What is the forest sector’s role in poverty reduction? While non-timber forest products have dominated initiatives to reduce income poverty in the forest sector, what is the potential for the ‘big deal’ – wood production for timber, pulp and paper – to offer a route out of poverty? And what might be the special advantages that poor communities bring to sustainable forest management, in terms of outgrowing, processing and selling timber and supplying associated environmental services such as biodiversity, carbon storage or fresh water supplies?
The Forests Dialogue (TFD) is convening a regional dialogue in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, from 18 to 21 September 2007, to put these questions to an assembled group of experts. The intent is to identify the key areas for potential collaboration among a diverse group of stakeholders in an effort to catalyze progress towards maximizing forestry’s potential to reduce poverty and develop truly sustainable pro-poor initiatives. In the process this dialogue will bring together representatives from development agencies, corporations, NGOs, and community groups all interested in working toward this common purpose in the region and beyond.
In addition to several key steering committee member organizations, TFD is partnering with CEDES (BCSD Bolivia) and The Nature Conservancy / Bolfor II Group in Bolivia for this dialogue.
The Bolivia dialogue is a follow-on to TFD's pro-poor commercial forestry dialogues in Indonesia and South Africa.
Participation in the Bolivia dialogue is through invitation. The information booklet provides thorough information about the background, format and content of the upcoming event. The TFD website also provides summaries of previous dialogues on pro-poor commercial forestry.
Meanwhile, the WBCSD-SNV Alliance is working with Grupo Industrial Roda, a conglomerate of companies based in Santa Cruz, with a view to bringing Bolivian forestry products to market.
Grupo Roda has successful experiences in alliances with native communities. Its entrepreneurial principles are based on business integration, social commitment, and environmental concerns with a long-term vision. CIMAL/IMR, a division of Grupo Roda, actually became the first in the country to achieve Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification, leading the way for the greening of the country’s entire forestry industry (see a profile of Grupo Roda’s forestry activities by the Rainforest Alliance). Bolivia now has more FSC certified forests than any other tropical country on Earth.
Given the growing global demand for certified wood as well as the available funding from external sources for forestry projects thanks to the fact that newly sown forests will generate carbon credits, Grupo Roda is engaging a number of oil companies operating in Bolivia to acquire such credits. For their part, native communities would not only acquire better forestry management skills, but would also ensure a sustainable source of income from wood sales to a guaranteed buyer, i.e. Grupo Roda. There are also plans for the local communities to obtain a share of the cash flow generated by the carbon trading.
The abovementioned dialogue on pro-poor commercial forestry in Santa Cruz will be used to validate this business opportunity.
For more information on the Alliance’s work in Bolivia's forestry sector, please contact Julio Garrett Kent, National Business Facilitator of the WBCSD-SNV Alliance.
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