Asia has been a powerhouse of economic development in the past several decades and is making significant progress to achieve MDGs targets. The role of ASEAN is particularly significant in the growth of Asia. This impressive growth brings with it tremendous environmental and social challenges. Deforestation, illegal logging and forest degradation are continuing apace – caused to a large extent by factors outside the forestry sector. The people who depend on forests generally remain poor and are often excluded from key decisions related to their management. Climate change further complicates forest management challenges. Tackling these issues requires effective coordination across all land-based sectors; forestry alone cannot address them, but they cannot be adequately addressed without taking forestry into account. Forest management must be contextualized and reoriented in a manner that more effectively supports simultaneous green growth and poverty reduction. Is this possible? Investing in sustainable landscapes is important where forest management is viewed as part of wider landscape management.
Outcomes from the Session:
Presentations from the session:
- Addressing Sustainable Landscape and Green Growth: AFOCO’s Mission and Approach in ASEAN
- Towards a greener forestry sector – What’s really new?
- Investors supporting transformation towards sustainability in the forestry sector
- Sustainable landscapes, green growth and poverty reduction
Key questions addressed in the session:
- Forests and green growth: What does forest management have to offer in the context of green growth and poverty reduction? What is new and how do green growth approaches differ from current practices?
- Green investment and benefits for people: How can forestry practices and investment be ‘greener’ and how does green investment increase benefits for people? What are the incentive frameworks to encourage green investment in forestry? Do markets demand green products, cheaper products, or both?
- Outlook for ASEAN’s forests: What are the priorities for ASEAN investment in green growth? What will be the main roles of ASEAN’s forests in green growth and poverty reduction? What needs to change from ‘business as usual’ in the future?
Background reading:
- ASEAN. 2009. Roadmap for an ASEAN Community 2009-2015. Jakarta: ASEAN.
- FAO. 2010. Asia-Pacific Forests and Forestry to 2020. Bangkok: FAO.
- FAO. 2012. The State of World’s Forests 2012. FAO, Rome.
- Muthoo MK. 2012. Forest certification and the green economy. Unasylva 239(63): 17-23.
- Padoch C and Sunderland T. 2014. Managing landscapes for greater food security and improved livelihoods. Unsylva 241(64): 3-13
- Sunderland T, Powell B, Ickowitz A, Foli S, Pinedo-Vasquez M, Nasi R and Padoch C. 2013. Food security and nutrition: The role of forests. Discussion Paper. Bogor, Indonesia: CIFOR.
