Photo by flickr/leoffreitas

Links and resources

Case studies

• Brazil
• Costa Rica
• Ecuador

Related sites

• VERIFOR CATIE site (in Spanish)

Key documents

• Rural livelihoods, forest law and the illegal timber trade in Honduras and Nicaragua
  A. Wells, F. Del Gatto, M. Richards, D. Pommier & A. Contreras-Hermosilla, Paper in the series 'Forest law enforcement and rural livelihoods, CIFOR, Bogor, 2004.

VERIFOR's partner in Latin America is CATIE, the Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center, in Costa Rica. CATIE is a non-governmental, not-for-profit organisation with a long history of involvement in the forestry sector in Central and South America, supporting the development of sustainable forest management and facilitating political dialogue between stakeholders and governments through local and regional networks.

The Latin American region has developed its own website in Spanish. The site is hosted by CATIE and can be accessed at http://www.catie.ac.cr/VERIFOR.

VERIFOR activities in Latin America 2007/2008:

• VERIFOR team members are currently working on the publication of 8 Central America case studies that will appear in a CATIE series on Economics, Policy and Governance of Natural Resources.
• On 7-8 March and 5 April 2008 CATIE-VERIFOR held 3 VERIFOR seminars as part of CATIE's MSc 'Politics and governance of natural resources'. Edgar Maraví (WB) and John Bazill (EC) spoke about the FLEGT programme whilst Anne Larson (CIFOR) led a discussion on decentralisation issues in the forest sector. Course details (Spanish).
• Between February and April 2008 CATIE-VERIFOR has taken part in the implementation of FLEG/T activites within the design process of the Central American Forestry Strategic Programme (PERFOR) of CCAD. VERIFOR representatives produced a synthesis on forest legality and governance in the region through case studies on Guatemala, El Salvador, Panama and Belize, including an adaptation of the Costa Rican, Nicaraguan and Honduran case studies prepared previously by the project. A complete study on Central America cross-border timber trade, including trade with the US, EU and the Caribbean, was also produced.  All this studies has been made with funds coming from World Bank FLEG program, FAO facility, IUCN, SNV, Rainforest alliance, GTZ and VERIFOR. A technical meeting was held on 6-7 April with participants from the World Bank and the European Union and other regional institutions.
• In January 2008 VERIFOR started a series of workshops with stakeholders of the Forest Regency in Costa Rica to prepare a reform to the regency system and the development of an information and permit administration system with cross-checks and balances for control and auditing. VERIFOR and FAO will also provide financial support and support with workshop facilitation.
• In September 2007 VERIFOR supported the National Committee for Forestry Sustainability (CNSF) in the preparation of new natural forest management standards (MSF). These have now been approved and were presented officially to the Forest Service for publication as a decree.
• In September 2007 VERIFOR started three Phase 2 processes in Nicaragua. (1) The INAFOR Decentralisation strategy (GTZ), (2) the Forest Audit System Design (GTZ) and (3) simplification of administrations services and permits (WB). From September 2007 to December 2007 interviews and field work were carried out for the Decentralisation Strategy and the evaluation of forest permits processes.
• In September 2007 the second workshop of the Costa Rican phase II process was held. The new MFS standards have been approved and VERIFOR will present the results to the stakeholders of the forest sector.
• Between 28-31 August, VERIFOR attended the Central American Forestry Congress in El Salvador. VERIFOR presented the Cross-border Timber commerce and the Nicaragua Verification System case studies.
• Experts at the Instituto Nacional Forestal (INAFOR), the Nicaraguan Forest State Administration, have validated the Nicaraguan Case Study. VERIFOR has also been asked to lead an institutional streghtening of the forest legality verification system, and to prepare a proposal for advisory and knowledge sharing on verification in Nicaragua. This will include engagement in three subprocesses:
1. Decentralization strategy to Municipalities;
2. Forest Audit System; and
3. Simplification of administrations services and permits.
The consultancy will commence on September 3th 2007.
• VERIFOR attended the Mahogany-CITES workshop financed by FLEG-WB, held between 14-17 August in Managua, Nicaragua. More specifically VERIFOR presented results from the Case Study on Cross-border Commerce of wood products in Central America .
• Between 26-27 July VERIFOR attended a workshop with other international experts to validate the Nicaraguan National Forest Policy and contributed specifically to the Governance, Legality Standards and Decentralisation working groups.
• Between 26-29th of June, VERIFOR participated and presented the project's research to date at the FAO Workshop on “Illegal logging and governance in Central America” lead by Eva Müller in San Pedro Sula, Nicaragua. VERIFOR was also invited to discuss the results of the Case Study on the Cross-border commerce of wood products in Central America.
• On the 22-23rd of June a CATIE organised a Masters module on the VERIFOR project for 40 Masters students. Students attended a seminar and discussed regional forest verification systems such as the cross-border study, CITIES and certification; the national verification systems of Costa Rica, Ecuador, and Nicaragua; and two extra-sectoral case studies (Kimberly and Nuclear Safeguards).
• The Latin American partner organisation, CATIE, and Focal Point for Latin America (Central), Guillermo Navarro, organised a stakeholder workshop on Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) in Costa Rica in June 2007, under the auspices of VERIFOR.
• Lima Perú. 14-16 May 2007 meeting on the Latin American National Forest Certification Initiatives.  Reviewing the FSC strategic plan.
• Petén Guatemala. 22-23 February 2007 meeting on the Central American National Forest Certification Initiatives for the creation of the Central American Council of Forest Certification under CCAD.

