Forest Certification in Developing and Transitioning ... - UTas ePrints

forest certification in guatemala
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with INAB, PAF-G and WWF to develop draft national standards (covering natural
and plantation forests) to be circulated among the various actors concerned.
In this context, forest certification was seen as a vehicle that could promote sound
forest management not only in Petén but elsewhere in Guatemala. Nongovernmental
organizations also had a stake in this recent move towards a nationallevel
approach to promoting sustainable forest management, with WWF providing
financial assistance to CONESFORGUA for developing a workplan.
In addition to CONESFORGUA, and preceding its foundation, a considerable
number of institutions and projects promoted certification in Guatemala, including
the Rainforest Alliance, CATIE, CONAP, USAID/Maya Biosphere Project, and Centro
Maya.
Rainforest Alliance
Through its SmartWood program, Rainforest Alliance was one of the most active
organizations in promoting certification in Guatemala. It was particularly successful
among NGO-supported community groups. This is reflected in the fact that four
community management units became certified even before certification became
mandatory, among them two community operations under a private property regime
where even today certification is voluntary. A huge impetus to forest certification was
the willingness on part of the Maya Biosphere Project to cover the costs incurred in
the certification process. In this context, the following factors underlay the project’s
decision to contract SmartWood for the assessments:
CATIE
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SmartWood became involved in the concession process by providing training
on forest certification in the Petén.
SmartWood’s track record in the region provided NGO personnel with
greater confidence in the expertise required for the process.
Being a US-based organization, SmartWood was more acceptable to the
principal donor (USAID).
CATIE 13 played a fundamental role by organizing, in collaboration with SmartWood,
the first local certification events, and became the principal advocate of the
concession process and sound forest management in Petén. Through the projects
CATIE-CONAP and CATIE-OLAFO, CATIE provided technical assistance and
training to CONAP staff and community groups working toward sound management
of the forest concessions in Guatemala.
CONAP
CONAP was the principal decision-maker for applying a forest management system
to the forest resources in the multiple use zone of the MBR and opting for certification
as a supervision mechanism, as proposed by CATIE. It is worth mentioning that
13 Based out of Costa Rica, the
Tropical Agricultural Research
and Higher Education Center
(CATIE) is committed to
research, postgraduate education
and outreach in ecological
agriculture and sustainable
management of natural
resources in tropical
America. Its mission is to foster
the conservation and sustainable
management of natural
resources and to reduce
poverty in its 13 member
countries, including all
Mesoamerica, the Dominican
Republic, Colombia,
Venezuela, Bolivia, and
Paraguay.
yale school of forestry & environmental studies