Deforestation:

1
Deforestation

• Why it happens and what to do about it
• John Hudson, DFID
• UNFCC Workshop on Reducing Emissions from
  Deforestation in Developing Countries
• Rome, 30 August to 1 September 2006

2
The presentation

• Deforestation is not new
• It is complicated many causes and
  interrelationships
• Some specific examples
• What to do?

3
Its not new

• Changes in nature and extent of forests are not
  new
• Forests have ebbed and flowed during recorded and
  geological history
• It is the speed of change in some countries that
  is new
• As natural forests decline, managed forests,
  plantations and trees on farms replace them (see
  next slide)

4
Changes in quality and quantity of forests over
time
5
Many causes

• Direct causes e.g. shifting agriculture,
  commercial agriculture, plantations,
  infrastructure
• Underlying causes e.g. poverty population
  pressure market and policy distortions
  insecure/unclear tenure, failures of governance
• Predisposing factors biophysical
  characteristics, social upheavals

6
Some crude generalisations

• More people, less forest, but
• Higher per capita income, greater deforestation,
  but
• Higher farm prices (trade liberalisation,
  subsidies, devaluations) increase deforestation
• Higher off-farm employment and higher wages
  decrease deforestation

7
More generalisations

• Greater access (more roads) increases
  deforestation
• Mixed evidence about logging but excess
  processing capacity drives over-harvesting
• Deforestation is greater in open access regimes
  property rights matter

8
Some specific examples Indonesia

• 24 of forest cover (28 m ha) lost 1990-2005
• Direct causes logging (much illegal) conversion
  to oil palm, timber and coffee (planned
  spontaneous) small scale agriculture fire
  associated with land conversion
• Underlying causes population pressure and
  transmigration policy contested land tenure
  corruption demand for timber and excess
  processing capacity failures of capital markets
  (no due diligence) competition for power
  following decentralisation.

9
Some specific examples Brazil

• 26,000 km2 of Brazilian Amazon lost last year
• Direct causes conversion to agriculture
  (pasture, soya) colonisation and subsistence
  agriculture
• Underlying causes demand for commodities (beef,
  soya) unclear and contested property rights
  spontaneous colonisation and planned settlements

10
Some specific examples Africa

• Accounts for about half of global deforestation
• Small-scale agriculture accounts for about 60
• Dry forests being converted at a rate 50 higher
  than rainforests
• Logging is an important factor in parts of West
  and Central Africa
• Demand for wood rarely drives deforestation on
  other than a local scale

11
What to do?

• Multi-sectoral approach
• Clearer, more secure property rights
• Better governance and regulation
• Payments for environmental services

12
Multi-sectoral approach

• External factors drive deforestation narrow
  forest sector solutions wont work
• Need a multi-sectoral approach lots of policies
  and actions that deal with the complexity
• But these havent worked well in the past
• Sectoral entities dont cooperate
• Economic policy makers rarely think about
  forests
• Politically unattractive many small steps

13
Property rights

• Unclear and contested property rights are a major
  underlying cause of deforestation in most places
• Reforms challenge established power relations,
  are politically sensitive and usually slow to fix
• But there have been enormous changes in some
  parts of the world in the last 15 years or so

14
Better governance and regulation

• Forests often associated with deep seated systems
  of political patronage, corruption, inconsistent
  legal frameworks, weak law enforcement and
  poverty
• Must be resolved by wider governance reforms as
  well as specific actions related to forests
• Such actions more likely to succeed if reinforced
  by markets that discriminate in favour of
  products from legal and well managed sources

15
Payments for environmental services

• Experience in market / compensation based
  approaches is growing but still very limited in
  countries where deforestation is greatest
• Lack of property rights and high transaction
  costs pose problems
• Carbon is biggest potential market
• But how would payments to countries affect the
  behaviour of individual farmers and companies?