Subject: Mountain People, Forests, and Trees:
Strategies for Balancing Local Management and Outside Interests

An electronic conference of the Mountain Forum
April 12 - May 14, 1999

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This e-mail conference will bring together experiences from mountains
around the world, contributing to our global knowledge of how mountain
forests and trees are important not only for mountain people, but also
for billions in lower-lying regions. Through case studies and
real-life examples from all parts of the world, and discussion, we
hope to identify practical, promising management strategies for
communities and decision-makers, as well as concrete policy
recommendations at regional, national, and global levels.

To join in the discussion, send an e-mail message with the words
"subscribe mountain forests" to . For further
information, please contact the any of the moderator group listed at
the end of this announcement.

For each week, we have proposed a broad theme and a number of possible
questions that your contribution(s) could address. But please feel
free to improvise within the broad themes!

We look forward to a lively and enriching discussion!

With best regards from the e-conference planning group:
- Elizabeth Byers, The Mountain Institute
- Ulrich Lutz, Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation
- Douglas McGuire, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United
Nations - Martin Price, University of Oxford and the International
Union of Forestry Research Organizations


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1. Agenda
2. Background
3. Outcomes
4. How to participate


AGENDA

March 15- April 11: Registration

April 12: Welcome and introductions

April 13-16: Setting the Stage

Moderators and participants will explore current understanding about
mountain forests and trees, and the communities who depend upon them.
It will be important to explore how we have come to the current
situation, by understanding past and current forces of change within
the contexts of highland-lowland interactions, and urban and rural
needs and expectations. What are the various roles and functions of
different mountain forests? What is their current biophysical
condition? What are the major forces of change: climatic, social,
economic, cultural, biophysical? And how have all of these varied over
time, at different scales, from local to global?

April 19-23: Who controls, who benefits, who interferes?

During this week, the institutional settings related to the management
and use of mountain forests and trees will be discussed. We hope to be
able to identify institutional structures which are particularly
appropriate in the context of different ownership and land use
patterns. Who decides how mountain forests and trees are managed, and
who implements these decisions? Who has the right to harvest mountain
forest resources, and who receives the benefits? How important are
local property rights and local institutions? What local people or
groups interfere? What outside forces threaten or displace
communities? What can they do to safeguard their rights and resources?
While recognizing the magnitude of extractive and exploitative outside
forces, we would like to look for positive ways forward. What are the
motivating political and other forces in the lowlands which cause
people to care about the situation of mountain forests and the people
who depend on them? What are the most appropriate institutions,
partnerships, and networks to help mountain communities to sustainably
manage their forests? Where have revenues from forest resources been
successfully re-invested in local communities and in conservation?

April 26-30: Balancing economic and other values

Economic forces are a reality which mountain people must face in the
modern world, even those people who still depend on forest resources
for subsistence and survival. Mountain forests have many different
values at scales from the local to the global, and it is often a
difficult challenge to answer local needs when confronted by the
forces of globalization. How do we value (and sustainably market)
non-wood forest products such as mushrooms, animals, or medicinal
herbs? What value- not necessarily economic - can be placed on
biodiversity, scenic beauty, or sacred traditions? It may be high time
to address hot issues such as commercial timber exploitation within a
local, sustainable framework. Through real-life examples, we hope to
see the impact of harnessing economic forces for the good of the
community and the productive future of the forest.

May 3-7: Sustainable use and protection

Achieving sustainable production and protection of mountain forest
resources is not easy for either local or outside managers. Promising
strategies that are already in use by mountain communities and
institutions are our best inspiration. This week will focus on
real-life examples, building on the issues and examples explored in
the previous weeks. What positive steps have been taken in your own
community, your regional institutions, your national government, or in
areas you are familiar with? What approaches to land use, political
partnerships, and community forestry ventures show promise?What are
the experiences and impacts of women and men in managing and using
forests and trees? Where has community-based forest management been
successfully integrated with other uses, such as recreation? Some
countries have national programs that recognize the value of investing
in mountain forests and communities, or protecting special mountain
forests. What kinds of model programs or initiatives exist?

May 10-13: Final discussion and next steps

The final week will focus on discussion and synthesis of the ideas and
case studies presented. What are some of the strategies, partnerships,
or policy directions that appear most promising? Which approaches seem
to work in the highlands of the industrial world, and which seem
well-suited to mountains in developing countries or countries in
transition? Next steps will also be discussed, including the formation
of mentoring partnerships, on-going discussion groups, development of
practical mechanisms and strategies for communities, recommendations
to the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development, and
contributions to planned publications.

May 14: Moderators’ closing remarks


BACKGROUND:

Forests play crucial roles in the sustainable development of mountain
regions. More than half of humanity relies on the fresh water that
accumulates in mountains,for drinking, domestic use, irrigation,
hydropower, industry, and transportation. Mountain forests help to
capture and store essential atmospheric moisture, to regulate river
flow, and to reduce erosion and sedimentation downstream.

