Deforestation, research and the tropical forestry action plan

by Ron D. ~ y l i n g '

The destruction of large tracts of tropical forests is believed Administration of the TFAP has been by a coordinating
linked to serious environmental imbalances, including unit housed in the FAO's forestry department in Rome and
changes in hydrological cycles, increased emissions of carbon has the support of two FA0 committees, the Commmittee
dioxide (through forest clearing by burning) contributing to on Forestry Development in the Tropics and the Committee
global warming, and the irrevocable loss of plant and animal on Forestry. An interagency Forestry Advisors Group under
genetic material. The consequences of the elimination or the chairmanship of CIDA's Ralph Roberts reviews and
major disturbance of any forest cover can be serious but more monitors TFAP progress and meets twice annually.
so in the tropics. Most tropical ecosystems are highly
complex, fragile and poorly understood, and the resources The TFAP under Fire
of Third World governments too limited to develop adequate
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programs. Moreover, these forests are essential to the social However, almost since its inception the TFAP has been
and economic well-being of millions of people, providing criticized, not only by environmentalists (although often the
income and employment, food, fuel and shelter. most vocal and outspoken) but also by many of its supporters.
Concern by the international public over the rate of forest Sargent (1990) suggests that there were different assump-
destruction, estimated to be some 11 million hectares at the tions of what the TFAP was meant to accomplish which led
start of the 1980s, led to the publication in late 1985 of the to different expectations, and some of the criticism is due
Tropical Forestry Action Plan (TFAP) by the UN's Food to "the lack of clarity about the objectives and aims of TFAP,
and Agriculture Organization (FAO). About the same time the changing understanding about the issues involved and the
and with the support of the World Bank and the United poor information flow". Other critics believe that social
Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the World issues have been ignored in favour of short-term economic
Resources Institute (WRI) produced its Tropical Forests: A returns and that national plans were biased towards indus-
Callfor Action. Both documents called for a global campaign trial forestry and forest-based industries (Lohmann and Col-
For personal use only.

to halt forest destruction and promote programs for chester, 1990). Sattaur (1991) further observes that "the
sustainable forest management. TFAP has had no impact on deforestation", that the rate of
These parallel initiatives finally came together in common destruction of 11 million hectares in 1980 had almost doubled
cause in mid-1987 when the four agencies - the World by 1990.
Bank, WRI, UNDP and the FA0 - with the support of Under mounting criticism, three TFAP reviews were
the Rockefeller Foundation, met at Bellagio, Italy to review carried out in 1990, two commissioned separately by TFAP
and endorse a new joint version of the TFAP. The new co-founders, the FA0 and the WRI, and a third by the
TRAP called for a substantial increase in investment in Penang-based World Rainforest Movement (WRM). All
tropical forestry (some $US 8 billion over five years) and three to varying degrees were critical of the TFAP process
put forward five broad but not exclusive target areas for and recommended "substantial restructuring".
action: The FAO-commissioned report for example, noted that
forestry's role in land use - activities were aimed at a more there was "too narrow an approach to the forestry sector,
rational use of land, recognizing the potential of forests especially with regard to ecological and environmental issues,
to contribute to sustainable agriculture; and too little attention to its (the TFAP) linkages with other
forest-based industrial development - programs were to sectors". The approach was top-down, arrogant in its often
promote appropriate industries, including small-scale "cot- heavy dependence on foreign experts and "outsiders"
tage" enterprises, by intensifying resource management (Ullsten et al. 1990).
and development, promoting appropriate harvesting prac- The WRM review (Colchester and Lohmann 1990),
tices, and the marketing of industrial products; perhaps the most critical of the three, claimed that the TFAP
fuelwood and energy - activities were to restore the "has sometimes encouraged deforestation by the building of
balance between supply and demand through increased roads" through primary forests to serve forest-based indus-
fuelwood production and reduction in demand; tries (such roads then attract landless peasants who clear the
land for cropping).
5'
conservation tropical forest ecosystems - programs
were aimed at t e conservation, management and utiliza-
tion of genetic resources;
But for the WRI, "a particularly damaging flaw was that
the importance of sustainable agriculture" had been ignored
institutions - programs were to strengthen national edu- (Winterbottom 1990). (In 1985, the WRI had recommended
cation, training, research and extension activities. that at least 30% of the proposed 5-year TFAP budget be
spent on agriculture-related issues such as the support for
land reform and the development of sustainable alternatives
to shifting cultivation.) Winterbottom (1990) also concluded
that "it was a mistake to configure the TFAP as mostlv a
technical planning exercise when what was needed was a
'senior Programme Officer (Forestry), ~nternational Development political planning Process for analyzing trade-offs and
Research Centre, Ottawa, Ontario KIG 3A9. balancing conflicting interests. "

