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Exploring fair trade timber A review of issues in current practice, institutional structures and ways forward
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... La creciente colaboración entre esquemas de certificación y la armonización de estándares o de sistemas de acreditación para reducir los costos a los productores y para tratar exhaustivamente los problemas de sustentabilidad ambiental y equidad ha sido un tema de discusión por muchos años, específicamente sobre PFNM (Ej., Mallet 1999;Brown et al. 2002, y recientemente en el contexto del "comercio justo de madera", Macqueen 2007). Es interesante notar que los análisis comparativos de pautas con miras a facilitar la colaboración para la certificación de PFNM (Mallet 1999) se llevaron a cabo cuando el FSC tenía menos de cinco años, mucho tiempo antes que los análisis similares comparativos para la certificación maderera (Vallejo y Hauselmann 2006;Macqueen 2007). ...
... La creciente colaboración entre esquemas de certificación y la armonización de estándares o de sistemas de acreditación para reducir los costos a los productores y para tratar exhaustivamente los problemas de sustentabilidad ambiental y equidad ha sido un tema de discusión por muchos años, específicamente sobre PFNM (Ej., Mallet 1999;Brown et al. 2002, y recientemente en el contexto del "comercio justo de madera", Macqueen 2007). Es interesante notar que los análisis comparativos de pautas con miras a facilitar la colaboración para la certificación de PFNM (Mallet 1999) se llevaron a cabo cuando el FSC tenía menos de cinco años, mucho tiempo antes que los análisis similares comparativos para la certificación maderera (Vallejo y Hauselmann 2006;Macqueen 2007). Esto se debe a que los PFNM representan un punto de intersección entre varios esquemas. ...
... Increased collaboration between certification schemes and harmonization of standards or of accreditation systems in order to lower costs for producers and comprehensively address issues of environmental sustainability and equity has been a topic of discussion for many years, specifically referring to the case of NTFPs (e.g., Mallet 1999;Brown et al. 2002; and more recently in the context of 'fair trade timber, ' Macqueen 2007). It is interesting to note that comparative analyses of standards with a view to facilitating collaboration around NTFP certification (Mallet 1999) were carried out when FSC was less than 5 years old, coming much earlier than similar comparative analyses for the timber certification (Vallejo and Hauselmann 2006;Macqueen 2007). ...
... Increased collaboration between certification schemes and harmonization of standards or of accreditation systems in order to lower costs for producers and comprehensively address issues of environmental sustainability and equity has been a topic of discussion for many years, specifically referring to the case of NTFPs (e.g., Mallet 1999;Brown et al. 2002; and more recently in the context of 'fair trade timber, ' Macqueen 2007). It is interesting to note that comparative analyses of standards with a view to facilitating collaboration around NTFP certification (Mallet 1999) were carried out when FSC was less than 5 years old, coming much earlier than similar comparative analyses for the timber certification (Vallejo and Hauselmann 2006;Macqueen 2007). This is because NTFPs represent a point of intersection between the various schemes. ...
... Timber markets, in particular, provide for little differentiation of logs or sawn wood originating from forest-based communities. Demands for Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification are often too costly for forest-based communities, and local communities continue to be at a market disadvantage (Macqueen et al., 2006;Wiersum et al., 2013). ...
Addressing poverty is an urgent global priority. Many of the world's poor and vulnerable people live in or near forests and rely on trees and other natural resources to support their livelihoods. Effectively tackling poverty and making progress toward the first of the United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Goals to “end poverty in all its forms everywhere” must therefore consider forests and trees. But what do we know about the potential for forests and tree-based systems to contribute to poverty alleviation? This Special Issue responds to this question. It synthesises and presents available scientific evidence on the role of forests and tree-based systems in alleviating and, ultimately, eradicating poverty. The articles compiled here also develop new conceptual frameworks, identify research frontiers, and draw out specific recommendations for policy. The scope is global, although emphasis is placed on low- and middle-income countries where the majority of the world's poorest people live. This introductory article stakes out the conceptual, empirical and policy terrain relating to forests, trees and poverty and provides an overview of the contribution of the other seven articles in this collection. This Special Issue has direct implications for researchers, policymakers and other decision-makers related to the role of forests and tree-based systems in poverty alleviation. The included articles frame the relationships between forests, trees and poverty, identify research gaps and synthesize evidence to inform policy.