Mountain forests are important sources of valuable timber and other
wood and non-wood products in many countries. The main fuel source for
mountain people in developing countries and, to a lesser extent,
industrialized countries, is wood. Fuelwood collected in the mountains
is also a major fuel source for nearby settlements in foothills and
plains. Many mountain forests are subject to high, and often
unsustainable, levels of logging and clearance for agriculture. The
highest rate of deforestation in any biome is in tropical upland
forests: 1.1 percent per year.

Almost all mountain communities are now under the strong influence of
surrounding lowland and urban areas regarding timber extraction and
watershed management. The interests of these outside forces, which are
mainly economic in nature, do not necessarily include a sustainable
future for either mountain forests or mountain communities. There is a
tremendous need for balance between the demands of lowland populations
(e.g. timber, clean water) and the needs of mountain communities (e.g.
sustainable livelihoods, opportunities for youth). There is an equally
strong need to balance productive use of the forest with forest
protection. This need for balance applies equally to developing
countries and many countries in transition, where many mountain people
depend on the forest products for subsistence and survival; and to the
industrial world, where short-term profit-taking may conflict with
conservation values.

Increasingly, it is accepted that mountain forests can be sustainably
managed through approaches that recognize the linkages between
ecosystem and societal processes. The rights and stewardship
responsibilities of local communities, supported and arbitrated by
national or regional institutions, are essential starting points.
However, much work is needed to develop and implement such methods.
They must also recognize the many interactions between forests and
agricultural land use in mountain regions. Issues of land tenure,
training, natural regeneration techniques and, sometimes, the
provision of suitable species are central to sustainable land use,
which involves not only forests, but the trees outside, which are
often valuable for producing fodder and fruit, and for slope
stabilization.

Mountains, especially in tropical regions, but also in Mediterranean,
arid, and temperate areas, are centers of biodiversity; and much of
this is in the forests. They are important as habitat for animals and
fish; hunting and fishing are important for both subsistence and
recreation. Recreation and tourism in mountain forests are growing
rapidly, leading to major challenges regarding how these activities
should be managed to minimize environmental and societal impacts and
maximize benefits to local communities. In the medium and long term,
mountain forests may be significantly changed though the forces of
climate change, which is a major concern given that many mountain
trees have particularly long regeneration cycles and lifetimes.

All of these statements summarize what we know about the values of
mountain forests, and trends relating to them, but they are rather
general. We do not even know the total extent of mountain forests
worldwide, nor the numbers of people who rely on these forests for
their livelihoods or for providing vital goods and services.

This e-mail conference will bring together people’s experiences from
mountains around the world, contributing to our global knowledge of
how mountain forests and trees are important not only for mountain
people, but also for billions in the lower-lying regions - even on
different continents. It will contribute to major debates on the
importance of mountain forests and trees scheduled for the 2000
sessions of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development and other
global and regional fora. At the same time, it will also bring
together local experiences that should be of practical value to far
distant communities and regions.


OUTCOMES:

1. Identification of practices that lead to more successful and
sustainable community-based management of mountain forests and trees;

2. Policy recommendations to the United Nations Commission on
Sustainable Development (CSD). Forestry is a priority topic for the
CSD in the year 2000, and the year 2002 has been declared the
“International Year of Mountains”;

3. A complete archive of the e-conference on the Mountain Forum's
World Wide Web site, including the discussion, case studies, and
background references, with links to relevant documents in the
Mountain Forum’s On-line Library;

4. A printed summary report of e-conference proceedings. All
contributors will be fully credited in the report, and will receive a
printed copy free of charge;

5. Case studies submitted to the e-conference will also be considered
for publication in (a) a full-color policy report on mountain forests
for the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development, (b) the
International Union of Forest Research Organizations “State of
Knowledge” report on mountain forests, (c) other publications of the
Mountain Forum and cooperating institutions.


HOW TO PARTICIPATE:

To join in the discussion, send an e-mail message with the words
"subscribe mountain forests" to the Mountain Forum Moderators at
.

This discussion is being facilitated through the Mountain Forum, a
non-profit global network of people and organizations interested in
mountain communities, environments, and sustainable development. The
discussion will take place on the Global Mountain Forum e-mail list,
called . Background documents will be made
available in the Mountain Forum On-line Library at
<http://www.mtnforum.orgx.aspleases/orst-sde031999.html>. The Mountain Forum welcomes participants
working with, or interested in, highland communities and environments:
local community members, government representatives, forestry or
development professionals, the private sector, policy makers, and the
research and conservation communities.

Please be thinking about your contributions, questions, and potential
case studies as we approach the conference dates. We encourage you to
send us any reference materials related to mountain forests and trees
for the Mountain Forum On-line Library. All contributions will be
credited in both the e-mail discussion and the printed proceedings.

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For further information, please contact any of the moderator group
below:

Elizabeth Byers 
Lhakpa Sherpa 
Martin Price 
Jason Espie and Ryan Bidwell 

Mountain Forum E-conference Moderator Team