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WORLDWIDE FOREST/BIODIVERSITY CAMPAIGN NEWS

Saanich Statement of Principles on Forests and Communities

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Forest Networking a Project of Ecological Enterprises

http://forests.org/ -- Forest Conservation Archives

http://forests.org/web/ -- Discuss Forest Conservation

2/4/99

OVERVIEW & COMMENTARY by EE

Following is the "Saanich Statement", which provides an excellent

enunciation of guiding principles for ecologically, socially and

economically sound community-based forestry. This is the result of a

major conference on the topic in British Columbia, Canada, in October

of 1998. Very interesting reading.

g.b.

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RELAYED TEXT STARTS HERE:

Title: SAANICH STATEMENT OF PRINCIPLES ON FORESTS AND COMMUNITIES

Source: International Workshop on Ecosystem and Community-Based

Forestry

North Saanich, British Columbia, Canada

October 19 - 24, 1998

Jonaki Bhattacharyya <jonaki@uvic.ca>

Status: Distribute freely with credit given to source

Date: 2/1/99

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

For more information contact: Jonaki Bhattacharyya <jonaki@uvic.ca>

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