Poojanraj KHURUN: Mauritius John Radgman : Trinidad and Tobago

1. First Facilitative Process workshop on Forest Financing in Small Island Developing StatesPort of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago24-27 April 2012 Poojanraj KHURUN: Mauritius John Radgman: Trinidad and Tobago

2. Workshop objectives • Identify gaps, obstacles and opportunities in financing SFM in SIDS, and • Initiate a network of forest financing stakeholders in SIDS and at the international level.

3. Workshop structure Participants Structure_Venue_Date Antigua and Barbuda Comoros Cuba Jamaica Mauritius Nauru Trinidad and Tobago Vanuatu NGO’s UNFF, UNCCD, ECLAC Co-chairs of Tehran and Niamey Workshop Field trip to private forest owner, Forest nursery, Nariva swamp rehabilitation project –day 1 Formal workshop proceedings with presentations on actual examples-day 2-5

4. Reference document for the workshop SIDS and LFCCs case studies prepared during the first component of the project on forest financing in SIDS and LFCCs (2010) The report commissioned by the Advisory Group on Finance in 2008 entitled, “Financing flows and the need to implement the non-legally binding instrument on all types of forests.” The Resolution on the Means of Implementation of Sustainable Forest Management of the Special Session of UNFF9 (2009) The report of the first meeting of the Ad Hoc Expert Group on Forest Finance held in September 2010 in Nairobi The Secretary General’s Report on the Means of Implementation of Sustainable Forest Management, prepared for the 9th Session of the UNFF (2011) The Resolution of the 9th Session of the UNFF (2011) The Report of the first and second workshops on forest financing in Low Forest Cover Countries http://www.un.org/esa/forests/facilitative-process.html

5. Workshop activities Tuesday 24 Wednesday 25 UNFF Process on Forest Financing Results of the First Component of the SIDS-LFCC Project Summary of the First Workshop on Forest Financing in LFCCs (Tehran Workshop) Summary of the Second Workshop on Forest Financing in LFCCs (Niamey Workshop) The Global Mechanism of the UNCCD Forest Financing in Cuba Forest Financing in Trinidad and Tobago Payments for Ecosystem Services in Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago’s National Reforestation and Watershed Rehabilitation Programme The Nariva Swamp Restoration Project Trinidad and Tobago’s Green Fund Matura Turtle Conservation Programme Forest Financing Achievements in Trinidad and Tobago

6. Thursday 26:Morning session Working Groups: discussing the gaps, obstacles and opportunities in forest financing Gaps and obstacles Absence of planning tools, ownership of forest financing issues , forest resource valuation, lack of land use planning. Also unclear land tenure systems Incoherent institutional frameworks, absence of trained forestry staff, limited capacity to create viable funding proposals, slow and difficult access to funds, mitigated accountability of funds and varying levels of communication between government and private landowners. lack of technical knowledge and instruments Gaps in policy , finance, legislation, regional cooperation and competing land uses with a lack of political-will to allocate sufficient funds to forests. Opportunities ecotourism, agroforestry, taxation, decentralization, building synergies and promoting cross-sectoral approaches, agrarian reform, raising the profile of forests through valuation, creating green funds at national level, identifying national funding sources, capacity development in forest financing, and increasing regional cooperation. building on regional cooperation as a form of South-South cooperation, and engaging communities in establishing forest projects, cooperation with NGOs, building on existing structures, building stronger links with NGOs, and use larger NGOs to attract and access funding for public-NGO collaboration.

7. Thursday 26: Afternoon sessionwhat institutional changes can be made to fill gaps, address obstacles and harness opportunities to forest financing? • Develop National and Regional Forest Action Programmes; • Create multi-stakeholder steering committees on MEA’s: • Form regional umbrella organizations to group SIDS to better access funds and promote inter-island technology sharing; • Take advantage of existing regional networks among SIDS and LFCCs to allow countries to share technical knowledge and address issues; • Improve collaboration among agencies and ministries; • Develop innovative communication/marketing strategies; • Incorporate a more integrated land use planning approach; • Review administrative structure, procedures; create stronger synergies; • Review present funding mechanisms and adopt novel techniques to empower NGOs; • Implement concepts of environmental economics in national accounting systems; • View the possibilities for dedicated funds for SIDS in project implementation; and • Adopt success stories from SIDS as innovative national financing mechanisms

