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Kotru, R.; Rathore, B. M. S.; Pradhan, N.; Bhatta, L. D.; Acharya, G.; Karky, B.; Sigdel, S.; Bhojvaid, P. P.; Gera, N.; Sharma, S.
A five-day international symposium on ‘Transforming Mountain Forestry’ was held in Dehradun, India from 18 to 22 January 2015 to explore options for sustainable forest management practices and policies that address the changing conditions in the Hindu Kush Himalayas (HKH)
. The symposium was jointly organized by India’s Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MOEFCC); the Forest Research Institute (FRI); and the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD). Over 250 regional and global experts, including law makers, scientists, practitioners, donors, civil servants, the media, market actors, legal experts, and representatives of civil society and the business community, attended the symposium, which sought to address the challenges of conservation and inclusive development while identifying transboundary opportunities to meet climatic challenges.
Forests cover about 25% of the HKH and interface with numerous ecosystems, providing an invaluable range of ecosystem services. The goods and services from forests sustain mountain agriculture, which is an integral part of ensuring food, water, and energy security in the context of the transboundary socio-economic, environmental, and cultural linkages of the region. The health and vitality of many forest ecosystems have been affected by climatic and land use changes; it is possible that the impact of the latter may outweigh that of the former.
To sustain forest ecosystem services in the context of climate change and other contemporary issues, the symposium sought to move towards a third-generation forest management paradigm, state controlled and participatory paradigms being the first two approaches to forest management in the region. The symposium recognized the role of mountain forests as carbon pools and recommended that regional member countries in the HKH develop policies that promote people-centric sustainable management practices backed by relevant research to ensure that forests continue to play this role in neutralizing the impacts of global warming. The need to link science with policy and practice was stressed and innovative ways to exchange knowledge to bridge information gaps were suggested, including the creation of horizontal and vertical links among stakeholders. Specific recommendations were made by the participants on the five symposium themes for consideration by the governments of the countries in the region.
This document also gives some details on discussion held during various plenary, parallel, and brainstorming sessions held during the symposium. It starts with the overall introduction of the symposium, the need for the symposium, and various themes and sub-themes discussed during the symposium. After the introduction, a detailed report of various sessions are presented which helped the symposium come up with recommendations in all five specific themes as mentioned below.
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This paper examines poverty and deforestation in developing countries as linked problems and focuses on policies that can favour poverty alleviation in forested regions
. The paper encompasses two elements: analysis of the spatial coincidence between poverty and forests, and proposed policy options for reducing poverty in forested areas. It is assumed that three key frames of reference must be borne in mind in order to produce the best possible policies: (1) the location of the rural poor and types and levels of poverty in relation to forest resources; (2) variations in the density of forest cover in relation to distance from urban areas (the von Thünen scale); and (3) variations in forest cover over time (high, low, then partial restoration) in relation to a country's forest transition experience. There are three main conclusions linked to these frames of reference. (1) Although relatively few people live in areas of high forest cover, they tend to be characterised by high rates of poverty and they are among the 'poorest of the poor'. (2) Four policy approaches are recommended for lifting people out of poverty: transfer of ownership of forest lands from governments to forest dwellers; facilitation of access to forest product markets; promotion of commercial-scale community forestry and company-community partnerships; and establishment of payments for forest environmental services that are pro-poor. Implementation of these four strategies must take into account the implications of the four von Thünen zones (periurban, agricultural mosaic, forest frontier, and relatively undisturbed forests). (3) One cannot place blind faith in economic growth and laissez-faire for reducing poverty in forested areas. Strategic policy interventions are necessary to assist the process of livelihood improvement
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In 2005, SDC held a workshop on 'Capitalisation and Sharing of Experiences on the Interaction between Forest Policies and Land Use Patterns in Asia', in partnership with ICIMOD, RECOFTC, and GTZ
. The aim was to improve policy and institutional frameworks for comparing and scaling up good practices in community-based natural resource management, with a focus on learning from community forestry in Nepal. These two volumes contain a summary of the proceedings. Topics include the regional and national status of community forestry and other initiatives like leasehold forestry and parks and protected area management in Nepal; social forestry in Bhutan; Guzara forestry in Pakistan; wetlands in China; and rangelands in Mongolia. Different approaches, models, and institutional arrangements; national-level policies; and micro-level experiences are examined. Flexibility in policies and laws to allow room for innovations at the community level was identified as a key ingredient for success; policy development should be based on research and lessons learned from the field
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In 2005, SDC held a workshop on 'Capitalisation and Sharing of Experiences on the Interaction between Forest Policies and Land Use Patterns in Asia', in partnership with ICIMOD, RECOFTC, and GTZ
. The aim was to improve policy and institutional frameworks for comparing and scaling up good practices in community-based natural resource management, with a focus on learning from community forestry in Nepal. These two volumes contain a summary of the proceedings. Topics include the regional and national status of community forestry and other initiatives like leasehold forestry and parks and protected area management in Nepal; social forestry in Bhutan; Guzara forestry in Pakistan; wetlands in China; and rangelands in Mongolia. Different approaches, models, and institutional arrangements; national-level policies; and micro-level experiences are examined. Flexibility in policies and laws to allow room for innovations at the community level was identified as a key ingredient for success; policy development should be based on research and lessons learned from the field
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