Co-Chairs’ Summary : Mini Dialogue on Pro-Poor Commercial Forestry

On 4 March, 2007, The Forests Dialogue (TFD) met with representatives from community groups, business and labor to discuss approaches to maximize commercial forestry’s potential to reduce poverty. Representing forest companies, NGOs, IGOs, labour, development agencies, and research institutions, participants shared knowledge and experience to highlight some of the key challenges and opportunities of pursuing commercial wood production (hereafter called ‘commercial forestry’) as a mechanism to lift people out of poverty within the context of Asia in general with Indonesia as a case study .

While the meeting was global in scope, learnings and challenges from Indonesia featured prominently through field visits and presentations. Local initiatives, such as corporate/community based fiber schemes, large scale intensively managed planted forests, and meetings with small holders, both local and trans-migrants, enriched discussions by offering pragmatic examples of ‘pro-poor’ forestry which participants could discuss, challenge and assess.

The meeting’s objectives were to:

• Examine illustrative cases and identify obstacles to replication elsewhere;
• Clarify the stakeholder roles, commitments and actions necessary to realize the potential of commercial forestry to reduce poverty;
• Advise TFD’s full Dialogue on forests and poverty reduction in development for mid 2007.