8. Thursday 26: Afternoon sessionwhat institutional changes can be made to fill gaps, address obstacles and harness opportunities to forest financing? • Each country should conduct a needs assessment within one year; • Forest Policies and National Forest Programmes (NFPs) are required by all countries; • UNFF should host a database for funds available for SIDS; • Develop a policy statement on collaboration to access forest financing in NDP that endorses cross sectoral linkages; • A Cabinet-appointed Coordinating Committee for natural resources; • Government and civil society should coordinate in the development of project proposals; • The capacity of the institutions to conduct natural resources valuation should be strengthened with the help of UNFF; • UN Statistics Division should build capacity and raise awareness of the public on Environmentally Adjusted National Accounts Index; • The value of forests should be included in national accounting; • Regional body should provide a drive/focus on forestry; • UNFF to source funding to facilitate SIDS regional discussions on forest issues prior to UNFF sessions; • Establish a unit within the planning authorities to access funding opportunities; • Officers from Donor agencies to assist SIDS in accessing funding through capacity building, etc;

9. Thursday 26: Afternoon sessionwhat institutional changes can be made to fill gaps, address obstacles and harness opportunities to forest financing? • Enhancing collaboration and communication at the national level • Identifying national mechanisms for revenue generation at the national level; • Reviewing National Forest Legislation to facilitate the mobilisation of national sources of funding; • Provide information on accessibility & awareness of funding, notably at the international level by establishing an online information portal which lists sources of forest financing appropriate for LFCCs & SIDS; • Calling the UNFF to provide Capacity Building to identify and implement a programme for capacity building in accessing forest financing for LFCCs and SIDS, and facilitate a discussion at the 10th session on the need for organisations to soften access to financing by LFCCs and SIDS; and • Calling the UNFF to include a paragraph in the report to the SG calling on the donor community to reduce the reporting requirements on funding, as well as to support baseline studies at the national level on the professional and technical needs with respect to forest financing.

10. Thursday 26: Afternoon sessionwhat institutional changes can be made to fill gaps, address obstacles and harness opportunities to forest financing? • SIDS should develop national institutional & human capacity to prepare project documents to access funds from all sources; • SIDS should also position forests at the regional level (notably through CARICOM and the Secretariat of the Pacific Community); • Eco-system valuation mechanisms should be set up to estimate the true value of forests’ contributions to society • A communication strategy needs to be developed, targeting all forest stakeholders and that conveys the full value of forests (ecosystem services) to mitigating climate change, land degradation and desertification. Relevant stakeholders are decision/policy makers, politicians, the private sector, civil society, academia and international donors; • Within a South-South Cooperation Framework, mechanisms should be developed among SIDS focused on sharing best practices on forest financing; • SIDS should be involved in the establishment and design of a Global Forest Fund (under UNFF) that also targets SIDS to ensure SFM; • Finally, SIDS priorities should be strategized through the G77 and China to the UNFF.

11. Friday 27 • Presentation by Duburiya of Nauru • Presentation by AkilaJaramogi of FondesAmandes Community Reforestation Programme

12. Agreed Conclusion

13. Set up national processes of the Collaborative Partnership on Forests (CPF) composed of CPF focal points with the following aims: • Inserting chapters on forests into the respective national instruments of the Rio Conventions for more effective forest financing and better coordinated monitoring, assessment and reporting; • Associate (i) forest-focused economic valuation in a cross-sectoral context, emphasising the valuation of how forests contribute to connected sectors, with (ii) a client-based marketing strategy that underlines the importance of forests not only to the forest sector, but to all 7 billion of us. Recalling the Tehran and Niamey workshop recommendations to increase regional and inter-regional collaboration, promote cross-sectoral coordination at the regional level building on existing regional processes including CARICOM and the South Pacific Commission: • Such coordination will start from scaling up real-life examples that demonstrate the contribution of forests to other ecosystems and sectors. These examples include the Nariva Swamp Restoration Project and the Matura Turtle Conservation Project in Trinidad and Tobago; • Based on this initial step, and in collaboration with the UNFF, carry out audits of the needs of SIDS and LFCCs in forest financing, taking into account both the needs of the forest sector and of connected sectors that benefit from forests; • Such cooperation should focus on overcoming the challenges and harnessing the opportunities specific to SIDS and LFCCs.

14. In collaboration with the Collaborative Partnership on Forests, request the UNFF to help in capacity building: • For (i) taking advantage of existing forest financing initiatives and proposals, and (ii) reporting to donors, with a focus on working collaboratively to develop both single-country and multi-country proposals; • For communicating and establishing a basis for productive collaboration with other sectors or types of land management. • Such capacity building is not only aimed at central and local government agencies, but also at NGOs and communities as well as academia located in or working with SIDS and LFCCs. With regard to the 10th Session of the United Nations Forum on Forests to be held in Istanbul in April 2013: • Request the UNFF Secretariat to work on a pilot basis with SIDS and LFCCs, using existing funding, to prepare for UNFF10 on financing issues; • Use the opportunity of the 10th Session of the UNFF to bring together SIDS and LFCCs to share the unique challenges and opportunities for forest financing to be developed by host governments of the Facilitative Process workshops.