The forest sector in countries of the Congo Basin: 20 years of AFD Intervention

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1 Evaluation and Capitalization Unit Summary Notes Series NO.10 April 2012 expost ExPost The forest sector in countries of the Congo Basin: 20 years of AFD Intervention ExPost summary notes report lessons on specific components or interventions gleaned from evaluation and capitalization experiences. They are specifically intended for AFD teams and their partners of the North and South, but more generally, for professionals involved in development actions which bear some similarities with the reviewed projects. This issue has been produced by Constance Corbier-Barthaux and Sylvie Oktar (AFD) French Development Agency Department of Research 5, rue Roland Barthes Paris Field team standing in front of a sipo (entandrophragma utile) in Northern Congo. Photo credit: Forest Resources Management.

2 A DYNAMIC AND INNOVATIVE INTERVENTION STRATEGY FOR 20 YEARS The intervention of French Cooperation in the Congo Basin (Central African Republic CAR Cameroon, Congo, and Gabon) since the early nineties has been delivered against a backdrop of rapidly changing governance. It has been fostering the sustainable management of tropical forests by anchoring its strategy on a tool known as sustainable forest management plan (FMP). This tool, a 30-year logging contract, concluded between the concession holder and the State, conforms to the conservation standards of forest ecosystems (beyond regeneration of forests) as well as the social and economic aspirations of the State, local communities and concession holders. In addition to PROPARCO s action (which promoted industrial development investments), pilot forest management (FM) projects were implemented in the early nineties with the support of the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs (MFEA) in Cameroon and through AFD, in CAR. The outcome of the first generation of pilot projects to support the design of sustainable FMPs for large private concessions, coupled with the massive mobilization of the international community (NGOs, States and donors) on sustainable logging of tropical timber and forest conservation warranted the realignment of France s intervention strategy in the Congo Basin which resulted in the publication of the White Paper in A second generation of projects helped to extend the FMP tool to other small-scale concessions and to support large concessions in the eco-certification process. FOREST MANAGEMENT FOR NON-FORESTERS Measuring the diameter of a tree, Bandundu province (DRC). Forest management is an age-old concept that was developed in countries of the North for the purpose of more rational and sustainable management of forest resources. In the context of the Congo Basin, it involved remedying a historically destructive logging practice (forest or animal species) which caused over-logging and worse still, fetched very little socioeconomic benefits for the people. The overarching objective was to cease the uncontrolled issuance of logging permits which had no regard for the sustainability of the resource. Accordingly, the system of concessions was introduced whereby a large forest area is awarded to a private concession holder, who is required to manage the said area in a sustainable manner. Photo credit: FRM. Photo credit: FRM. Forest management improves knowledge of the resources available on the entire concession. Logging can thus be planned according to the regeneration of the resource. Concessions are divided into harvesting areas, of which only a part is harvested in a cutting cycle of 25 to 30 years, for instance, in each rotation. Hence, when logging resumes in the first harvesting area, the resource would have regenerated. Similarly, the concept of forest management has gradually included social (logging in concessions should also fetch socioeconomic benefits for the riparian communities) and biodiversity components (logging should also seek to conserve existing wildlife). A view of an old forest road.

3 Map 1 Overview of France s institutional support in Central Africa (March 2010) Forest concessions 46,1 M ha Sustainable Forest Management 28,8 M ha Other FSC 1 certification obtained 4 M ha 1 FSC = Forest Stewardship Council Source: FRM. META-EVALUATION OBJECTIVES ( ) The AFD Group s interventions that have been delivered in the sector for more than 20 years had not been compiled so far. Conducting such an overall evaluation (or metaevaluation) therefore seemed relevant and timely in view of the following considerations: Over the last decade, France has been the only donor, among bilateral and multilateral donor initiatives, to have consistently supported industrial production in the forest sector, by mobilizing its four available intervention schemes (MFEA, French Global Environment Facility FGEF, AFD, PROPARCO) and relying on the expertise of French forestry institutions (namely, International Cooperation Centre of Agricultural Research for Development CIRAD, Office National des Forêts ONF [National Forest Agency], and the École nationale du génie rural, des eaux et des forêts ENGREF [National Rural and Forestry Engineering School]); Some actions of this component have long-term objectives which would be difficult to assess at the end of the project but for which assessment criteria could be defined on hindsight; The AFD Group s response in this sector was different owing to the mobilization of four funding sources and specificities of the recipient countries; Funding requirements and beneficiaries also varied during this period: loans to businesses, credit lines, grants to forest administrations, exclusive funding of management plans, in addition to funding for eco-certification, funding for large businesses, and funding for small and medium-size enterprises; Notwithstanding the diversity of tools, funding was generally based on a specific model, underpinned by the FMP concept, with a view to fostering the process of sustainable forest management and sustaining forest conservation without harming biodiversity and related ecosystem services. The implementation of this model was two-tiered: supporting forest administrations for monitoring, evaluation and control of forest management and supporting logging companies in their drive to introduce sustainable management in their concessions, as well as earning eco-certification. The scale of the two components varied significantly with the intervention context; Lastly, while the AFD Group is now involved in the forest sector in different geographical areas (Indonesia, Brazil), it may be desirable to garner data from the Agency s experience in the Congo Basin, which could be useful in the new environments (although the model designed in Central Africa cannot be replicated exactly in emerging countries). Evaluation focuses on forest projects supported by AFD over the last 20 years in four countries of the Congo Basin (CAR, Gabon, Congo and Cameroon) and set several target objectives, namely: to highlight AFD interventions during the period under review; to assess the relevance and coherence of the AFD Group s overall intervention; to appraise the performance of the Agency s projects aimed at supporting the design of FMPs in concessions; to determine a model and draw lessons in respect of the value added potential of the FMP model, as well as its replicability.

