SAANICH Statement of Principles on Forests and Communities
10/19/98
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Title: SAANICH Statement of Principles on Forests and Communities
Date: 10/19/98
SAANICH STATEMENT OF PRINCIPLES ON FORESTS AND COMMUNITIES
International Workshop on Ecosystem and Community-Based Forestry
North Saanich, British Columbia, Canada
October 19 - 24, 1998
We are eighty-two citizens of the world who come from eighteen countries
in Asia, the Pacific and the Americas and have diverse backgrounds and
perspectives;
We know that the health and well-being of forest ecosystems and human
communities are interdependent;
We are deeply concerned that the degradation of forest ecosystems and the
social fabric of human communities dependent on them is occurring at an
alarming and increasing rate;
We have seen first hand that those who benefit from inequitable structures
of power and consume a disproportionate and unsustainable share of forest
resources accelerate this trend;
We are aware that forests are an essential and beneficial component of the
global ecosystem and that in many areas the stewardship of local people
has made this possible;
We know from our experiences that centralized control has benefited
industrial forestry sectors and undermined possibilities for local
community-based management;
We likewise know that most decisions concerning forest resources have been
made by individuals and institutions which do not have to cope with the
immediate and often long-lasting effects of those decisions;
We have proof that many local communities and indigenous groups have the
knowledge and ability to live sustainably within their forests'
ecosystems;
We understand that some communities have been overwhelmed by external
knowledge and economic systems and degrade their forests and other natural
resources under pressures of inequity and limited opportunities.
Therefore, in light of the foregoing, we have gathered together on the
Saanich Peninsula in British Columbia, Canada to forge a collaborative
vision of community-based forestry which is socially, ecologically and
economically sound. In pursuit of this vision we have developed the
principles stated below.
We understand that, given the interrelationship between ecosystem and
community health, a prerequisite to increased community responsibility for
forest management is that community's commitment both to maintain or
enhance local ecosystem health and integrity, and to foster conditions of
social justice. The following principles are put forward in the context of
this overarching commitment.
Community-Based Principles
1. Community-based forestry occurs when a group of people -- particularly
those directly dependent and living in geographical proximity to a forest
-- possess primary responsibility for the health, integrity and management
of an area of forest, and have the right to benefit from their investments
of time, labour and capital.
2. Communities are heterogeneous in their relationships to forest
ecosystems and in their socio-economic and political status and this often
contributes to inequities in forest resource uses.
3. Women and men often use, perceive and define forest resources in
different ways and special efforts are sometimes required to ensure that
the needs and concerns of all groups, especially those directly dependent
on forest resources, are reflected in decision making.
4. Communities must have secure tenure rights or guaranteed access and
control of forest resources for present and future generations.
5. Communities must have a central role in the decision-making processes
which govern the control, use and management of forest resources.
Ecosystem-Based Principles
1. The sustainability of all life depends on ecosystem integrity, that is,
its composition, structure and processes.
2. The well-being of both local communities and wider societies relies on
the integrity of forest ecosystems.
3. Forest management must be precautionary -- that is, it must avoid
potentially harmful or degrading effects to an ecosystem even in the
absence of scientific certainty of such harm -- and integrate a range of
social, cultural and economic values while maintaining ecological
integrity.
4. The beneficiaries of forest products and services share responsibility
for maintaining and/or restoring the ecological integrity of forests.
Systems of Knowledge
1. Sound ecosystem management should recognize the legitimate contribution
of many systems of knowledge (i.e. aboriginal, traditional, local,
technological, and scientific).
2. Indigenous and local knowledge are developed and maintained as part of
the social system of communities, and are transferred and communicated
through time between generations.
3. It is important that all communities have sufficient access to a
variety of systems of knowledge to support their forest management
decisions.
4. The failure of industrial-forestry science to bring about practices
which protect forest ecosystems and communities highlights the need to
respect and integrate indigenous and local systems of knowledge.
5. An appropriate system of integrated knowledge will continue to adapt
and evolve with research and changing situations on the ground, and hence
will lead to and support management practices that are similarly adaptive
and consistent.
Economic Principles
1. Healthy, diversified societies and economies can exist and will
continue to exist only where they are supported by healthy, diversified
ecosystems.
2. Alternative community-based models of economic development that embody
a full range of values (social, cultural, and ecological) should replace
existing commitments to centralized and consumptive economic activity.
3. Priority should be given to meeting local needs, with particular
attention to subsistence requirements.
4. Financial recognition should be given to local communities who manage
their forest in ways which create and maintain important environmental
services, such as critical watersheds.
5. Benefits from forests and forest use should be reinvested in local
communities and their ecosystems.
6. To the extent possible, maximum economic values should be added to
forest products at or near the locations where the products are extracted.
Indigenous and Community-Based Property Rights
1. Secure property rights provide forest dependent communities with
economic and legal incentives for sustainable and socially just forest
ecosystem management.
2. The rights of indigenous peoples to self-determination must be
recognized and respected, including rights and responsibilities to
control, use and manage lands, territories and forest ecosystems located
within ancestral domains.
3. Legal recognition of community-based rights provides the best and most
secure guarantee of local control over forest ecosystems.
4. The collection, development and maintenance of information are
important avenues to define and understand traditional territories, lands
and water, original community lands, and uses and values, and must be
community based and controlled.
5. The promotion of understanding and cooperation between communities is
key to fostering protocols of mutual trust, respect and equality that must
characterize relations between communities, government, and all other
parties and institutions involved in forest management.
Roles of Government
1. Government policies must change to support evolving societal values
which emphasize the ecological, cultural and economic functions and
services of forests and give priority to meeting the needs of the poor and
the marginalized.
2. Governments should share and devolve forest management rights and
responsibilities to communities and user groups.
3. Governments have an obligation to advance principles of community-based
forest management locally, nationally and internationally.
4. All levels of government have an obligation to recognize and advance
the rights of indigenous and traditional peoples, local communities and
other user groups in a participatory, transparent, and accountable manner
to:
a) achieve decentralized management based on environmental, social, and
economic values by shifting from a centralized commodity-oriented
management focus to decentralized multiple-objective management; and,
b) reform institutions by removing structural, legal and economic
impediments to ecosystem based community forest management.
5. In partnership with forest communities, governments should exercise a
limited oversight role to foster social equity and environmental
responsibility.
6. Governments should ensure that forest industries and other resource
corporations respect local communities and act in an environmentally
responsible manner.
7. Governments must develop and maintain critical support services for
community forestry in partnership with communities.
The Saanich Statement of Principles on Forests and Communities has been
created and endorsed by eighty-two people from the following countries:
Bolivia
Brazil
Cambodia
Canada
Chile
Costa Rica
Guatemala
India
Indonesia
Mexico
Nepal
Papua New Guinea
Peru
Philippines
People's Republic of China
Sri Lanka
Thailand
United States of America