model forest - Cuso International

A Forest for the Trees:
CUSO-VSO Volunteers in ‘Model Forests’

For information on how to volunteer with CUSO-VSO, please visit www.cuso-vso.org

A tree fell
in the forest…
More than one tree has fallen in the world’s
forests, but many people have heard. They
heard in Canada. They heard in Bolivia, Costa
Rica and Honduras. They heard in Cameroon and
the Philippines.
And they heard in Araucanía, Chile, a mountainous
area that borders Argentina. The Mapuche-Pehuenche
indigenous people live in this culturally diverse
slice of the Andes, along with settlers of European
ancestry native to the region. Farming, logging and
livestock ranching are how most of the nearly 30,000
inhabitants make a living.
But it’s not an easy life – the geography is steep and
rough, the climate harsh. And the soils and the forests
have been weakened by questionable farming and
logging practices.
That’s why a different kind of natural resource
management has taken root in the Araucanía region.
It’s called a model forest, a form of community
stewardship that provides both a place and a process
where best practices are developed, tested and
improved. These models of sustainability are then
shared with other communities.
It’s a Canadian idea being put into practice the world
over, the methodology supported and promoted by the
International Model Forest Network (IMFN). There are
now model forests in 24 countries on five continents.
While environmental sustainability is a core
philosophy, model forests are also about people. They
provide a space where those who know and use an
area’s natural resource base – from small-scale wood
harvesters to forest companies, from government
agencies to tourism operators – develop a common
plan to achieve social benefits, environmental
conservation, and economic opportunity.
The ‘Alto Malleco’ Model Forest in the Araucanía
region of Chile is spread over roughly 400,000
hectares of landscape. It covers not only native
forests but also steppes (barren plains), watersheds,
grasslands, scrublands, snow-capped mountains and
even a few glaciers. The region is home to the native
araucaria tree (often called the ‘monkey puzzle
tree’), a slow-growing, cedar-type conifer. There are
three national wildlife reserves and one national
park in the area.
Partners in the Alto Malleco Model Forest include the
Chilean national government, municipal government,
farmers, indigenous people, community development
groups, and representatives of agricultural and forestry
industries.
Results to date include the bringing together of
different stakeholders – including small-scale and
indigenous landowners – to develop a strategic plan,
as well as the development of projects in sustainable
forestry, soil recovery, inter-cultural communication
and environmental education. There has also been
a renewed emphasis on the harvesting of non-timber
forest products; for example, an edible kernel that is
gathered from the araucaria tree.
There is a growing understanding in the Araucanía
region – and in model forests the world over – that
sowing economic opportunity in the present can also
yield environmental benefits in the future.

“Model forests allow for innovation and
experimentation, and the best ideas
are shared with other communities
and networks. They also strengthen
participatory governance of natural
resources in a forest-based landscape.”
– Marie-Eve Landry, a CUSO-VSO volunteer
who worked with the Iberoamerican Model
Forest Network.

And these
volunteers heard...
The model forest method was successfully transplanted
from Canada to the Americas – and now to Africa
and Asia – and CUSO-VSO volunteers helped it take
root. Sylvain Legault of Gatineau, Quebec, was the first
volunteer placed with a model forest in the region – he
was on the island of Chiloé, lying off the southern coast of
Chile, from 2000 to 2002.
Measuring 180 by 50 kilometres, the island is home
to both diverse ecosystems and unique human cultures.
Once carpeted almost entirely in trees, only 50 percent of
Chiloé’s temperate rainforest remains. Chiloé has a mild,
cool climate, so most wood goes to domestic heating and
cooking – unlike mainland Chile, which exports shiploads
of lumber and pulp. Most of the island’s 150,000 citizens
are small landholders who farm, fish and log to survive.
Without proper management, the remaining woodlands
would be chipped away.
A sustainable approach to forestry and natural resource
management was needed, and Legault helped the
member partners of the Chiloé Model Forest map the
island’s resources. He also assisted with strategic plans
and projects. In addition to more ecologically sound
logging, new emphasis was placed on renewable nonwood
products such as honey and hazelnuts, as well as
eco-tourism. Other initiatives included an environmental
education centre and a ‘biodiversity store’ where
sustainably produced local handicrafts are sold.
Many volunteers have followed in Legault’s footsteps by
serving in these forests of the Americas. In 2002, CUSO
(now CUSO-VSO following the 2008 merger with VSO
Canada) and the IMFN signed a partnership agreement,
and to date 40 CUSO-VSO volunteers have supported the
development and implementation of nine model forests
throughout the Americas.
And volunteers have branched out across the ocean to
Africa and Asia. CUSO-VSO is now working with the
IMFN and the African Model Forest Network on two
model forests in Cameroon. Volunteers are serving with
local governments and civil society groups in the Campo
Ma’an and Dja et Mpomo Model Forests.
In the Philippines, volunteers are working with local
partner groups in the Ulot and Carood watershed
Model Forests.
CUSO-VSO and the IMFN are helping the many
stakeholder groups in these forests develop a
management model of the landscape and its resources
that is sustainable in all senses of the word –
ecologically, socially, economically and culturally.