4 AN INDEPENDENT EVALUATION, AN INFORMED AND DIVERSE STEERING COMMITTEE For the purpose of this evaluation, the AFD Evaluation unit hired, through a public tender process, a consortium composed of the Swiss-based foundation Inter-cooperation and the French consultancy Institutions et Développement. The methodology was based on the analysis of three data sources: project documents (internal and external), interviews with AFD project officers and field trips in the four target countries. The final evaluation report was presented and discussed at a public conference ² organized by AFD during which an evaluation of FGEF biodiversity actions in the Congo basin forests was also presented. The process was guided by an advisory committee that met with the consultants at the different stages of the evaluation. It consisted of members of AFD, FGEF, Proparco and MFEA as well as external resource persons representing the expert community (CIRAD), NGOs (World Wide Fund for Nature WWF Belgium) and foresters (Industrie et Forêts Afrique, IFA). Professor Delvingt of Liège University chaired the steering committee. A reference committee, attended notably by a representative of the World Bank and AFD agency managers of the countries concerned, was regularly informed of the progress made. Photo credit: FRM Management inventory team at work, Bandundu province. FROM THE MINING TYPE OF EXPLOITATION TO SUSTAINABLE FOREST MANAGEMENT The concept of sustainable forest management emerged after the Earth Summit held in Rio de Janeiro in It seeks to preserve the economic, social and ecological resources of forests for the benefit of current and future generations. The era saw the massive mobilization of public opinion which called for the development of a more environmentally friendly and sustainable forest exploitation model. The rationale is to migrate from the mining type of forest exploitation, which prevailed at the time, to sustainable management, based on a tool: the sustainable FMP that cuts across the following three areas: ecological, economic and social issues. It marked a fundamental shift, not to say a revolution, in the area of management: States and loggers resorted to new skills (managers, management consultancies), negotiation and consultation among major stakeholders (forest administrations, local communities, NGOs, private sector, etc.), recognition of local needs and introduction of processes and tools for planning and evaluation. 2 The evaluation report, as well as the documents presented at the forum, on 6 October 2011 (including a presentation of the FMP concept by FRM) are available on the AFD website: Photo credit: FRM Marking the starting point of a forest path to conduct a management inventory, Equateur province (DRC)

