The First UNEP/University of Joensuu Symposium on Challenges to Sustainable Development University of Joensuu May 12, 2003 Forests and Poverty Reduction Prof. Olli Saastamoinen University of Joensuu Faculty of Forestry

For those who experience it, 'poverty' requires no further description. Sociology differentiates between subsistence or absolute poverty, which refers to the lack of basic requirements to sustain a physically healthy existence and relative poverty, which involves assessing the gaps between the living conditions of some groups and those enjoyed by the majority of a population. Absolute poverty exists in much greater numbers in developing countries, but it is not true that the rich countries are dealing only with the problems of relative poverty. If relative poverty is defined in an unorthodox way as a gap between the majority of the population and the privileged class, one can claim that it also is most widespread in the developing world.

One out of four of the world's poor depend directly or indirectly on forests for their livelihood. One third of world population relies on biomass fuels (mainly fuelwood) for cooking and heating. Natural products - many from forests - are the only source of medicine for 70-90% of people in developing countries.

Three examples, two from the developing world and one from the countries in transition may further illustrate the variety of the forest related poverty in the world .

In Mozambique the average per capita income is among the ten lowest in the world. Nearly 70 per cent of the population live below poverty line and more than 80 per cent of them in rural areas. Over 90 per cent of the rural dwellers depend directly on natural resources for food, shelter and income and up to 80 per cent of the population uses wildlife meat and fish as their principal source of animal protein. Wood provides more than 80 per cent of Mozambique´s energy demands.

In the Philippines the kaingineros, who practise shifting agriculture, are called the poorest of the poor. They entered the forests, which first have been exploited by logging companies. These small farmers cleared what was left to grow crops. Saving the remaining forests in the Philippines forest will require land reform, agricultural, credit, family planning, and enforceable property rights for current forest occupants and indigenous communities.

In Russian Karelia because of unsustainable logging in the past, combined with the painful transition of forest industries into market economy, the number of forest-based communities has declined by more than half. More than half of people living in the forest villages regarded that their income as insufficient or just enough for food only. The role of small agricultural lots and non-timber forest products is nowadays of utmost importance for survival and attaining additional income

At the 1995 World Summit for Social Development, governments committed themselves to developing, more explicitly pro-poor policies, by preparing and strengthening national strategies to reduce poverty. The plan of implementation of Johannesburg World Summit states that Sustainable forest management of both natural and planted forests and for timber and non-timber products is essential to achieving sustainable development and is a critical means to eradicate poverty.

Forests and trees can be efficient tools contributing to poverty alleviation and reduction in developing countries. The following provides some examples, how this can be achieved. Tree plantation programs (both small and large scale) provide both employment and income. Charcoal production involves huge numbers of people in the developing world. However due to the lack of property rights or legitimate licences they are very often forced to work illegally during night times. Bringing this production into properly organised legal and daylight activity would greatly improve the situation of one of the poorest and largest rural groups. At the same time efficiency in wood use can be improved. In general, the controlled access of the poor to the forest needs to be improved. Securing land tenure and resource rights requires international support for land reforms. The role of forests and trees in providing inputs to agricultural production can be strengthened - agro-forestry is a key activity here. Rehabilitation and restoring of degraded lands would provide employment and increase land productivity in the long term. Small-scale carbon sequestration and bio-diversity compensation schemes should be included into environmental programs. National forest programmes and national poverty reduction strategies should be better linked together. Finally, it is necessary to increase national and international financing of pro-poor forestry programs.

Forests and poverty reduction is a rather recent topic, in particular when compared to the more shiny side of the coin - the role of forest exploitation in creating wealth and richness. The logging of the luxurious rain forests has brought significant profits to the timber traders during the colonial times, and even more so when the developing countries gained their independence. The timber concessions provided a "get rich quick" scheme available to the economic and political elite of tropical timber empires. Logging postponed the resolving of the issue of land tenure, as the problem was moved deeper into the forest, out of sight. The result being that the only thing that was sustained was poverty.

So, when considering the need to finance national and international programmes for rehabilitating degraded forest lands, halting deforestation and reducing poverty, one can not avoid asking whether those who were able to reap profits from unsustainable logging activities should pay their share for remedial activities. While the political possibilities and legal grounds may be far from being clear, the ethical reasons clearly exist.

Forests and trees represent only one the many strategies necessary for alleviating and reducing rural poverty, but the one with many advantages. Forest and trees offer a multiplicity of benefits - economic, environmental and social - and are also in the reach of the most marginalised people. Many of the forest based activities can be done with the hands and skills of the poor themselves and the flow of the benefits can be sustained for years - even to the following generations.