Promoting the effectiveness of forest policies

Since the Rio summit, the international community has been involved in a dialogue on forest policy. Although several resolutions have been passed, so far it has neither been possible to influence policies in other sectors nor to help forests achieve the political significance they deserve.

Objective

The aim of International Forest Policy's (IWP) project is to promote the significance and development potential of forests, so that they receive more attention from international and German development agencies.

Concept

IWP acts as a facilitator and catalyst, co-ordinating positions based both on the experience of our partner countries and on international agreements and concepts.

IWP supports the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) in forging international forest policy by propounding its viewpoints at European and international levels, thereby anchoring them firmly in European and German development cooperation activities. This is only possible through close cooperation with projects and programmes which advise our partner countries on the formation of national policies. Together with its partners, IWP evaluates the experience gained and, with the BMZ, channels this knowledge into the international dialoque on forest policy.

Finally, IWP analyses the results of these forest policy talks and distributes action-oriented information to those involved in German development cooperation.

It is particularly important for us to discuss forest issues with colleagues from other sectors, because their policies often have a greater impact on forests than forest policy itself.