The main actors in the forestry game
Tropical Forest Action Programme (TFAP)
By far the biggest international body in tropical forest management, TFAP was formed on the 1983 decision of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation's committee on forest development in the tropics, consisting of about 50 Northern and Southern governments.
FAO and some aid agencies expected TFAP to be primarily a mechanism to coordinate development aid in forestry, but the World Resources Institute, a co-sponsor, claims it wanted TFAP to address the "root causes of deforestation". Ninety countries, including India, are currently developing or implementing national forestry action plans under TFAP.
Following a major review, TFAP is being restructured with a coalition of donor agencies, multilateral agencies, international NGOs and tropical country governments. International Tropical Timber Organisation (ITTO) ITTO, a brainchild of Japan, was created to solve the problem of deforestation caused by logging.
Another objective is to raise the economic value of forests by increasing and rationalising the international price structure for timber to include the cost of forest management and reforestation. Nothing significant has happened on this front till now and ITTO is currently renegotiating its agreement. Agenda 21 The forestry chapter of Agenda 21 lists various national and international activities to increase and sustain the productivity of forests globally. The document was adopted by all countries at the UN Conference on Environment and Development in June 1992. Agenda 21 estimates international aid of more than $ ??? billion annually to implement various forestry activities in the next 7 years.
Forests for the Future Initiative
On June 1, 1992, US President George Bush launched the Forests for the Future Initiative, which aims at doubling current international forest assistance of about $ 1.35 billion to a global total of $ 2.7 billion if other countries join in. However, nothing significant has happened since the announcement. The initiative received a lukewarm response from developing countries at the Earth Summit.
World Bank Forest Policy
The World Bank revised its forest policy in 1992 to give it a leadership role in directing support for forestry activities globally.
On international issues, the bank will focus on support for projects protecting biological diversity, including expansion of parks and reserves and global transfers for carbon fixation in forests. Nationally, it will assist governments in developing resource inventories and systems for continuous resource assessment. In providing lending for plantations, the bank intends to focus on "farm family" and "farm forestry groups", accepting its failure in past social forestry experiments.