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 2009/2010:

• In Costa Rica VERIFOR supported the design and implementation of several verification systems with the support of the National Commission of Sustainable Forestry (CNSF). In particular, the Latin America VERIFOR partner, CATIE, supported the publication of the codes of practice in the official newspaper.
• From November 2009 to January 2010, CATIE-VERIFOR supported the design and implementation of the on-line information management system aimed at reducing administrative procedures and providing accurate information.
• From January to August 2009 CATIE-VERIFOR facilitated 6 workshops with a number of stakeholders (regents, forest owners, forest state administration and other practitioners), to finalise the forestry recency decree.
• In Nicaragua CATIE-VERIFOR contributed to drafting the Forest Auditing System from May 2009 to January 2010.
• In November 2009 VERIFOR, in collaboration with GTZ, agreed to support INAFOR to develop an 'Illegal Logging Indicator' using the official statistical data.
• From January to July 2009 VERIFOR consultants worked in the field to collect data to enable the development of the illegal logging indicator.
• In the Central American Region, from April 2009, CATIE has been developing an on-line multi-entry control system to help with the identification of timber endangered species.
• The Spanish version of the VERIFOR project book 'Legal Timber: Verification and Governance in the Forest Sector' was produced by CATIE.
• VERIFOR partner TRAFFIC, together with Fundación Pachamama, organised a Community Radio workshop on "Forests, Indigenous Peoples Rights and Illegal Logging". The four-day workshop was attended by 20 indigenous communities' representatives from the Amazon region. The aim was to train represetatives working with community radios on key issues relating to Illegal Logging. A series of thematic leaflets for community radios were also produced and disseminated. The leaflets will also be compiled in CD format.
• VERIFOR was involved in the production of the DVD series 'Voices for Sustainable Forests', on the critical aspects related to Ecuadorian forests. This educational material will be disseminated in all Ecuadorian secondary schools and it is also intended to be used by communication specialists dealing with Amazonian issues.
• VERIFOR, through TRAFFIC and in collaboration with Walter Palacios, conducted a consultation process with forest dependent communities in Morona Santiago and Orellana. The objective was to develop a study on timber-producing communities and to identify measures to improve the performance of timber-sale activiteis of these communities.

VERIFOR activities in Latin America 2007/2008:

• Since May 2008, VERIFOR has supported the efforts of TRAFFIC South America (TSAM) to promote policy dialogue processes in the Amazon regions of Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia. This has included ensuring that local perspectives inform the development of the government-led ALFA (Aplicación de la Legislación Forestal en la Amazonía) processes at the national level. The implementation of field activities has been context-driven, adapting to the circumstances of each country.
• In Ecuador, efforts have focused in designing an Amazon-specific proposal to promote legality and transparency in the region’s forest sector. Four local workshops have been carried out to give feedback to and ensure relevant inputs from key actors at the local level. As a result of this process, three multi-stakeholder forestry roundtables have been established in three Amazon provinces of the country, with the aim to identify common approaches and commit to joint action to tackle illegal logging and deforestation.
• In Peru, the work has strived to go beyond the forest sector and address the extra-sectoral pressures on forests. The effort has focused in mobilising civil society, forest-dependent stakeholders and regional governments to influence the far-reaching legal reform process prompted by the upcoming entry into force of the US-Peru Trade Promotion Agreement.
• The work in Bolivia has led to the preparation of a forest governance review of Bolivia’s Amazon region. Due to the current context of political turbulence in Bolivia, a main purpose of such analysis has been to describe the degree of social and political readiness for the development of forest-related participatory processes. A workshop is scheduled for January 2009, aimed at discussing the rapidly changing forest governance challenges in the Bolivian Amazon and developing partnerships among these actors and across sectors for confronting such challenges.
• In June, the Verifor-supported MSc Course in Natural Resource Policy and Governance was completed at CATIE, with the participation of 32 MSc Students. This course drew on the Verifor conceptual framework for analysing verification systems inside the forest sector.  The course was evaluated as excellent by the students.  There is strong demand for a third course at CATIE in 2009, with the participation of new partners, including the FAO. 
• Also in June, a training course was held at CATIE on the governance of natural resource management.  This training was implemented by GTZ and VERIFOR team members, with the participation of practitioners and MSc Students from CATIE.
•  In November, a study on the regional timber trade in Central America was completed, with country case studies on forest governance for Panama, Belize, Guatemala, and El Salvador for the Comisión Centroamericana de Ambiente y Desarrollo (CCAD). This study was financed by the FLEG program of the World Bank and the VERIFOR project.
• 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.