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A multiple-stakeholder process

This analysis of illegal logging provides the information base for a more informed and systematic dialogue on the various policy options between the national interest groups. For this purpose, meetings were held in Honduras and Nicaragua with key stakeholders to discuss the findings of the study and identify priority policy actions.

The outputs of the study have also informed a regional meeting of the Central American Commission of the Environment and Development (CCAD) and the Indigenous and Campesino Coordinator of Community Agroforestry (ACICAFOC), aimed at developing a regional forest governance initiative.

The opportunities for national policy dialogue have included:

· Changes of government in both countries at the beginning of 2002, including a renewed political will to combat institutional corruption.

· Public awareness-raising due to ample coverage by the mass media of illegal logging.

· Consultations with stakeholders on new forest law proposals in both Honduras and Nicaragua.

· The interest of town councils in recouping lost income, and achieving wider benefits through sustainable forest management.

· The interest of representatives of industry, merchants and communities interested in lowering the barriers to legality, and focussing the uncertainties of the ‘informal forest economy’.

Technical Focus Groups Discussions were undertaken in both countries to analyse the findings of the case studies. The representatives included the forestry agencies, logging firms, members of the National Assembly, NGOs, forest owners and campesino unions. The discussions reflected a growing consensus on the need to confront illegal logging.

In Honduras, community level workshops were undertaken with sawmill owners, water companies, teachers and other local civil society representatives. The participants expressed the community’s desire to confront the negative impacts of illegal logging and interest in identifying concrete procedures and solutions with appropriate external and government help.

National workshops were carried out in both countries in October 2002 to evalute the findings of the illegal logging studies. The goal of these workshops was to identify priorities through stakeholder consultation with political authorities, campesino unions, the forestry industry, government officials and civil society representatiives. The press also widely covered the findings of the study.

The Action plan of the Nicaraguan National Workshop highlights six thematic areas: (a) the legal framework (b) indigenous populations (c) land ownership (d) civil society (e) local government, decentralisation and the joint management of forests (f) commercialisation. The discussions emphasised: the role of community owned forests, the property rights of indigenous groups, the rationalisation and simplification of regulations and the depoliticisation of national forestry agencies. Payments or incentives for environmental services and natural regeneration were analysed, as well as how to promote the role of civil society (e.g. participation in social audits) and how to develop local governance capacity and support of the commercialisation process.

The Action Plan of the Honduran National Workshop emphasised the role of local fora in national policy dialogue; increased institutional transparency (including access to information) and the participation of civil society in decision-taking; how to guarantee local community access to forest resources and the strengthening and decentralisation of key regulatory functions. It also highlights the needs for simplification of regulations, implementation of management plans, certification, and payments for environmental services.

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In March 2003, the Central American Commission of the Environment and Development (CCAD) and the Indigenous and Campesino Coordinator of Community Agroforestry (ACICAFOC) held a regional meeting in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, to develop a regional forest sector governance initiative.