Focal Point: Guillaume Lescuyer
Organisation(s): CIRAD/CIFOR
Contact details: CIFOR, Central Africa Regional Office, P.O. Box: 2008, Yaoundé, Cameroon; Tel: +237 96 71 05 12; Email: g.lescuyer@cgiar.org

Summary

Several goods extracted from tropical forests have been traded on international markets for ages. Today the final consumers of these commodities, the corporations involved in their transformation and retailing, and civil society show a growing concern for sustainability. Similarly, managing tropical forests must now integrate the maintenance of environmental services that provides important benefits at the global scale. Market-based instruments (MBI) were presented as a promising approach to strengthen sustainability concerns into the management of tropical forest.

In parallel, the Congo basin countries have pursued more traditional command and control policies, such as harvest regulations, to protect and restore their forests and have emphasized greater enforcement of, and compliance with existing regulations. The promotion of market-based instruments in such a context has been little documented in Central Africa, especially regarding their actual impacts on forest resources and on livelihoods.

Key questions the panel will address

1. Actual impacts of market-based instruments, with a focus on forest cover and local livelihoods
2. Are MBI and command-and-control approaches antagonists, competitive or complementary?
3. Is there an influence of the implementation of MBI on forest governance, either from the companies or from the States?

Speakers

1. Speaker on certification of forest management: Jervais Nkoulou, Rainforest Alliance
2. Speaker on REDD mechanisms: Blese Kalame Fobissie, WWF
3. Speaker on biodiversity offsets: Bakary Kone, National Coordinator, Wetlands International, Mali
4. Speaker on Market-Based Instruments (MBI) and informal sectors: Stoyan Tenev, World Bank
5. Moderator: Denis Koulagna, Secretary-General, Ministry of Forests and Wildlife, Cameroon Rapporteur: Hervé Maidou, COMIFAC-World Ban

Background reading

1. de Wasseige C., de Marcken P., Bayol N., Hiol Hiol F., Mayaux P., Desclée B., Nasi R., Billand A., de Fourny P., Eba’a Atyi R. (eds). 2012. Les forêts du bassin du Congo - Etat des Forêts 2010. Office des publications de l’Union Européenne. Luxembourg.
2. Lescuyer G., Cerutti P.O., Essiane Mendoula E., Eba’a Atyi R. and Nasi R. 2010. Chainsaw milling in the Congo Basin. European Tropical Forest Research Network (ETFRN) News. 52:121–128.
3. Schure J., Ingram V., Sakho-Jimbira M.S., Levang P. and Wiersum F.K. 2012. Formalisation of charcoal value chains and livelihood outcomes in Central and West Africa. Energy for Sustainable Development. Online First.
4. Tieguhong J.C., Ndoye O., Vantomme P., Zolinski J. and Masuch J. 2009. S'adapter à la crise en Afrique centrale: un rôle accru pour les produits forestiers non ligneux. Unasylva. 233:49–54.
5. van Vliet N. 2011. Livelihood alternatives for the unsustainable use of bushmeat. Report prepared for the CBD Bushmeat Liaison Group. Technical Series No. 60. Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity, Montreal.