October 1991, Vol. 67, No. 5, The Forestry Chronicle 539

 The "New" TFAP Approach Research and the TFAP
There was therefore general agreement that the Tropical The role of research to support and feed into the new TFAP
Forestry Action Plan was not achieving many of its original process also needs to be given greater consideration. Recent
objectives (Winterbottom 1990). Earlier this year, the co- initiatives by the CGIAR (Consultative Group on Interna-
founders called a meeting in Geneva of forestry experts and tional Agricultural Research) are particularly important and
environmentalists to consider ways to revamp and strengthen require closer examination and active input. At "Bellagio
the TFAP. A meeting of the TFAP Forestry Advisors Group 11" in 1988, a Task Force Report on Tropical Forestry
was held in Ottawa in June to ratify some of the proposed Research concluded "that direct and early attention be paid
changes and to continue the process of revitalization. to the research needs of national organizations engaged in
The new TFAP, with a name change from "plan" to agricultural and forestry research". It was therefore recom-
''programme", recognizes the importance of having initia- mended that the CGIAR broaden its mandate to support
tives "demand-driven'', ie; countries themselves taking the research on agroforestry and forestry. (The CGIAR was con-
first step in deciding to initiate national forestry action plans sidered an effective structure for coordinating such research
(NFAPs) . The process is to be ''country-led' ' , with national and for directing funds to national and international pro-
institutions making the critical decisions and ultimately being grams. A number of associated international agricultural
responsible for undertaking "those activities necessary for
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centres already had some ongoing research programs on

successful forest conservation and development". The new agroforestry and land-use issues).
TFAP also recognizes the importance of evaluating country At the CGIAR's "Centres W e e k in Washington in
capacity to develop and implement a national plan, and where October, 1990 (Summary of Proceedings & Decisions; ICW,
necessary, it is prepared to strengthen this capacity. One way 1990; CGZAR), it was accepted that:
this will be accomplished will be through the establishment support for international agroforestry and forestry research
of an international "Consultative Group". This "CG" will will likely require two ' 'entities" or "mechanisms' ' func-
also provide technical assistance and help country-donor tioning in close collaboration with each other and with
partners establish priorities for action. And, although the new other national and international institutions;
TFAP process will be country-led, efforts will be made to the specific mandates and division of labour of these two
ensure that national plans give greater attention to environ- entities should be complementary to provide a coherent
mental concerns (presumably less industry focused). and efficient approach to global agroforestry and forestry
The new TFAP is therefore to be a catalytic process, "an research; and,
For personal use only.

entry point for a dialogue between all parties with a stake one of these entities (to be incorporated into the CGIAR)
in forests and forest products" (TFAP Background Paper, should be ICRAF (the International Council for Research
June, 1990). What it may not be however, is Winterbottom's on Agroforestry, located in Nairobi, Kenya) with its man-
' 'political planning process". date and strategy modified in terms of its relationship with
What appears to need strengthening are mechanisms to the other entity.
ensure that the concerns of individuals and non-governmental A working group of five donor representatives (one of
organizations, particularly those dealing with conservation whom was Dr. Geoffry Hawtin, formerly with Canada's
issues and the rights of rural people (those living in and International Development Research Centre) was appointed
directly dependent upon forest ecosystems) are not only heard to make recommendations to the CGIAR regarding the
but are included. A country-led process involving only official "institutionalization7' of tropical forestry research, the scope
government agencies and national/multinational forest-based of work of a new entity, its location, staffing and budget,
industries will not produce a responsive plan of action. And and its relationship to ICRAF. The report of the "Group of
although it is recognized that the new TFAP "cannot involve Five" was presented and accepted at the Paris meeting of \

