ABSTRACT
A new global architecture for trade in forestry products is taking shape. Emerging economies, spearheaded by China, are buying timber, making investments and funding governments of resource-rich African countries. This trend has weakened the influence of financial institutions such as the World Bank, whose actions in the forest sector focus on policies and governance, both of which may be strongly shaped by this trend in the future. One stumbling block in World Bank-led reforms designed to promote sustainable forest management and advance governance is the malfunctioning of political institutions. Economic instruments for forest governance should be underpinned by satisfactory law enforcement and relative abnegation of personal interests by government agents. Donors and external advocates of reforms implicitly feel that governments are either potential sources of reform directed to the general good or, on the contrary, are more interested in developing personal interests that justify extensive privatization. Despite certain promising innovations such as independent observers, too little attention is being given to a different type of state construct that favours institutionalized checks and balances. And too much is being expected from community forest management as an alternative to state reforms. Substantial funding can be expected from initiatives taken under the reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD) mechanism and should, in part, pay for environmental services, thus creating new income from conservation. These ‘conservation rents’ will raise the stakes between and within communities; commitments that allow accountability mechanisms to develop at both national and local levels will therefore be essential to the future development of forest governance.
