Browsing by Author "Wells, Adrian"

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Forestry as an Entry Point for Governance Reform
(2002) Brown, David; Schreckenberg, K.; Shepherd, Gill; Wells, Adrian
"Tropical forestry provides a useful entry point for governance programmes. The very factors which make it a challenging sector for development assistance commend it also as a crucible for governance reform: its inclusive focus, linking the global to the national and local; the high levels of income and other benefits which it generates; its local fiscal base; the centrality of issues of tenure and collective rights; and its importance in rural livelihoods, all reinforce the linkages between good governance, public accountability and poverty alleviation. Ensuring that the forest sector fulfils this brief is a major challenge not just to host country governments but also to the donor community."
Good Governance: What Can We Learn from the Forest Sector?
(2003) Brown, David; Schreckenberg, K.; Shepherd, Gill; Wells, Adrian
"Achieving good governance dominates today's development agenda. But what does this mean in practice? This paper examines some of the key elements of good governance, including transparent and equitable relationships between stakeholders, public accountability and participatory decision-making. It takes as an example the forest sector, which has made surprising gains in its application of good governance ideas. Forestry's inclusive focus, linking the global to the national and local; the centrality of issues of tenure and collective rights; and its importance in rural livelihoods, all reinforce the linkages between good governance, public accountability and poverty alleviation. The impact of improving governance is evident at several levels: decentralization has changed the balance of power and decisionmaking between central government and the periphery; relationships between government and civil society have benefited as donor-promoted participation has created significant space for civil society voices to be heard; and new models are being developed for relationships within civil society and particularly within communities. Forestry's experience shows that both `bottom up' and `top down' pressures may be needed to build public accountability. The transfer of rights over resources is important for turning `participation' into citizenship. Forestry offers experience with a wide variety of pro-poor growth strategies, and the legal, institutional and policy reforms necessary to secure these. Pro-poor regulatory reform is a challenging but essential aspect of better governance in the forest sector, for instance. Similarly, the national resolution of conflicts related to international policies is essential including, for example, debates about whether forest conservation can best be achieved through the protection or sustainable use routes."
Rural Livelihoods: Revitalizing Community Forest Resource Rights for Poverty Reduction
(2006) Wells, Adrian; Nugroho, Tri
"The use of poverty tools highlighted important challenges for existing policy governing the commons, spanning: (i) forms of collective land titling and registration; (ii) criteria for designation of lands for extractive industry and conservation within the National Forest Estate; (iii) mechanisms for managing the overlaps with local community land-use systems (prior informed consent, compensation, community development); (iv) the opportunities to secure these reforms within the framework of decentralisation and special autonomy laws; and (iv) the legal and institutional safeguards needed to ensure the poor do not lose out (amongst others, work by MFP partners in Sulawesi showed that the incentives for community-based forestry work very differently for the poor). "This demonstrates the importance of a solid framework for poverty analysis (linking assets, social exclusion and voice) when reviewing options for restructuring and revitalizing the forestry industry. It also demonstrates the importance of partnerships with agencies primarily responsible for operationalizing forest plans like local government, the private sector (natural resource concessionaires, eco-tourism) and conservation groups, in undertaking poverty analysis. It this respect, the introduction of Forest Management Units (KPH) as devolved decision-making structures presents an important policy opportunity."