Int’l Day of Forests
Forest ecosystems are prominent across the Hindu Kush Himalayas, covering 25 percent of mountain areas in the region's eight countries: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Myanmar, Nepal and Pakistan. They host a rich biodiversity, including several global biological hotspots, and provide a range of invaluable ecosystem services that support the lives and livelihoods of millions of people in the region. The goods and services from forests also sustain mountain agriculture, which is integral to ensuring food, water, and energy security across the Hindu Kush Himalayas.
As dependence on forest resources rises in the region, the structure and growth dynamics of mountain forests in the Hindu Kush Himalayas are increasingly shaped by direct human impact. Although we are still learning how climate change in the Hindu Kush Himalayas overlaps with, and exacerbates, impacts on forests caused by human activity, it is clear that both climatic and social and economic changes are adding an additional level of stress on forest ecosystems.
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These were some of the issues raised during a symposium on Transforming Mountain Forestry in the Hindu Kush Himalayas held by the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) and its regional partners earlier this year. If early scientific evidence and anecdotes shared during the symposium are any indication, there is an urgent need to change our approach to forest management. The business-as-usual approach to forest management will not be sufficient for ensuring that the flow of vital ecosystem services in the region we all depend on is sustained.
Two traditional forest management paradigms—state control of forests and participatory approaches—are not sufficient in the context of emerging challenges. Since the region has gone through significant socioeconomic transformation, it is time to move to the next paradigm of forest management that addresses the changing nature of mountain ecosystems and the aspirations of mountain people. Experience has shown that emerging 'third generation' paradigms of forest management may also bring new opportunities.
To address contemporary challenges, these new models of forest management must be adaptive. They must have a short-term perspective to ensure that people continue to receive immediate benefits from forests in an equitable manner, while at the same time keeping a medium- and long-term outlook as many of the benefits from forests are derived after many generations. Moreover, holistic and integrated approaches are required. Forests cannot be treated in isolation: their interactions with water are critical for communities and people downstream; the way people use forests has implications for energy and agriculture downstream; and there is an important role for business. These interactions have to be creatively stitched to move mountain forestry to the next level.
There are several issues related to forest governance that have transboundary linkages that bind upstream and downstream communities, including the illegal trade of forest products, the connectivity of the habitats of several wildlife species, water management, and the sustainability of livelihoods value chains. Addressing these issues, and taking advantage of emerging opportunities, demands greater transboundary cooperation.
Good forest governance and institutions are at the heart of the needed shift in managing mountain forests. Landscape-led governance institutions along the lines of the Alpine Convention or the Mekong River Commission could provide pathways to find common meeting points for countries of the Hindu Kush Himalayas that would support the development of policy provisions that foster transboundary cooperation. In the present context, efforts to sustain forest ecosystem services should be based on local and national priorities, but also linked to regional socioeconomic development and conservation to ensure mutually inclusive mitigation and adaptation in a fast changing mountain climate.
Developing and managing standard transboundary markets, which include those of high-value products as well as future 'carbon markets', offers the possibility of improving local livelihoods in the region. State agencies in the Hindu Kush Himalayas need to work together to remove regulatory hurdles, to evolve standards—for example, through the introduction of certification schemes—and to maximize the value realization of unique forest products and services.
Proactive efforts are needed to improve the management of forests, as well as their interfaces with other types of ecosystems like rangelands and agricultural ecosystems. Toward that end, we need to promote a variety of local tree species rather than monocultures, minimize the risk of forest fires, help manage habitats in a way that reduces human-wildlife conflicts, develop forest enterprises that enrich local economies, and, finally, adopt a people-centered approach that incentivizes performance-based good management.
While the number of poor people who depend on forests is higher in the mountains than in the plains, development programs in these areas are inequitable and often not customized to the local mountain context. Nepal and other countries in the region have demonstrated the power of recognizing and mainstreaming traditional knowledge in planning and implementation in inspiring local stewardship of forests. However, this should be complemented by innovative ways to exchange knowledge and bridge regional information gaps and create horizontal and vertical linkages among stakeholders.
On the occasion of the International Day of Forests 2015, we should pledge to make collective efforts to sustain forest ecosystem services in the region. Stakeholders from all countries and sectors in the Hindu Kush Himalayas must consolidate current assessments of future challenges and opportunities, and build a case for sustainable and inclusive forest management that brings together practice, policy, and science. Early learning from several regional and bilateral initiatives on transboundary landscape management, for example the Kailash Sacred Landscape Conservation and Development Initiative between China, India and Nepal, show that we can work within a framework of regional cooperation as well as within the changing domains of national policies and development strategies that reflect transboundary cooperation as a priority.
The author is the Regional Programme Manager of the Transboundary Landscapes Programme at the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD)rajan.kortru@icimod.org