... Forest enterprises have been considered as a means of generating income among people that depend on forest in Nigeria (Aiyeloja et al., 2013). When poverty reduction is considered solely in terms of income generation, small forest enterprises may or may not compare favourably with large enterprises (Macqueen et al., 2007). However, when a multitude of dimensions of well-being are considered, small forest enterprises are seen to have a vital role in enhancing the quality of life of forest-dependent people and lifting them out of poverty (IIED, 1996;Egid, 2010). ...
Forest enterprise has been identified as a means of generating income among people; plays a vital role in enhancing the quality of life of forest-dependent people. Despite the opportunities timber marketing offers the people, the disparities in the income generation of the marketers in the Bodija sawn wood Market and the effect of socio-economic factors on income generation of the marketers is not well understood. This study was conducted to assess the socio-economic determinants of contributions of timber marketing to the income of timber merchants in Bodija sawn-wood Market. One hundred structured questionnaires were administered randomly in five zones of the sawn wood Market to obtain information on the socio-economic background of the sawn wood marketers and the contribution of timber trade to their incomes. The result indicated that 99.0% of the respondents were male while females constituted 1.00%. Seventy-five percent of the marketers had post-primary education and 25% had primary education. Two percent of the marketers had below 10 years of marketing experience, twenty-six percent had between 11 and 20 years, 57.00% had between 21 and 30 years, and 15.00% had more than 30years experience. Fifty-eight percent of the respondents earned between ₦10000-₦60000 (1US$ = 360.00) from timber marketing, thirty-one percent earned between ₦60001 and ₦110000, 7% earned between ₦110001 and ₦160000, while 4% earned above ₦160000 per month. Chi-square analysis of the socio-economic characteristics of the respondents and income generation at α level of 0.05 indicated that ethnicity (0.001) and years of experience (0.009) significantly influenced income while the level of education (0.101), age (0.122), and religion (0.745) had no significant influence on the incomes of marketers. Experience is an important factor in sawn wood marketing and a major determinant of the contribution of timber marketing to the income of timber marketers in Bodija sawn wood Market.
... In 2006, calls emerged for an alternative, trust-based, Fairtrade timber model in which buyers would cover certification costs for small and medium forest enterprises (Macqueen et al., 2006a). The justification was that forest proximity, lack of mobility and social licence to operate in locally controlled forestry improves incentives for sustainability when compared with largescale industrial forestry. ...
This chapter describes four enabling investments that climate and development financiers needs to make to enable locally controlled forestry: secure commercial tenure; fair market access and business support; appropriate technical extension support and; freedom of association and strength of organisation. It focuses especially on the fourth of those enabling investments - strengthening organisations - as the key to unlocking prosperous and sustainable locally controlled forestry and to attracting conventional asset investment into the sector.
Despite timber marketing’s income potential, income disparities exist among marketers in Bodija sawn wood market, and the impact of socio-cultural factors on income generation is unclear. This study was designed to assess socio-cultural determinants affecting income from timber marketing in Bodija sawn wood market. One hundred copies of structured questionnaire were administered randomly in five zones of the market to obtain information on the socio-cultural backgrounds and the contribution of timber trade to marketers’ income. The results revealed that 99.0% of the respondents were male, while females constituted only 1.00%. Seventy-five percent of the marketers had post-primary education, and 25% had primary education. Regarding marketing experience, 2% of the marketers had < 10 years, 26% had between 11 and 20 years, 57% had between 21 and 30 years, and 15.00% had >30 years. Income-wise, 58% of the respondents earned between ₦10,000 - ₦60,000, 31% earned between ₦60,001 and ₦110,000, while 11% earned from ₦110,001 up to above ₦160,000 per month. Chi-square test of association between the socio-cultural characteristics of the respondents and income generation at α = 0.05 showed ethnicity (0.001) and experience (0.009) significantly influenced income, while the level of education (0.101), age (0.122), and religion (0.745) had no significant impact. The study highlights the importance of experience in sawn wood marketing and its significant role as a determinant of the contribution of timber marketing marketers’ income in Bodija sawn wood market. Further recommendations are provided on strategies to improve the market performance, effectiveness, and livelihood contribution of timber marketing.
