Day 1 reflection - Regional Sharing Workshop on Assessment of Challenges and Opportunities in the Asia Pacific region for Rio+20

Dear Colleagues,

As you are aware we are hosting the ‘Regional Sharing Workshop on Assessment of Challenges and Opportunities in the Asia Pacific region for Rio+20, 23-25 August 2011’ at ICIMOD headquarters with the objective of collecting, validating, synthesizing, distilling and packaging attractively HKH and AP regional input on sustainable mountain development in the context of Rio +20 preparatory works coordinated by the Mountain Partnership Consortium (MPC), of whose we act as the HKH and AP focal point.

Please find below highlights of the ‘DAY 1’ of the event, prepared with generous contribution from our Rapporteurs Ujol Sherchan and Aneeta Gauchan. We are trying to keep you updated as things evolve on social networks. Pls check http://twitter.com/#!/apmnicimod (#APRIOPLUS20), https://www.facebook.com/APY.Rioplus20 and http://mountainasia.blogspot.com/ for more information.

Best,

Tek

On behalf of the Rio +20 core team

 Tek Jung Mahat

APMN Node Manager, Knowledge Management
International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development
GPO Box 3226, Kathmandu, Nepal
Tel +977-1-5003222 Ext 104 Fax +977-1-5003277 Web www.icimod.org
Connect to ICIMOD/APMN:      

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Regional Sharing Workshop on Assessment of Challenges and Opportunities in the Asia Pacific region for Rio+20

23-25 August 2011, ICIMOD Headquarters, Kathmandu, Nepal

 Day 1 reflection

A three- day Regional Sharing Workshop on Assessment of Challenges and Opportunities in the Asia Pacific region got underway yesterday 23 August 2011 at ICIMOD Headquarters in Kathmandu, Nepal.

About 40 plus participants from South East Asia, Hindu Kush-Himalayan (HKH) region, and the island nation of Papua New Guinea representing primarily governments, I/NGO sector, and multilateral organisations gathered at ICIMOD to:

•      discuss 15 commissioned case studies - 10 from HKH and 4 from SE Asia and the Pacific  as well as identify good practices;

•      locate “missing links” for prioritizing regional issues; and

•      consolidate specific suggestions on status, challenges, progress and opportunities for sustainable mountain development in the context of Rio+20

Chief Guest, Honorable Dr Dinesh Devkota, Vice Chair, National Planning Commission, Government of Nepal delivered an inaugural speech. He said that the integration of environment and development – and the hoped for synergy - envisioned in Agenda 21 (which came out of the 1992 Rio Earth Summit and later revisited by the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg) has by and large failed to materialize, owing to lack of political and financial commitments by the various state and non-state actors. However, in the lead up to Rio+20 and beyond, he called for ramping up public private partnership at national level and North-South and South-South cooperation at regional and international levels. He also said that Nepal, through a Mountain Alliance of mountainous Least Developed Countries, will lobby in favor of the Global Mountain Agenda and action on climate change at Rio+20.

In his keynote speech, Special Guest Dr RS Tolia, Chair, Central Himalayan Environment Association (CHEA), Nainital, India shared some learning points from his decade long experience with Uttrakhand’s new statehood. He said that once Uttrakhand gained a legal mandate to make its own decisions as a new state, things improved. Political autonomy is important, without it mountain development is just a “pipe dream”. Mountain regions must strive to become “masters of their own destiny”. Political autonomy is a necessary but not sufficient condition for sustainable mountain development. Other things also matter, such as good governance, institution building, financing, and resource mobilization.

Dr. Madhav Karki, Acting Director General of ICIMOD, flagged the need to develop a Green Economy roadmap for the mountains in the lead up to Rio+20 in order to address challenges associated with climate change and globalization as well as to seize emerging opportunities such as those presented by growing mountain tourism potential, payments for ecosystem services (PES), REDD+, and clean development mechanism (CDM) to reward mountain communities for their stewardship of ecosystems. This calls for new global policies, institutional framework and financing tailored to the mountain context to be taken up at Rio+20.

