Group 4Legacy issues of deforestation-free

commitments

1. What remedial actions must a company take to qualify as a deforestation-free producer?

• The rights and livelihoods of communities, including social conflicts• Environmental values

2. What are the challenges in agreeing these actions and implementing them?

Remedial actions for the rights and livelihoods of communities, including social conflicts?

• Historical context: defining cut-off dates (is this the right way?)• Country-specific vs. universal definitions:• 1999 is the divisive year in Indonesia• Laws have changed since: what was illegal in the past might be legal now

• Many commitments do not address legacy issues• Legality • The challenge of calculating compensation when the original

forest/community has gone/been displaced, however• HCV tool can be used to inquire about the values that were lost – especially

social

Remedial actions for the rights and livelihoods of communities, including social conflicts?

• Acquisitions – what happens when you buy somebody else’s concession and they have done the conversion?• What consitutes remedial action? • ask the community

• Role of government in enabling the remedial action & ensuring permanence & preventing encroachment• Recognize that companies & civil society lead – and maybe

government will follow

Remedial actions for the rights and livelihoods of communities, including social conflicts?

• Voluntary pledges are the starting point – California effect• Recognize that there is some risk in purely voluntary approaches

• Companies to actively engage in advocacy with an action plan so voluntary action becomes mandatory

Ways of remedying past harm

• Social

• Give back the land – subject to government zoning and regulations New laws recognizing customary groups & land rights Same location or different location?• Livelihood options; labour and services Compensation (as part of the package)

- Rights to receive a share of the proceeds from the area planted by the company

- In-kind: e.g., use of mechanical equipment, technical support Recognition of rights gives a much stronger basis for negotiations Trade-offs between environmental/social remedies

Ways of remedying past harm

• Environmental• Return land to a more natural state/take compensatory approach

off-site• Learn from REDD+ permanence mechanisms• Viable, long term business model to restore/maintain• Community extraction/not encroachment in set-asides• Contract communities to manage/protect set-asides• Land manager purchases NTFPs extracted from set-asides• Pay communities on reduced deforestation

• Species re-introduction

What are the challenges in agreeing these actions and implementing them?• How to get government buy-in/policy reform• Avoid raising expectations unrealistically• Lack of capacity for negotiation /assessments• How to assess values of lost forests• No easy one-size-fits-all scaleable model - How do you determine

whether ”adequate”?

What are the challenges in agreeing these actions and implementing them?• Many of the challenges stem from forest governance ”mess” • How to assess a company’s culpability/liability for past harm?• Acquiring new land for conservation options• Viable/long term business model• Permanence mechanisms could include some extraction – selective logging, NTFPs fire, encroachment