Speech to House of Commons RRI book launch by Gareth Thomas, MP UK Government Minister for Trade and Development, Department for International Development (DFID) 'From Clash of the Commons to a New Agenda for Forests' 14 July 2008

Good evening everyone.

It is a pleasure to be here with you to talk about a new global agenda for forests.

I would like to congratulate the Rights and Resources Initiative on the two important pieces of work that are being published today.

Last December at a meeting at Chatham House I announced a five-year programme of DFID support to RRI, and it is pleasing to see an early return on that investment.

At that Chatham House meeting I spoke about the increasing pressures being placed on the world's forests and the need to find ways to reconcile competing demands for wood, food, fuel, biodiversity conservation and reduced emissions from deforestation.

Today - as resources are becoming scarcer, food prices are going up, and we are seeing climate change starting to alter the planet's biodiversity - tensions over forest ownership rights are reaching a peak.

And the need to protect our forests has become more pressing than ever.

We saw in Indonesia last month how civil society groups in Papua Province demanded a halt to all new forestry and Palm Oil plantation deals until their land rights were protected in legislation. DFID has worked with those groups to help them gain recognition of their rights - and by doing so, help their communities get back on the path to economic growth.

But reconciling the increased demands on forests requires a range of people to take actions - and a new global agenda to bring those actions together.

I think that agenda should be based around five key priorities:

Firstly, we need knowledge and the capacity to use it:

In order to protect a forest, you need to understand how it is used and who is relying on it for resources. We need to work harder to improve our knowledge, collect more robust data, and ensure that the people who need that data have access to it.

For example, we are investing £2.5 million through the Congo Basin Forest Fund to deliver high resolution satellite images of the forests of Central Africa, and we are helping communities to map their forests in Congo Brazzaville - providing essential information to both local people and national governments.

Secondly, we need more secure rights governing who can control, use and benefit from forests:

The two reports published by RRI today provide a wealth of evidence to show that strong property rights protect livelihoods and provide people with an incentive to invest in protecting and managing forests.

We have seen that for ourselves in the countries we work in - like Cameroon, Nepal and Indonesia - and we are learning lessons from our experiences there.

For example, we have started strengthening Forest Users Groups in Nepal, and - with the assistance of the Rights and Resources Initiative - we are helping countries around the world to work with their regional neighbours and share best practice on forest ownership.

Third, we need fair and effective regulation and law enforcement:

DFID is working hard, particularly through the European Union, to promote better law enforcement and governance.

That includes helping to stop illegal logging in countries such as Cameroon, Ghana, Indonesia and Malaysia.

But it also involves helping to make public agencies and the private sector more transparent and accountable.

Let me give you an example: Earlier this year, with the help of the World Resources Institute, we launched a Forest Transparency Initiative.

This will make robust, up-to-date information on logging, wood processing and timber trading companies operating in Central Africa publicly available through a one-stop-shop website, so both consumers and the government have access to the information they need to make informed decisions.

Fourth, we need payments for the services that forests provide as well as the products they produce, so that they are worth more as forests than as something else. Worth more alive than dead.

A lot of money has been committed in the last few months to tackling reduced emissions from deforestation. But the estimates for what is needed are much larger - between £3 billion and £14 billion a year to halve deforestation over the next 30 years.

I believe forests need to play a central role in a global climate change deal. But I know that some people have real concerns that the people most directly affected by our efforts to protect forests may not be consulted, that payments may not reach them, or that they risk being kicked off their land.

We need to be alert to these risks and ensure local communities are properly consulted and compensated.

In an effort to do that, the UK secured a commitment at the climate change negotiations in Bali last December that the needs of local and indigenous communities will be addressed when action is taken to reduce emissions from deforestation.

Fifth, and finally, we need consumers who are informed and discerning.

The government is playing its part in that.

Last week saw the publication of the Gallagher Review into biofuels use - the most thorough and far-reaching to date - which concluded that although biofuels have a role in tackling climate change, uncontrolled expansion could lead to unsustainable changes in land use - such as the destruction of rainforests.

So in response, the government is adopting a more cautious approach to biofuels until we can be confident that we can satisfactorily control their adverse effects. And we will promote international standards and sustainability criteria for biofuels so that all their effects - direct and indirect - are taken into account.

These are the five principles I think should be at the heart of our new global agenda for forests.

The lessons and guidance that RRI is publishing today will also be a key part of that agenda.

I look forward to reading them, and I look forward to working with you all as we put them into practice.

Thank you.