Forests and tree-based systems represent complex social-ecological systems. Gaining a better understanding of how contextual factors influence forest-poverty dynamics is essential for the design, targeting and implementation of policy instruments and interventions to alleviate poverty. In this chapter we explore key social, economic, political and environmental factors affecting forest-poverty dynamics, and use a series of illustrative examples to demonstrate how factors can take multiple roles in causal chains of processes of social and environmental change in forest and tree-based systems. We conclude the chapter by highlighting how future research can provide a better understanding of the processes and contexts shaping forest-poverty dynamics,
including elucidating the relative effects of different drivers of change on multiple social and environmental outcomes.
As the world emerges from the COVID-19 pandemic we find that much of our food and planetary protection comes not from corporations but from smallholders, Indigenous Peoples and local communities (IPLCs). We should shift governance attention – from favouring the corporations, to supporting a range of practical organizational innovations by IPLCs. Together these organizational innovations can achieve a big triple win for the planet’s forests, climate and people.
The scale of IPLC use and management of forests require greater recognition and support (forest-linked IPLCs number 1.3 billion people, they produce products worth US$1.3 trillion annually)
COVID-19 highlights the fragility of global supply chains and the need for small enterprise innovation, local income generation and local action for sustainability
IPLCs are not generally implicated as the main drivers of forest loss – which predominantly industrial agriculture, industrial forestry, shifting cultivation and fire
IPLCs are not homogenous and so tailored approaches to recognizing and spreading their sustainable forest management (SFM) practices are needed
There are also very many types of IPLC enterprise, with variable value chains, market demand, formality, cost of proving claims, challenges of collective action, and imperatives for support
3rd party certification schemes are useful to spread industrial SFM but have not really helped IPLCs despite years of effort
Accountable and tiered levels of organization that link IPLCs to each other, markets and policy makers are central for upscaled change, whatever the approach
Almost always essential too are credible local assessment methods, partnerships and fairer distribution of benefits and costs in favour of IPLCs
Cooperative enterprises have been shown to innovate in delivering different categories of prosperity for their members – in ways that go beyond SFM to being key in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
Our analysis of two broad areas of intervention – changes to governance of land and resources, and improvements in value chains – identifies an array of proven innovative approaches. It is time to scale them up, in complementary ways
These approaches include the following, which can ordered in as a notional series of steps from more simple to more complex:
• Accountable organizations with financial management capability
• Local mapping to secure resources rights
• Developing local capability for forest integrity assessments
• Remote sensing to check forest condition of those resources
• Payment systems to reward good forest condition
• Specific payments for fairtrade or payments for ecosystem services to cover any proof of sustainability costs
• Local participatory guarantee schemes
• Business incubation support platforms for sustainable business
• Complementing the above payment mechanisms with private sector investment
• Pressuring the private sector on forest disclosure
• Squeezing investment by improving positive certification of green investment portfolios
For almost all of these approaches there is a need for ‘enabling investment’ (that is, not looking for a financial return) before they might attract ‘asset investment’ (that is, looking for a return) – and in general it is better to focus on internal finance mobilization first.
The trick may be to marshal the substantial available enabling finance (from national development finance, ODA and climate finance) to support these steps in a coordinated manner and at scale – channeling most finance into the earlier steps and then diversify that funding for more advanced options once the basic building blocks are in place.
