Resources

Bibliography compiled by Lorena Ibargüen Tinley in 2004. A-Z by country and subject:

• Africa
• Cambodia
• Cameroon
• Certification
• CITES
• Communities
• Concessions
• Corruption
• Deforestation
• Ecuador
• FLEG
• Forest Crimes
• Forest Law
• Forest Law Enforcement
• Forest Policy
• Forests
• Global Witness
• Governance
• Illegal Logging
• Illegal Timber Trade
• Independent Forest Monitoring
• Indonesia
• Kimberley Process
• Law Enforcement
• Monitoring
• Participation
• Philippines
• Trade

Also on this site

• Regional Activities - Latin America
• Verification Case Study - Ecuador

FAO-RLC 2002, Tercerizacion de los Servicios Publicos del Sector Forestal. El caso de Ecuador , Oficina Regional de la FAO para America Latina y el Caribe, Santiago de Chile.
Abstract: The bulletin contains a wide range of information about FAO's activities in the Latin American and Caribbean region concerning forestry issues, including information on countries national forestry policies. The section on Ecuador, describes the recent National Sustainable Forest Development Plan, and gives details on their new Surveillance System
Keywords: Ecuador/forest legislation/independent forest monitoring/Verifor Bibliography /Project - SO140 Forest

Integrity Network 2003, "Business principles and forest corruption", FIN Newsletter no. 6, October 2003.
Abstract: The FIN Newsletter includes information on corporate social responsibility (CSR) management as an emerging and promising tool to deter illegal logging and associated corruption. The CSR program is defined as a voluntary effort by companies to adopt accepted principles for responsible conduct of businesses. It then looks at the case of Ecuador's National Outsource Forest Control System and the threat which exists as a Constitutional Tribune declared the forest control system to be unconstitutional. The third topic informs about the Royal Institute of International Affairs (RIIA) workshop on finance and illegal logging. Finally, there is information on the World Bank's activities to support containment of illegal activities within the forest sector.
Keywords: corruption/Ecuador/illegal logging/Transparency International/Verifor Bibliography /Project - SO140

GTZ & IWPR 2004, National forest programs. Country case: Ecuador
Abstract: This Report is the second of its kind, since Global Witness was appointed IO and includes an overview of the project of Independent Observation, a progress review of the objectives of the Project, the Independent Observers mandate, and a description of its activities. Its major conclusion is that during the first two years of work the Independent Observer has been able to attain greater access to documentation, has completed 35 field missions documenting in detail major and minor infractions and has published all related reports. This achievement however, has not concluded in the pursuit of these cases to their legal resolution. The issuing of official statements of offence and prosecution for illegal logging has increased since the beginning of the Project, but despite this cases of illegal logging remain unresolved.

Some of the major problems reported are summarized next:

• There is still resistance to the inclusion of the Independent Observer (IO) in Mission Planning
• A large number of cases have not been investigated, despite the provision of information by the IO or civil society
• Access to mapping data has not improved and information within the system remains difficult to access.
• Lack of transparency in the allocation and registration of titles undermines investigation of the legality of logging activates
• The different departments are not working together as a whole to achieve the law enforcement function.

This web briefing gives an overview of the forest sector in Ecuador, including information on the "Strategy of Sustainable Development of Ecuador's Forests" and their Outsource Forestry Supervision System. It includes main conclusions and German contributions
Keywords: Ecuador/forest policy/Verifor Bibliography /Project - SO140

International Tropical Timber Organization 1999, Ecuador's new approach to enforcing forest law
Abstract: This document describes the new public forest policy initiative in Ecuador, and more specifically its new National Forestry Supervision System, which consists of three main aspects. The first being the establishment of a public/private supervision body named Vigilancia Verde (Green Surveillance), under the leadership of the Ministry of Environment, the armed forces and police, together with five non-governmental organizations, that are to be in charge of controlling the transport of timber between the forest and marketing and processing points. Another aspect of this system is the forest steward programme whereby independent foresters working with the state, will have the responsibility for ensuring proper harvesting activities in the forest according to government authorized management plans: and finally, the Ministry of Environment will contract out a major portion of its forestry administration and supervision to a private independent supervisory organization, with a ten year contract, that will operate a real-time information system and work complementary with Vigilancia Verde and the forest stewards
Keywords: Ecuador/forest law/forest policy/monitoring/Verifor Bibliography /Project - SO140

Secretariat of the Forest Integrity Network, Landell-Mills, P., Spears, J., & Gupta, A. 2002, Progress toward containment of forest corruption and improved forest governance. An information note prepared for Transparency International's Annual General Meeting
Abstract: This document summarizes some of the initiatives taken recently by various stakeholder groups to combat forest corruption and foster improved forest law enforcement. It recognizes that the containment of forest related corruption can only be done with the participation of various stakeholders including local communities, NGO's, private sector, governments and development agencies and proceeds to give brief descriptions and examples.

• Local communities: community action in India, Mexico and Tanzania.
• NGO's: work done by Global Witness, the Nature Conservancy, Forest Trends and Global Forest Watch.
• Private Industry: Council for Forest and Paper Associations, the World Business Council for Sustainable Development.
• Governments: Albania, Cambodia, Ecuador, Indonesia, FLEG in Africa and Asia, and the European Commission's Action Plan.
• Multilateral Banks and Development Agencies: World Bank, FAO, the International Tropical Timber Organization

The document concludes with TI's and FIN's steps to build coalitions to fight forest corruption by:

1. building up and publicizing data and information on the issue
2. promoting action plans that include ideas such as: community forestry, integrity pacts for forest concessions, review of laws and policies, certification, citizen-watch activities etc.

Keywords: Africa/Asia/Cambodia/certification/communities/concessions /corruption/Ecuador/FLEG/forest law/forest law enforcement/governance/Indonesia/law enforcement/NGO's/ participation/Transparency International/Verifor Bibliography /Project - SO140

Van Dam, C. 2002, La economía de la certificación forestal: ¿desarrollo sostenible para quien? Ponencia a ser presentada al Congreso Iberoamericano de Desarrollo y Medio Ambiente "Desafíos locales ante la globalización", 8 y 9 de noviembre de 2002 - FLACSO-Quito, Ecuador
Abstract: The document does a critique of forest certification as a market mechanism that has searched for answers to the forest problems in Latin America. The author reviews the growth of certification in the world in the last 10 years, comparing the experiences form countries in the South and Northern hemisphere. Some of the issues dealt with are:

• The unequal economic benefits form certification.
• The costs of certification and the dissociation between these and the beneficiaries.
• Certification standards. Should they be the same for all?
• Certification in natural forests vs. plantations
• Certification in the context of community and indigenous management of forest resources.
• The role of northern environmental NGO's in Forest certification issues
  (document available in Spanish)

Keywords: certification/communities/Ecuador/forest certification/forests/Latin America/NGO's/Verifor Bibliography /Project - SO140