entitlement to use its natural
resources in a sustainable manner. While advocating donor
coordination in support of sustainable forest sector development,
the concept nevertheless emphasizes country leadership
in NFP implementation. This sets the NFP apart
from previous initiatives, which had been widely criticized
for being donor driven, unnecessarily top heavy, and lacking
in country ownership.
The World Bank’s 2002 Forests Strategy calls expressly
for a “multisectoral approach that addresses cross-sectoral
issues and takes into account the impacts of activities, policies,
and practices outside the sector on forests and people
who depend on forests for their livelihoods”(World Bank
2004: 2). This programmatic requirement fits seamlessly
with the NFP concept. Reflecting upon the specific usefulness
of the NFP concept for these ends, the Forests Strategy
concludes “…the motivation and coordinating framework
will be based on a shared agenda for forests, so that all
groups are able to focus their inputs on the same basic set of
objectives in the sector. In many countries this framework
will be provided by enhanced NFPs” (World Bank 2004: 9).
This applies particularly to the World Bank’s stated objective
to build its forest sector interventions on blended
financing arrangements.
The main objectives of the NFP are to
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introduce intersectoral planning approaches, involving
all relevant partners, to resolve conflicts and generate
effective policies and programs to address problems;
raise awareness and mobilize commitments at all levels
to address the issues related to sustainable forestry development;
increase the efficiency and effectiveness of both public
and private actions for sustainable forestry development;
foster local, national, regional, and international partnerships;
mobilize and organize national and (if necessary) international
resources and catalyze action to implement programs
and plans in a coordinated manner; and
plan and implement how forests and the forestry sector
could contribute to national and global initiatives, for
example, the Environmental Action Plans and the
actions agreed upon to implement the Forest Principles,
Chapter 11 of Agenda 21, and the Conventions on Biodiversity,
on Climate Change, and on Desertification.
The NFP, by definition, aims for cross-sectoral mainstreaming
of forest issues. Such issues as livelihoods of
forest-dependent people and their rights (particularly
rights of access and resource tenure and equitable benefit
sharing) call for broad stakeholder participation in forest
policy formulation and legal as well as institutional reform
(see note 5.3, Strengthening Legal Frameworks in the Forest
Sector). The NFP specifically addresses these issues and
promotes nonconfrontational and synergetic implementation.
The development (or, rather, the adaptation) of
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