Governance and NRM Exploring the meaning of ‘Governance’ concepts in NRM (with reference to the FLEGT process) Wageningen International Kumasi, May 2008.

Governance and NRM

Exploring the meaning of ‘Governance’ concepts in NRM (with reference to the FLEGT process)

Wageningen InternationalKumasi, May 2008

Contents

Introduction Governance Good governance and accountability Good Enough Governance EU and FLEGT Governance VPA in Ghana

Introduction

Background: the project is also about governance, but what does it mean and what should it mean?

Objective of this session: Obtain more insight on the development and application of ‘good governance’ principles in the forest sector in timber producing countries, in relation to the FLEGT process and Sustainable Forest Management.

We can question ourselves:

What is the general thinking about ‘governance’, ‘forest governance’ and other ‘governance’ concepts with possible relevance for the project? What can we learn?

How does the European Union deal with the concept of ‘governance’? How does this compare to general thinking about the concept of ‘governance’?

Take a look at the current Ghana VPA process and discuss the extent to which forest governance can be expected to improve?

Governance – ‘scientifically’

From the ‘old’ style of governance – the government is steering – to a new situation where more actors are co-steering.

The government does not bear the sole responsibility for the governance situation; every actor has to play a role.

Important aspects of this new situation are: multi-actor, multi-level (national, international, and local) and multi-meaning: different stakeholders may embrace

different values, interests and world views.

Definition of governance:

……..a way of executing (and contributing towards the development of) policies which is focused on cooperation whereby the representatives of government, market and civil society participate in mixed public and private networks.

Good Governance

Aspirational, value-laden Important principles: participation, fairness,

decency, accountability, transparency and efficiency.

‘Universally applicable’ because based on Human Rights

Often used by donors and international organizations (perceived link with poverty alleviation)

Many definitions, each one with specific emphasis, but not much contradiction

Definition of good governance:

Often used as umbrella term for the quality of governing institutions (including absence of corruption, effectiveness, transparency, impersonality and respecting rule of law

Or “Good governance is aspirational,

concerned with the distribution of power and authority in a society in ways that best serve the widest cross-section of the population (Ribot and Mayers, 2005)

Civil Society

Economic society

Govern-ment

Political society

Bureau-cracy

Judiciary

Participation

Fairness

Decency

Accounta-bility

Transpa-rancy

Efficiency

Accountability

Vertical: elections Horizontal: government to government

organization Direct societal participation (social

accountability):Lobbying and advocacyMedia as watchdogPrivate Public Partnerships (PPPs)Citizen action (social mobilisation)Community score cards

Accountability

Public Administration •Rendering of services•Development policies•Spending of the budget

Elected representatives

Public Administration•Independent observers•Structures for checking •Ombudsman

Civil Society

Vertica

l

Horizontal (public)

Lobbyin

g

ele

ctio

ns

Media, NGOs, social audits, citizen/community score cards, etc.

Good Enough Governance

Governance agenda unrealistically long and still growing

Democratic principles based on norms and values which are culturally determined

Values not automatically deeply embedded in culture of a country

Definition of “good enough governance”

…as a condition of minimally acceptable level of government performance and civil society engagement that does not significantly hinder economic and political development and that permits poverty reduction initiatives to go forward (Grindle, 2004)

Good Enough Governance: what to do?

Reduce the “good governance” agenda Introduce a historical, country specific analysis Sort out aspects critical for poverty alleviation Assess priorities strategically Think about alternatives, but don’t forget the

public sector

Concrete aspects of Governance within FLEGT

No clear definition of Good Governance Strengthen land tenure and access rights; Strengthen effective participation of all

stakeholders; Increase transparency in association with forest

exploitation operations, including through the introduction of independent monitoring;

Reduce corruption; Engage the private sector of the timber producing

countries in the efforts to combat illegal logging; Address the financing of violent conflict

Roles of EU in FLEGT process

Donor who promotes “good” (forest) governance

Buyer of products (as government or as consumer) – setting standards

Party that influences other donors and agencies

FLEGT partner Country

Government’s willingness to improve forest governance is crucial

Major change process which aims to:Address governance failures in the

forestry sectorTo ensure continued optimum

contribution of the forest sector to national socio-economic development

To enable Ghana continue to do business with the international community (trade and development cooperation)

What is included in the Ghana VPA process?

Market demanded and enforced legal standard and accompanying Legality Assurance System (LAS)

Forest verification system (TVE) that monitors and reports compliance to the standard

Licensing system that provides assurance to buyers that products have been legally sourced

Participation of an independent forest monitor

Democratised policy formulation, inclusion of all stakeholder groups

Preparatory research in multistakeholder sub-committees

Policy advise (to the Minister) in multistakeholder sub-committees

Increased participation of land owners and communities in forest management

Increased transparency in the award of resource rights

Addressing the ownership and tenure rights of stakeholders

Participation of small scale forest enterprises in legitimate resource utilization

…

Position industry to be processing hub in sub-regionRetool industry for downstream

processingUse of small diameter plantation logsPromotion of lesser used speciesUse of substitute material (bamboo,

coconut wood)

Introduction of Mobile Recovery Teams and legitimising small scale forest enterprises?

Increased use of substitute material e.g. bamboo, coconut wood etc.?

Which direction will the legislative reforms go? Industry rationalisation = reduced employment? Will there be changes in benefit flow to

communities with increased transparency under VPA?

Plantation development, what opportunities?

Democratisation of policy formulation – greater community participation?

Group work

Divide in 3 groups and critically assess the extent to which the current VPA process in Ghana will contribute to “good (enough) governance” in the Ghana forestry sector Appoint amongst yourselves a discussion

facilitator, timekeeper and rapporteur; agree on the process to be followed and define intended outcome (5 minutes)

Debate for 30 minutes; Prepare for giving concise feedback to each

other (10 minutes) Give report (5 minutes)