Recent debates over forest certification in Laos are raising interesting issues about the aim of forestry in general. In September Chris Lang made the provocative challenge that timber certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) in Laos – the only FSC certified project in Indochina – was actually illegal under Lao law. Responses from the certifiers focus on procedural aspects, such as the timing of the report relative to certification and subsequent audits. In contrast, responses from a former coordinator for WWF’s forestry program and others working on forestry in Laos are striking in that they focus on the ‘political culture’ in Laos. They argue that it is the Lao political culture – however this is conceived – and its interactions with international institutions that will determine the efficacy of reforms in forestry. Interestingly, the World Bank’s East Asia Region Forestry Strategy, released for comment in October, also makes a number of comments on the ‘political economy’ of forestry. One conclusion of the report is that:
The failures of forestry are rooted in perverse policies and bad governance and the lack of disciplined and science-based management.
Perhaps this is all part of a broader trend where ‘forestry’ brings to mind politics much more readily than science? This raises the questions of whether it is appropriate to aim for ‘science-based management’ and how this aim would take into account varied ‘political cultures’?
1 response so far ↓
1 Matthew McDaniel // Nov 24, 2006 at 6:26 am
I lived in Laos for the last year working with the Akha Hill Tribe. I also got to know forestry experts who had been working in the country for 30 years.
Problems for forestry in Laos should not soley be placed on the Lao government by any means. Multinationals and foreign governements pressed Laos to decentralize control of resources to the province, where once done, these regions were immediately plundered by foreign countries and companies.
NGO’s, foreigners, from shifting agriculture policy and bans, the opium eradication, forestry, it has all been initiated and run by foreigners plundering the country, all the way back to US bombs which are still there.
That is where the finger pointing has got to go.
Matthew McDaniel
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