At a South East Asia and Pacific session on Case studies and Discussions chaired by Dr. Ramon Razal, the following presentations were made, each followed by a question and answer session:

·         Indonesia: “Improving the welfare of the local community and FOREST CONSERVATION through forest honey BEE”, presenter Hermanto,   Indonesia Forest Honey Network (JMHI)

·         Philippines: “Community Management of Resources: the Ikalahan Experience”, presenter Delbert Rice, the Kalahan Education Foundation, Inc.

·         Papua New Guinea: “The Managalas Plateau Conservation Area Project, Oro Province, PNG” , presenter Rufus Mahuru, Programme Manager

·         Vietnam: “Collaborative Forest Management in Bidoup Nui Ba National Park, Lam Dong Province” , presenter Tek Jung Mahat on behalf of the Vietnamese case study writers

Co-chair Amulya Tuladhar summarized the session. He underscored the need to scale up good initiatives from SE Asia and Pacific to sub-national and national levels and beyond.  Since the legal regime of the Phillippines allows for the Ikahalan experience through granting of Ancestral Domain Title, this has the potential for expansion. Intermediary organisaitons can contribute to that expansion. In the case of Papua New Guinea, mining companies are already eyeing tribal property such as the Managalas Plateau.

Networking with national and international legal scholars working on indigenous rights and conservation can allow the tribes to develop at their own calibrated pace and counter external threats. That South East Asia and the Pacific are rich in tropical areas and rainforests bespeaks of their ecological resilience. Unlike North and South Americas, this region has witnessed a shorter period of outside interference. With globalization and technologies, outside actors will come in.  That is a trend. How to work in partnership with outside actors or coexist with them will be a challenge for tribes practicising their traditional way of life in the coming years.

Likewise at a Hindu Kush Himalayan Session I on Case Studies and Discussions chaired by Jay Raj, the following presentations were made, each followed by a question and answer session:

§  India: “Mountain Biodiversity and Livelihoods at Rio+20: A Case Study of Herbal Sector in Uttarakhand” , presenter G. S. Rawat

§  India: “Organic Uttarakhand: Subsistence to Sustainability”, presenter Binita Shah

§  India: Van Panchayats of Uttarakhand: An Institutional Framework for  Sustainable Development  , presenter Dr. Rajendra Singh , Conservator of  Forests, Western Circle, Nainital, Uttarakhand (India)

§  India: “Securing Livelihoods and Natural Resource Management through empowerment of communities: A case study of NERCORMP from North East India”, presenter Dhrupad Chaudhury

§  India: “Money grows on trees” Presenter Sudhirendar Sharma

Co-chair Sudhirendar Sharma summarized the Hindu Kush Himalayan Session I by saying that it is not clear how to convince policy and decision makers with isolated case studies. As there is a big ndisconnect between micro and macro views, big picture is still missing.  It is not sure how projected gains and impacts of documented projects and programmes have translated into gains for individual households.  The case study on CDM in Uttarakhand offers potential, there is a need for advocacy and action to realize gains from CDM. While “Organisc Uttarakhand” fits into three pillars of SMD – social, economic and environmental - there is some paradox at play here: how do you recoincile subsidization of chemical-fertilizers with the push toward “organic”?  Creating organic zones with tax rebates and tax holidays can really accelerate the move toward organic. It is not clear how to deal with the feminization of mountain agriculture,  what this will mean in terms of policies, in terms of programmes. “Elite capture” and “male capture” continue to be challenges for gender equity and pro poor and inclusive development and participatory approaches.  Over the next two days we need to come up with recommendations to address these problems that we can take to Rio+20.

The workshop is expected to result in:

•      Collation of diverse perspectives  to improve 15 commissioned case studies – 10 from HKH and 5 from SE Asia and Papua New Guinea - from policy perspectives as well as validate identified good practices; and

•      Framing of key messages and recommendations from the Asia Pacific Region in the Regional Assessment for feeding into the Rio+20 preparatory process.