”Current Status and Challenges of Sustainable Forest Management in Borneo: Views from governments, private sectors, NGOs, and local communities
【Date】9-10th December 2013
【Venue】Inamori Fundation Memorial Building, Center for Southeast Asian Studies,
Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan
【Seminar’s Objective】
This international seminar aims to discuss current status and issues of
Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) in the island of Borneo. It gathers
various stakeholders of SFM practitioners (timber production and trading
companies), promoters (governments and NGOs) and researchers from Borneo
and Japan. This seminar provides a useful opportunity to share
experiences and knowledge with each other, which may provide practical
solutions to some of the problems faced by the stakeholders.
Borneo is the third largest island in the world, divided between
Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei. It is one of the most biodiversity-rich
places on earth.Commercial logging has been a major economic activity in
Borneo, and Japan has been one of its major buyers. Today, most of the
forests have become badly degraded due to decades of logging and recent
development of monoculture plantations.
In 1992, the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development
(UNCED) affirmed the importance of SFM, that targets not only commercial
benefit, but also environmental consideration and community needs, as
one of the essential elements of sustainable development. Forest
certification systems were then initiated by environmental NGOs to
promote SFM. As a result, a growing number of timber companies have
integrated SFM and transaction of the products into their business
strategies. Governments in timber producing and importing countries also
began to support SFM.
However, there are still two challenges of SFM in Borneo. One issue is
the environmental and social verification of SFM. Does a current SFM
scheme really serve the purposes of environmental protection and social
benefit? How can the effectiveness of SFM be verified? The other issue
is the dissemination of SFM practices in Borneo and that certified
timbers have yet to make it big into the market despite the hard efforts
in promoting SFM. What are the political, economic, and social factors
affecting the current status of SFM in Borneo? What are the marketing
problems in the consuming countries, such as Japan? How can the market
be stimulated to encourage and demand for SFM practice in Borneo?
This seminar hopes to generate discussion on future direction of SFM in
Borneo and also to build a broad network of multiple stakeholders
working on SFM activities across the borders.
For further information on the programs and access, please click here.
【Secretariat】
鮫島弘光 Hiromitsu Samejima (CSEAS, Kyoto University)
森下明子 Akiko Morishita (CSEAS, Kyoto University)