CUSO-VSO Volunteers in Model Forests, Past and Present
Here are snapshots of just a few of the CUSO-VSO volunteers who have
worked – or are working now – with model forests the world over.
While most volunteers have come from Canada, some have been recruited
from within the country in question, or from other developing nations.
Marie-Eve Landry Bob Sutton
Linda Vaillancourt Robert Friberg
Réal Bonneville
Fernando Carrera
Milka Barriga
Ulysse Rémillard
Jacqueline Martínez
Miriam Stein
Jean-Marie Johnston & Diane Cantin-Johnston,
with Abwe Was Masabo Munyonge

Marie-Eve Landry of Saint-Bruno, Québec, volunteered in Costa Rica.
She worked on project management and research with the management
team of the Iberoamerican Model Forest Network, which links 25 forests
in 13 Spanish and Portuguese-speaking countries.

Bob Sutton, from Marcelin, Saskatchewan, served in
Honduras. He volunteered as a sustainable natural resource
management advisor to the Atlántida Model Forest and its
member partner organizations.

Linda Vaillancourt of Wotton, Québec, was in Costa Rica. She is a protected areas specialist who
volunteered with the Reventazón Model Forest. Linda assisted in the participatory development of
management plans.

Robert Friberg, who hails from Kaleden, British Columbia, volunteered in Chile. He offered support
and advice to the National Forestry Corporation, which is the government institution responsible for all
Chilean model forests.

The Roots of the Model Forest Movement
model forest is a place where natural resource
A management best practices are developed, tested,
improved, and shared as models of sustainability.
Geographically, such a site must encompass an area
large enough to represent all of the forest’s uses and
values. It’s a working landscape of protected areas,
farms, woodlots, towns, watersheds and rivers.
Model forests provide a space where those who know
and use woodlands can develop a common plan to
achieve social benefits, environmental conservation,
and economic opportunity. The approach is based on
the view that broad-based local participation is the
key to long-term success.
At the heart of each independent model forest is a
group of people who have different perspectives on
the human and natural dynamics within their forestbased
ecosystem – viewpoints that are all necessary
to make informed, balanced and fair decisions about
how to manage the forest and its resources.
That participation could include woodlot
owners, small-scale food harvesters, forest
companies, indigenous peoples, farmers, park
staff, environmentalists, researchers, community
development groups, government agencies, tourism
operators, hunters & trappers…all integrating their
own interests into the common good. Each model
forest organization is largely dependent on volunteer
energy and expertise.
No two model forests are identical. Some are in
low population-density areas, where rural poverty
and access to resources are priority issues. Other
model forests may be in heavily settled areas where
urban-rural issues, including water quality, recreation,
conservation and biodiversity, feature prominently in
the equation for sustainable forest management.
The approach was first brought to the world’s
attention at the 1992 United Nations Conference on
Environment and Development, held in Rio de Janeiro,
Brazil. At this global gathering, better known as the
Earth Summit, Canada promised to “internationalize”
its innovative model forest program.

“A model forest…is a process and a journey
as people plan, implement and participate in
projects and activities to achieve their vision.
I have been privileged to live, work and learn
alongside my peers here in Honduras, and to
join them for part of that journey.”
– Bob Sutton, a volunteer who worked with the Atlántida
Model Forest in Honduras.
What began with an initial 10 sites in Canada
has grown to more than 55 model forests in 24
countries on five continents. Collectively, these sites
make up the International Model Forest Network
(IMFN). To support these efforts, the IMFN Secretariat
was established in 1995. Based in Ottawa in the
Canadian Forest Service of Natural Resources
Canada, the Secretariat provides the day-to-day
coordination of support and development services to
model forests worldwide.
The IMFN plants the seed of the model forest idea,
and then harvests the collective experience and
lessons learned from each site into services that
help new ventures take root – and existing ones
grow better.
For more information on model forests the world over,
visit www.imfn.net

Réal Bonneville, who comes from Cowansville, Québec,
volunteered in Honduras. He helped develop the Yoro Model
Forest. Réal worked with forest landowners, communities and
local organizations to create a strategic vision, set up a board
of directors, and prepare proposals and project plans.