VERIFOR activities in Latin America 2006:

• VERIFOR was invited to join PUEMBO II, an initiative for Inter-sectoral Planning of Forest Policies, which took place in October 2006. Also in October, CATIE presented the cross-border regional study and the VERIFOR approach to verification systems at a CCAD-CTB meeting (i.e. the Comité técnico de bosques of the Comisión Centroamericana de Ambiente y Desarrolló ). In addition VERIFOR is working in support of Item 1 of PERFOR (Regional Forestry Strategy Programme) on forest legality and governance, and providing technical support to the Central American Voluntary Certification Initiative on design of standards and evaluation.
• At the request of the Ecuadorian Ministry of the Environment, VERIFOR contributed to the organisation, conceptualisation and content of a national workshop: “Experiences of Decentralisation of the Forest Administration and Models for Participatory Management of Protected Areas”, held in Quito , Ecuador (October 31). The workshop aimed to bring regional experience of decentralised forest governance systems and forest law enforcement from Bolivia , Brazil , Colombia and Central America to Ecuadorian political decision makers at national and provincial levels. These decision-makers are now implementing the Decentralised Forest Control System in Ecuador, which was agreed during the “National Dialogue on Forests” and for which VERIFOR was a contributor.
• Hans Thiel, VERIFOR focal point, gave a presentation on “How research on forest governance systems can support political decision-makers in their effort to improve forest law enforcement” at the Latin American Congress of the International Union of Forest Research Organisations in Chile (20-22 October 2006). The main findings of VERIFOR's research were also presented to researchers from across the region, on a side-event held on 24 October.
• From 19th -21st October, Hans Thiel, VERIFOR Focal Point for South America, assisted as co-trainer to the Training Workshop on the Interface between Forest Policy and Forest Science held before the International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO) Congress for Latin-America in La Serena, Chile, which was attended by 18 young scientist from the whole sub-continent.
• In September 2006, Hans Thiel and ODI team member Neil Bird attended the Latin American Workshop on Transparency in the Forest Sector (organised by USAID and the US Forest Service) in Lima , Peru , and presented their research on “Factors that determine the successful uptake of new technologies introduced in Brazil (DOF/SISFLORA Mato Grosso), Costa Rica and Ecuador . The workshop led to regional action plans for improved transparency in the forest sector. VERIFOR was also present at the “Marketplace for Innovations” regarding technologies and forest governance held during the workshop, which was attended by participants from 8 countries of the region.