Rwanda holds conference on forest cover

A major conference aimed at influencing policy to increase forest cover worldwide starts in Kigali, Rwanda Friday.

Deputy Speaker Farah Maalim is among legislators from six African countries expected at the conference organised by World Future Council (WFC) Foundation and Rwanda Natural Resources Authority.

The “Inter-Parliamentary Hearing on Forest Policy” is aimed at informing policy makers from Central and East African countries on the success factors of the Rwandan policy and how they could adopt it for their country.  There would also be a fact finding mission in Rwanda to see the policy in action.

Eldoret South MP Peris Simam, who is also Land and Natural Resources Committee vice-chairperson and committee members Njuguna Gitau and Kiema Kilonzo have also confirmed participation.

The participants are to discuss ways of halving deforestation, restoring forests worldwide and ensuring that all forests are managed sustainably. They will also deliberate on facilitation of national implementation of advanced forest law and raising awareness for the topic of forests and for the fact that successful forest management is possible.

Mr Kilonzo is set to present a paper on Policy and institutional frameworks for sustainable wood fuels.

National priority

During the conference, Rwanda will receive an award for making forests a national priority.

Rwanda’s National Forest Policy was proclaimed the winner of the 2011 Future Policy Award. The Gambia’s Community Forest Policy and the US Lacey Act with its amendment of 2008 received the Silver Awards.

Rwanda has achieved an increase in forest cover by 37 per cent since 1990 through empowering people, by engaging youth and women associations.

The country is also on course to reach its goal of increasing forest cover to 30 percent of total land area.

WFC said Rwanda’s National Forest Policy received the Future Policy Award on the basis of a broad research, evaluation and selection procedure. The research team employed an Application Tool Kit and conducted interviews with representatives from governments, sciences and NGOs.

The Jury consisted of sustainability experts from all five continents.

“One set of measures were the “Global Objectives on Forests” as agreed on by the United Nations Forum on Forests,” it said.

"The outcome paper of Rio +20 supports cross-sectoral and cross- institutional policies promoting sustainable forest management.”

“We reaffirm that the wide range of products and services that forests provide creates opportunities to address many of the most pressing sustainable development challenges. We call for enhanced efforts to achieve the sustainable management of forests, reforestation, restoration and afforestation, and we support all efforts that effectively slow, halt and reverse
deforestation and forest degradation, including, inter alia, promoting trade in legally harvested forest products,” the paper states.

The paper calls for the urgent implementation of the “Non-Legally Binding Instrument on all Types of Forests (NLBI)”.

Concrete solution

The draft of this instrument emphasises that states have sovereignty over their forest resources and that each country is responsible for the sustainable management of its forests and for the enforcement of its forest laws, which is essential to achieving sustainable forest management.

As a result, WFC said it advocates a concrete policy solution – Rwanda’s National Forest Policy implemented in 2004 and updated in 2010.

“The World Future Council identifies and promotes solutions for the challenges of our time. We inform policy makers about future just policies and advise them on how to implement these.

"Every year we choose one topic on which policy progress is particularly urgent and award the best policies in this field with our Future Policy Award."

In 2011, the topic was “Forests for People”.

The conference is to help reverse the loss of forest cover worldwide through sustainable forest management (SFM), including protection, restoration, afforestation and reforestation, and increase efforts to prevent forest degradation; enhance forest-based economic, social and environmental benefits, including by improving the livelihoods of forest-dependent people; increase significantly the area of sustainably managed forests, including protected forests, and increase the proportion of forest products derived from sustainably managed forests.

It aims at showing  exemplary policies in action, how forests can be a bedrock for society, ecology, welfare and Economy; inform participants on how sustainable and future just laws can be identified; produce and spread practical toolkits for legislators with all the information they need to advance forest policy within their own political process