Global concern on illegal logging has led to the imposition of binding trade related environmental measures on trade of timber and timber products by developed countries like the US, EU and Australia. This dissertation examines the effect of the binding measures on Peninsular Malaysia’s forest sector and timber trade. Putnam’s two-level game theory is applied, to demonstrate the interdependence of politics at the international level with the domestic level. There is a need to have a “win-set” between the international and domestic levels whereby an agreement reached by stakeholders at Level II (discussions at the domestic level) will help to make the bargaining at Level 1 a success (bargaining between negotiators which leads to a tentative agreement). In the case of Peninsular Malaysia’s forest sector and timber trade, it has been acknowledged that the measures imposed by the EU through FLEGT VPA/EUTR and to a lesser extent by Australia through its ILPA/ILPAR as well as the US with its Lacey Act amendments, have brought about changes in policy and administration. Thus, the Federal Government of Malaysia, specifically in the FLEGT VPA negotiations have an important task in managing domestic stakeholders’ demands for development, taking into account the unique Federal-State relations on land and forest matters as well as managing its international commitments to ensure trade in sustainable and/or legal timber. The policy reaction of the Federal Government of Malaysia to the measures imposed was analysed using Schoppa’s analysis of the concept of “synergistic linkages” and “reverberation”. On this note, case studies were conducted on Peninsular Malaysia’s forest sector and timber industry as well as the binding measures with specific focus on EU FLEGT VPA/EUTR. To substantiate the findings of the case studies, empirical evidence were gathered from primary interviews with experts from government or agency officials, Timber Industry Associations, environmental and social NGOs and international organizations. Further, focus group discussions were held with four states in Peninsular Malaysia to understand the position of the states. The findings show that it is important for the Federal Government to gain the support and commitment of State Governments on such measures. Therefore, the demands of State Governments for extra funding, resources, equipment and manpower to implement the sustainable and/or legal commitments need to be addressed. Furthermore, NGO criticism about not being properly consulted or given an effective role in government initiatives or meetings, also needs to be taken into account. There is also a need for greater political will by the Malaysian Government, to ensure the success of any negotiations or binding measures imposed. This dissertation indicates the importance of a Level II agreement to ensure the success of a Level I agreement of current negotiations pertaining to Peninsular Malaysia’s forest sector and timber trade.
This book explores the global connections between Chilean landscapes and Northern consumers embodied by the Forest Stewardship Council logo, the green seal of approval for certified sustainably-produced "good wood." How do we decide what makes good forestry? What knowledges and values are expressed or silenced when "good" is defined with a market mechanism like certification? Henne's ethnographic study documents the new forms of labor and the new expectations about sustainability and responsibility that certification generates, in the context of the competing ideas about how to manage a forest - or even what a forest is - that constitute forest certification in Chile. A critical analysis of certification's practices helps understand the role of ethical trade initiatives in creating sustainable, survivable global futures.
This paper aims to provide a summary review of the evidence on commercial forestry’s ability to reduce poverty. It also tries to identify some of the factors that can enhance this ability and some of
the challenges ahead for commercial forestry to be more pro-poor. The main points are as follows:
Poverty is not just a lack of money and jobs, but of assets, services, civil and political rights, voice and the rule of law. Forestry can contribute to all of these – potentially more than many other sectors - but often it does not.
Whilst there is a variety of initiatives seeking to recognize ‘sustainable,’ ‘responsible’ or ‘legal’ forestry, schemes to acknowledge or verify ‘pro-poor’ forestry have not yet been developed
Commercial forestry’s inputs to national economic development, by paying taxes and reinvesting profits, may trickle down to help the poor - but the evidence is not strong
Industrial scale commercial forestry jobs and income have at best avoided exacerbating poverty - evidence that they have reduced poverty is scarce
Timber is often out of poor people’s reach but, where the rights and policy framework is favourable, evidence is growing that small and medium forestry enterprises can reduce poverty
Good opportunities exist for improved economy-wide impacts, and for both large and smallscale commercial forestry to broaden livelihood opportunities and enable poor people to influence decisions that affect
Policy, institutional and market conditions are critical. These are not the ‘work of others’ –forestry’s protagonists can and should engage to shape them
Commercial forestry needs to do more for poverty reduction, and a major push to scale up pro-poor commercial forestry is feasible. Good information, strong local democracy, fair enforcement of simple rules, creative ideas and models, and a range of highly committed partnerships will all be needed to make this work.
Human induced climate change is one of the most pressing and complex issues
facing society in the 21st century. Increased use of forests and wood products,
while not replacing the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions at source,
does make an important contribution towards tackling the problem of climate
change. The use of wood products can also provide broader social, economic
and environmental benefits. However, these broader developmental benefits
are not always recognised, nor do they always materialise in tandem with
climate change mitigation initiatives. This report aims to improve
understanding of the benefits of, and linkages between, the use of wood
products to mitigate climate change and the capacity to deliver broader human
development.
Certification has brought different stakeholder groups around the table to discuss what constitutes sustainable forest management, and it is clear that it has had its benefits. But now, ten years after the concept was first developed, it is time to examine more concrete impacts on the ground and to understand where and why both positive and negative impacts have occurred. It is time to focus research capacity, time, money and energy on enhancing the certification tool to improve and enlarge its impact.
