Forest concessions have long been used as an instrument for the allocation of rights to harvest and manage public forests in both northern and southern countries. In the context of the 2030 Agenda, forest concessions can be used as policy instruments to regulate production from natural forests consistent with biodiversity conservation and ecosystem service provision, while respecting the rights of indigenous peoples and local communities and providing for livelihoods and sustainable rural development.
In 2015, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations launched the Forest Concessions Initiative in collaboration with the Center for International Forestry Research, the Centre de Coopération International en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement, the International Tropical Timber Organization, the World Bank and the Brazilian Forest Service, to assess the lessons learned from forest concessions. It was immediately clear that concession regimes should be revisited in light of existing instruments for improving forest governance, updated knowledge on sustainable forest management – in particular for multiple-use and social forestry – and the requirements of sustainable forest value chains and sustainable landscapes.
These Voluntary Guidelines for forest concessions in the tropics were discussed with technical experts from the public and private sectors and civil society at four regional consultations, held in Africa, Asia-Pacific and Latin America. The guidelines and resulting recommendations presented in Making Forest Concessions in the Tropics Work to Achieve the 2030 Agenda: Voluntary guidelines can be a practical and relevant reference guide for policy-makers, concessions managers, international organisations, investors, local communities, environment and development inter- and non-governmental organizations, and research and academic institutions. The Self-Assessment Tool provides a starting point for steering concessions towards sustainability, where needed.