Fernando Carrera is from Lima, Peru, and was a ‘South-South’ CUSO-
VSO volunteer. He served in Costa Rica offering managerial, research
and technical support to the Iberoamerican Model Forest Network.

Milka Barriga originates from La Paz in Bolivia, and was another South-South volunteer working in
model forests. She is an economist with research experience in land use systems, and provided advice on
collaborative environmental management to the Iberoamerican Model Forest Network.

Ulysse Rémillard’s home is Las Laurentides, Québec, and he volunteered in Bolivia. Ulysse worked
in the Chiquitano Model Forest on management of natural resources, indigenous territories zoning, and
training in non-wood forest products.

Miriam Stein of Montreal, Quebec, is working with the Campo Ma’an Model Forest in Cameroon.
She is an Organizational Development Advisor, helping to build capacity of the Network of Rural
Women enabling those living in the forest to develop sustainable income generating projects.

Jean-Marie Johnston (left) and Diane Cantin-Johnston (centre) of Quebec City, Quebec are
volunteering in the Campo Ma’an Model Forest in Cameroon. As Organizational Development Advisors,
they are respectively developing the institutional capacity of the Network of Community Forest Enterprises
and the Network of Local NGOs.
Abwe Was Masabo Munyonge (right) is Canadian of Zairian origin, and lives in
Edmundston, New-Brunswick. He is also volunteering in Cameroon as an Organizational
Development Advisor to support the institutional and management capacity of the Executive
Secretariat of the Campo Ma’an Model Forest.

Jacqueline Martínez is originally from Colombia, but now calls Verdun,
Québec home. The biologist worked in Costa Rica offering her technical
expertise in environmental management to the Federation of Municipalities of
Cartago, a board member of the Reventazón Model Forest.

CUSO-VSO takes a walk in the woods
Since CUSO-VSO’s first volunteer took a walk in
the woods of the Chiloé model forest in Chile,
many more volunteers have served in model forests
around the world
CUSO-VSO is an international development civil
society agency that works through volunteers.
Each year, we place hundreds of volunteers who
collaborate on development projects in Latin
America, the Caribbean, Africa and Asia.
We were created in 2008 from the merger of CUSO
and VSO Canada, two agencies with decades of
experience in volunteer-sending. CUSO was founded
in 1961, originally as Canadian University Service
Overseas. Voluntary Service Overseas Canada
started in 1995. Combined, CUSO-VSO has now
placed over 15,000 volunteers. We are the North
American member of VSO International, a worldwide
alliance of Voluntary Service Organizations.
One of CUSO-VSO’s focus areas is sustainable
natural resource use – the organization understands
that long-term, healthy development depends on a
healthy environment. CUSO-VSO and its partners are
improving the capacity of local communities to better
protect their natural resources.
And CUSO-VSO’s work with IMFN has moved beyond
the borders of the Americas. There are now model
forests in Cameroon and the Philippines.
This CUSO-VSO/IMFN partnership has grown strong
through the lessons learned by the volunteers working
at the forests’ grassroots.
For more information on CUSO-VSO and how to
volunteer abroad, visit www.cuso-vso.org
Through this international network, we build
partnerships with groups that benefit people living in
developing communities. Our volunteers come from
many professional and personal backgrounds, and
from across Canada and the United States. They are
united in the desire to use their skills and professional
experience to help overcome poverty in more than
40 countries around the world.

Members of the Atlántida Model Forest in Honduras putting up signs protecting
the “El Nacimiento” micro watershed. The catchment area and springs that flow
from El Nacimiento are the main source of water for the community of Tarritos.
Posting signs about the importance of forest and watershed management is a
common activity in many model forests.

Pictured here are:
Cesara Zavala, Angel Sandres, Joaquin Canales, Mirna Perdomo, Erick Duran, Lili Acosta,
Orlando Polanco, Roni Castro, Gerardo Navarro, Armando Miralda and Ovilio Orellana.