J. rente nascimento forest vocation land policy

Forest Vocation Land Policy
Dr. Jose Rente Nascimento
Lecture given as part of the course
NATR 4353 - Natural Resource Policy and Administration
Department of Forestry - School of Natural Resources
University of Missouri
April 22nd, 2009

1. What to expect
2. The problem - opportunity
3. Basic concepts and foundation
4. The FVL policy
5. Advantages and disadvantages
6. Applications
CONTENTSCONTENTS

To have a greater appreciation for:
1. One of the principal problems facing LDC
and its consequences.
2. Basic tools to address the problem -
opportunity.
3. FVL policy as a cost effective and simple
alternative
4. Advantages and disadvantages of the policy
5. Applications
11--What to ExpectWhat to Expect

The FVL policy
Forest Vocation Land defined. : Forest Vocation Lands are those that, due to their
physical site features such as soil, topography, and the rainfall it receives, should be
kept under forest cover or other sustainable land use if soil or water related negative
externalities are to be avoided. FVL classification does not depend on the type of
cover the land actually has, nor does it depend on the requirements it may have for
agriculture crop or forest production. Therefore, lands with no forest cover or use
can still be classified as FVL if their physical features so indicate; while lands covered
with forest may not be FVL.
4. The FVL policy
TVF Forest policy directive: Forest vocation lands should be covered
by forests or used with a sustainable land use if no soil and water related
negative externalities are to reduce social welfare. Non compliance
would be penalized by the state through fines sufficient to stimulate the
desirable change.
11--What to ExpectWhat to Expect

• Erosion
• Loss of fertility and productivity
• Runoff
• Sedimentation, water body storage loss
• Floods, water flow regimen, less water in dry seasons
• Poor water quality
• Land use allocation conflicts
• Adverse effects on hydroelectricity, irrigation, potable
water; water for industrial production
2. The problem - opportunity2. The problem - opportunity

Runoff
• Less water for production
• Sedimentation of water bodies, less storage capacity
• Floods
• Water time distribution (too much and too little)
• Worsens water quality

Erosion
• Loss of soil productivity
• Increase costs of production
• Decrease net income and competitiveness

Land use allocation conflicts
• Where agriculture production should be located
• Where forests should be located

Adversely affects water services:
hydroelectricity, irrigation, potable water; water
for industrial production

Basic concepts and foundation
• What is a problem - opportunity?
• Basic mechanisms for socio economic organization and
collaboration
• Exchange (market)
• Authority (command and control)
• Persuasion
• Systems dynamics modeling
• Hydrological cycle
• Universal Soil Erosion Equation
• Economic externality, forest environmental services
• Land rent
• Forest cover, forest land use, forest vocation land

What is a problem - opportunity?
It is the difference between
Future EXPECTED Situation
Future DESIRED Situation
If better, opportunity
If worse, problem
Problem = opportunity

Basic mechanisms for socio economic
organization and collaboration
• Exchange (market)
• Authority (command and control)
• Persuasion
• Combinations,
• Challenge is to combine the 3 basic
mechanisms to make the market work to
improve society`s welfare

Systems dynamics modeling.
Causal relationships
If variable A increases (decreases), variable B
increases (decreases) more than without A´s change.
The variables move in the same direction.
If variable A decreases (increases), variable B
increases (decreases) more than without A´s change.
The variables move in the opposite directions.

Factors affecting the erosion rate, as proposed by the
Universal Soil Erosion Equation.
Soil
Sedimented
material
Degraded soil
Erosion
rate (A)
Restoration
rate
+
Slope
gradient (S)
Length
(L)
Topography
Rainfall
(R)
Erodibility
(K)
+
+
Clay
Silt
Sand
Cropping
system or
cover (C)
Conservation
practices (P)
++
+
-
-
Desert
Desertification
rate
Surface
water runoff
+

Forest-based economic externalities are
those services produced by forests
and valued by society
but which are not traded in the market system

Forest environmental services
-
WelfareArea under
natural
forest cover
soil
erosion
carbon
sequestration /
storage
rainfall
infiltration
floods
water time
distribution
uniformity
on-site soil
fertility land
productivity
Biological
diversity
land
slides
'natural'
disaster
damage
water
quality-
+
+
+
+
+
-
water
availability
+
+
water bodies
sedimentation
-
water
body
storage
capacity
water body
goods and
services
-
+
land goods
production
Local
welfare
Non
local
(Global)
welfare
+
++
+
+
+
+
-
+
+
+
-
-
rainfall
run-off
-
-
+
+
suspended
material
+
-
aesthetic
values
+
+
+
ground
water
storage
+
+
-
+
Gene-based
goods, and
existence and
option values
+
+

Basic Features Externalities
Type Definition Aesthetic
Carbon
seq./ stock
Biodiver.
related
Soil and
water
related
Uniqueness The externality is associated with
situations that are unique or present
in very special places.
Yes No Yes No
Ubiquitous The externality may be present in
most situations
No Yes No Yes
Physical site
features
dependent
The externality production varies in
accordance to basic physical
features of the site, such as
topography, soil erodibility;
climate. This type of feature is
independent of cover or use issues.
No No No Yes
Cover or use
dependent:
General or
Particular
The externality varies with the type
of land cover or use. The land
cover or use dependence may be
general if a broad category is
sufficient (like forest cover), or
particular, in case the cover or use
needs to have a special feature.
Particular General Particular General
Principal
beneficiaries:
Local or Global
The principal beneficiaries of the
externality can be persons from the
location where it is produced or
from other regions or countries,
from the globe.
Local Global Global Local

Slope is a Proxy
for TVF
Estimated
percentage of a
country´s
surfice that is
FVL
17 countries have
slopes 50% or
greater

Land use according to land capability class. (USDA)

Polluter Pay Principle defined.
The principle means that the polluter should pay for carrying out
the measures to ensure that the environment is in an acceptable
state.
In other words, the cost of these measures should be reflected in
the cost of goods and services, which cause pollution in production
and/or consumption.
Such measures should not be accompanied by subsidies that would
create significant distortions in international trade and investment’
(OECD)
Opportunity cost defined.
The opportunity cost of any decision is the value of the next best
alternative that the decision forces the decision maker to forgo.

