Forest Economics And Policy Analysis Research Unit Work Plan 1990 91

A union list of serials commencing publication after Dec. 31, 1949.

This paper analyses the development of certification programmes in three countries (Indonesia, Canada and Sweden) using the Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF) as a theoretical reference point. The ACF is an actor-based framework for analysing policy processes and has not previously been applied in a developing country. Actors in the three countries took different approaches to certification. In Canada, in a programme development process supported by the forest products industry, a management systems approach was taken. In Sweden, performance standards were developed in a process initially driven by NGOs. In Indonesia, certification was led by an NGO within a framework established by government, and a performance standards approach was used. The paper concludes that forest certification can be best understood as a policy instrument that promotes and facilitates policy-orientated learning among actors, and provides indirect incentives for improved forest management. Learning occurs both as the standards to be used for certification are developed, and as they are implemented. The benefits of learning and consensus building among actors (such as NGOs, forest companies, private forest owners, indigenous peoples, governments, etc.) who have traditionally been in conflict with each other can be significant. On the other hand, where fundamental changes in forest policy (such as tenure and forest revenue reform) are needed, certification should not be seen as a substitute for these A further conclusion is that, while public policies change over periods of decades, the private policies of retailers and forest product companies can adapt more rapidly to changing circumstances. The concept of a ‘fast track’ of private policy change, compared to the slower track of governmental policy change, is therefore proposed and described. A number of interesting theoretical and empirical avenues for further research on certification are discussed.

These are turbulent, unpredictable, yet opportune times for Canadian forestry. Never before have competing demands on Canada’s forest resources been so great. At the same time, we are finally being forced to confront the sustainable limit of these resources. Now, the improbable has happened: government, industry, First Nationa, and NGOs appear to be part of an emerging consensus that industrial forestry in Canada must change. The Wealth of Forests is a pioneering attempt to grapple with the policy implications of the transition to sustainable forestry. While much has been written on the theory and practice of sustainable forestry and on the relative merits of regulatory versus market approaches to environmental protection, these literatures have nnot as yet been bridged. Using illustrations based on recent developments in British Columbia forest policy, this collection provides that bridge by analyzing the potential and limits of market, regulatory, and other policy instruments as means of achieving sustainability. Featuring new work by many of Canada’s leading forest policy scholars, this interdisciplinary collection is devoted to translating the concept of sustainability into practice in key areas of forest policy, including tenure, timber pricing, forest practices, land-use zoning, and eco-certification. The Wealth of Forests also considers how domestic and international legal regimes might constrain the adoption of policies that could bring us close to the elusive goal of sustainable forestry.

Professor Max Krott, Director of the Institute of Forest Policy and Nature Conservation at the University of Göttingen, Germany, introduces the most important political players and stakeholders, including the forest owners, the general population, forest workers and employees, forest associations and administration, as well as the media. He illustrates the political and regulatory instruments using examples in current forest policy. Forest Policy Analysis places a special emphasis on the informal processes that are indispensable in understanding practical politics. References made to current English and German-language publications on forest policy studies enable further information to be found with concern to special issues.