or empower disenfranchised groups of forest users if there the CGIAR in June of this year. The CGIAR officially agreed
is no real commitment from the government of the par- to support international research to combat deforestation and
ticipating country to do so", the means to encourage or enforce encourage sustainable rural livelihoods based on forests and
this commitment in the new TFAP process are not clear. agroforestry .
There is also a need to accept completely that the new TFAP It was agreed that ICRAF be the anchor for agroforestry
process has to involve more than just the "forestry commu- research and that a new facility named the "International
nity': that perhaps it might have to be "other-than-forestry- Service for Research on Forestry in the Tropics and Sub-
led". Specific mechanisms need to be developed to ensure tropics" (ISREF), be the CGIAR's instrument for forestry
broad national representation. Some, perhaps all, TFAP sup- research globally. Any programme overlap between ICRAF
porters recognize that "deforestation has comparatively little and ISREF is to be managed by collaboration between the
to do with formal forestry, but is a social, economic and land- two agencies.
use problem" (Sargent 1990). According to Winterbottom ICRAF was to be brought immediately into the CGIAR
(1990), most TFAP initiatives in the past have simply justi- and would begin work on an interim two-year budget and
fied more investment in the forestry sector. "With a focus interm strategic plan.
this narrow, the root causes of deforestation can't be ade- The Australian Centre for International Agricultural
quately assessed, much less significantly affected." One way Research (ACIAR) was designated to act as an implementing
will be to involve social scientists, anthropologists, economists agency for the establishment of ISREF. In this capacity
and others right from the start of the process. Another might ACIAR will identify potential host countries, develop a draft
be to house the NFAP in a broad-based "development insti- constitution, identify suitable candidates for appointment to
tution" and not with a country's forestry department. the Board of Trustees and assist the Board in its search for

540 octobre 1991, vol. 67, no. 5, The Forestry Chronicle

 candidates for Director General, and outline a substantive References
programme of work and budget for ISREF for the first few Colchester, M. and L. Lohmann. 1990. The Tropical Forestry
years. ACIAR is to report back to the CGIAR at Interna- Action Plan: what progress? World Rainforest Movement
tional Centre's Week this autumn. and The Ecologist. Penang.
Should the development of this new entity proceed as sug- Lohmann, L. and M. Colchester. 1990. Paved with Good Inten-
gested, it will likely be a "lean" organization with a small tions: TFAP's Road to Oblivion. The Ecologist, 20(3): 91-98.
headquarters and a high proportion of its staff outposted. In Sargent, C. 1990. Defining the Issues: some thoughts and recom-
addition to coordinating international research through net- mendations on recent critical comments on TFAP. Interna-
worlung, a major activity will be to strengthen national forest tional Institute for Environment & Development, London.
research capacity. It is in this area where it would be most Sattaur, 0.1991. Last Chance for the Rainforest Plan? New Scien-
tist, March 1991.
effective to provide positive support to TFAP planners with Ullsten, O., Salleh Mohd Nor and M. Yudelman. 1990. Trop-
the identification, development and implementation of ical Forestry Action Plan. Report of the Independent Review.
national forestry action plans. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
However, as with the TFAP, recognition of (and solutions Winterbottom, R. 1990. Taking Stock: The Tropical Forestry
to) the social, economic and political dimensions of tropical Action Plan after Five Years. World Resources Institute,
deforestation will be critical. And, although it is perhaps Washington, D.C.
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assumed that research will have an important role in the new

TFAP process, more than a passive interest in the CGIAR's
"entity" is required to ensure both agendas are working
towards similar objectives.

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October 1991, Vol. 67, No. 5 , The Forestry Chronicle 541