• Forest cover is the observed (bio) physical cover of the
earth's surface, regardless of its use by people.
• Land use: arrangements, activities and inputs people
undertake in a certain land cover type to produce,
change or maintain it.
• Forest land use : Forest is determined both by the
presence of trees and the absence of other predominant
land uses. The trees should be able to reach a minimum
height of 5 meters in situ. Includes tree plantations,
natural forests, agroforestry.
• Sustainable land cover: any land use or cover that
does not generate erosion or runoff

Forest Vocation Land defined
Forest Vocation Lands are those that, due to their physical site features such
as soil, topography, and the rainfall it receives, should be kept under
forest cover or other sustainable land use if soil or water related
negative externalities are to be avoided.
FVL classification does not depend on the type of cover the land actually
has, nor does it depend on the requirements it may have for agriculture
crop or forest production.
Therefore, lands with no forest cover or use can still be classified as FVL if
their physical features so indicate; while lands covered with forest may
not be FVL.

Land rent defined.
Land rent is the economic rent of land as a factor of production.
Economic rent is the proportion of the earnings of a factor of production that exceeds
the minimum amount necessary to induce that factor to be supplied.
Rent on any piece of land will equal the difference between the cost of production the
output on that land and the cost of production it on marginal land.

4. The FVL policy
Dynamic model of the policy hypothesis
Rainfall Soil
erodabilityTopography
Forest
vocation
land
+
Forest cover or
sustainable use
Erosion
Water
infiltrated
Runoff
+
+
Infiltration
rate
+
-
-
Floods
+
+
Constant
Leverage point

Leverage point
Shotgun
approach
Sniper
approach
Traditiona
l
Strategy
FVL
Strategy
FVL policy is simple, more precise, intuitive, and
cost effective because it identifies critical areas at
high risk of erosion and acts upon them
4. The FVL policy

The FVL policy directive
4. The FVL policy
Forest vocation lands should be covered by forests
or used with a sustainable land use if no soil and
water related negative externalities are to reduce social
welfare.
Non compliance would be penalized by the state
through fines sufficient to stimulate the desirable
change.

Land rent for agriculture and forest uses for different land
quality levels
4. The FVL policy

• Simple and intuitive
• Cost effective for the state to implement
• Flexible and most cost effective land covers available to land
owners
• Simplifies the legal framework, reduces illegality, and
reduces corruption
• Concentrates the action by the State on critical areas under
high risk of erosion and runoff
• Creates incentives for degraded FVL restauration
• Identifies areas (nFVL) that can have a more flexible land
use without major risk of erosion and runoff
• Reduces conflicts over land use
ADVANTAGES

• Policy specialized on solving soil and water
externalities
• Can contribute but is not an effective means to
address other externalities such as biodiversity
or aesthetic
• Identifies nFVL covered with trees and whose
conversion might be socially desirable
DISADVANTAGES

6. Applications
1. Panama (basic instruments for implementation)
2. Brazil: 3 states (economic, financial, fiscal, environmental
criteria comparison between current and FVL policies)
3. Paraguay (relation with forest capability classification)
4. El Salvador (reduce risk of floods out of normal rainfall)
The FVL policy is being implemented in

1. FVL identification and land cover base line
2. FVL cover monitoring
3. Legal framework adjustment
4. Institutional framework adjustment
5. Land owner support program
The FVL policy Implementation instruments
6. Applications

Simplicity and low cost: FVL and nFVL.
Panamá case.
6. Applications

Land Cover
Forest
cover
Without
forest
cover
6. Applications

FVL without forest cover and
under high risk for erosion and runoff
6. Applications

• RESULTS
REGION
FVL nFVL
OTHER TOTALWith
COV.
without
COV.
SUB
TOTAL
with
COB.
Withou
t COV.
SUB
TOTAL
Província de
Chiriquí
21.518 10.499 32.017 9.947 10.550 20.497 10.436 62.950
Província de
Veraguas
29.812 7.400 37.212 29.771 11.262 41.033 861 79.106
Comarca
Ngöbe Buglé
60.805 6.484 67.289 10.244 2.041 12.285 728 80.302
TOTAL (ha) 112.135 24.383 136.518 49.962 23.853 73.815 12.024 222.357
% 82 18 100 68 32 100 - -
REGION
COORDENATES UTM AREA
(ha)E N
Chiriquí 407367 913933 218
Chiriquí 422524 904432 200
Veraguas 454756 906823 82
Veraguas 453650 910737 81
Ngöbe Buglé 448058 913983 67
Examples of poligons of FVL
without forest cover
6. Applications

Other issues treated elsewhere
• FVL policy and biodiversity
• Carbon sequestration and stock synergy
• Illegality in forestry can be reduced
• Management plans legal requirements not
needed
• Custody chain controls become unnecessary
• Relationship to payments for environmental
services
• FVL policy and the poor
6. Applications

Thank you
jrenten@gmail.com
See also
Nascimento, José Rente (2005). Forest Vocation Lands and Forest
Policy: When Simpler is Better. RUR-05-03. Washington, D.C.:
Inter-American Development Bank.
http://idbdocs.iadb.org/wsdocs/getdocument.aspx?docnum=
1481600
Site with country cases and implementation tools
http://www.stcp.com.br/bid/

J. rente nascimento forest vocation land policy

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