5 Graph 1 Commitments (M ) Profile of AFD projects implemented between 1990 and Document is available on the AFD website: Conservation FMP Institutional Downstream activities Rural development/ Infrastructure REDD+ Training/research FMP/Biodiversity Source: AFD (2010), «La coopération française dans le secteur forestier du Bassin du Congo sur la période », de J.-P. Lemelle et P. Larat, Série Ex Post Évaluation et capitalisation, n 37, AFD, Paris. 3 FROM CONCEPT TO REALITY In countries of the Congo Basin, AFD support sought to foster the design of an FMP in every concession as a management tool that ensures the regeneration of timber, conservation of biodiversity and socioeconomic development in the logging area. While the initial circumstances were similar (similar forest types, low deforestation levels, inexistent management schemes, and inappropriate legal and regulatory frameworks), there were country specificities (remote location of ports, anthropogenic pressure, domestic markets, etc.). AFD focused its assistance on the private sector to complement the work of MFEA, which helped to build the States capacities, through its technical assistance programmes. This target also emanated from its strategic choices: at the time, not only was the economic development of forests mainly driven by the private sector, but also specific assistance for FMP design was delivered under long-term forest concessions, and as such, managed by private entities. AFD delivered its assistance through four main types of interventions: financial assistance to the industry; financial assistance to large holdings involved in FMP; technical assistance and funding to smallholders ; implementation of new projects with an expanded coverage that transcends FM. IN 20 YEARS, A POSITIVE PERFORMANCE FOR AFD In the early nineties, forest management was basically experimental, and exploitation was akin to mining. Today, out of the 61 million hectares of sempervirens 4 forests, 31 million hectares are under concession, about 20 million hectares are under management schemes, including 4.4 million hectares certified as sustainably managed. Significant progress has been achieved in 20 years, although the expression areas under management covers a broad range of meaning. The process initiated by AFD fell in line with France s commitments (Rio, 1992) which were delivered through a unique and complementary French mechanism (MFEA, PROPARCO, AFD, research institutions and FGEF), driven by the common vision of reconciling economic development and sustainable management. In adopting such a strategy, the Agency preferred pragmatism and responsiveness to keep pace with evolving national and global trends. AFD interventions maintain the same coherence, albeit at different levels: (i) coherence with France s strategic policies (by adjusting to the strategic shifts: recognition of biodiversity, climate issues); (ii) complementarity with actions implemented by FGEF and MFEA; (iii) alignment on national policies of the relevant countries (impact of France s influence); and (iv) consistency with other donor strategies. Grants and loans to States recorded a good performance, albeit mixed (considering the funds committed) for credit lines and loans on market terms (see graph 2). 4 Dense rainforests are said to be sempervirens (evergreen in Latin) because the leaves of most crowns do not fall off during the dry season.

6 Graph 2 Mixed results for funds committed for credit lines and loans on market terms Million of euros Grants excluding C2D) C2D Credit lines Commitments Direct loans PN2 Cancellations Sovereign loans PS2 Loans on market Source: AFD (2010) La coopération française dans le secteur forestier du Bassin du Congo sur la période [French Cooperation in the forest sector of the Congo Basin in ], J-P. Lemelle and P. Larat, Ex post Series, Evaluation and Capitalisation, No. 37, AFD, Paris 5 Forest management is now a key element in the Congo Basin. AFD interventions led to remarkable technical strides and, today, it is worth stating that the FMP model contributes significantly to sustainable forest management. However, some aspects need improvement. Indeed, small and mediumsized operators encounter challenges (financial and technical) in the implementation process, while the social component remains the weak link of FMP and biodiversity is often restricted to the adoption of a few anti-poaching measures. Despite a challenging context, AFD successfully fostered effective stakeholder dialogue through an FMP negotiation process (although it needs to be improved in conjunction with local communities). In this regard, the Agency pioneered the process through its long-term involvement and acknowledgment of the pivotal role of FMP as a tool for sustainable forest management in the Congo Basin. The actual implementation of a contractual agreement between the State and the private sector on the sustainable management of forest is clearly a major achievement of the Agency s intervention. These outcomes remain shaky and should be entrenched to withstand new challenges. WHAT IS AFD S FUTURE ROLE? SUSTAINING AND ENHANCING SUSTAINABLE MANAGEMENT AFD should maintain its lead role in this process The following reasons support the sustenance of this support: Macro-economic: owing to the importance of forests in national economies; Technical: owing to the complexity of the model, and capacity building needs; Financial: to find new funding mechanisms (social and biodiversity components); Governance: for necessary institutional development. Sustaining and expanding the process could be achieved by: Supporting national concession holders; Tailoring the FMP tool to the recipients, to achieve across-the-board certification; Revitalizing research on the monitoring of ecosystems; Recognition of other areas and management systems. Lastly, AFD should enhance its involvement in governance-related issues in the sector through, for instance, (i) the introduction of tools to monitor the state of the forest and implementation of FMPs, as well as accountability tools for forest managers; (ii) institutional support to fill critical capacity gaps in sustainable management functions; (iii) furtherance of sector dialogue in the various entities (national, regional and international), and (iv) support to improved donor coordination. 5 Document is available on the AFD website: Evaluations/Evaluation-capitalisation/37-evaluation-capitalisation.pdf AFD interventions proved relevant with regards to the target to shift logging methods towards sustainable management, through a long-term State/concession holder partnership; regarding the initial target: greater responsiveness from European groups produced a ripple effect, despite poor governance; with regards to the mobilization of Official Development Assistance (ODA): the recognition of forests as a global public asset a positive impact. RESEARCH DEPARTMENT Evaluation and Capitalization Unit Publisher: Dov Zerah Editor-in-chief: Laurent Fontaine Design and layout: Coquelicot ISSN: Copyright: April 2012 The views presented in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of AFD or its partners. Printed on recycled paper.