The majority of developing countries do not have adequate technical capacity
to participate in international research projects and to adopt and transfer results
of the research to the local level. Research on forests has not only suffered
from a lack of resources; it has also not been sufficiently interdisciplinary
to provide an integrated view of forestry (FAO, 1997). However, the majority of
forestry research institutions in developing countries do not function as R&D
laboratories, as they do in industrialised countries, and their main focus is
on research and not technology development and dissemination. Unlike in the energy
or transportation sectors, the technologies or even the management systems are
going to be forest type- or country-specific. Additionally, there is lack of training
structures to promote technology dissemination.
Under the GEF-UNDP sponsored Asia Least-Cost Greenhouse Gas Abatement Strategy
(ALGAS), the US Country Studies Program, and other forestry sector capacity
building and analytical activities have identified mitigation options and technologies.
Furthermore, the policies to promote technology transfer have been identified
(e.g., regulations, financial incentives) and sometimes implemented (e.g., Mexico,
Bolivia). Under the UN-FCCC, each party is required to communicate a national
inventory of GHG emissions by sources and sinks. A large portion of the parties
have completed this task and are trying to understand forestry sector emissions
and removals by sinks, which has improved dramatically. Many parties are taking
steps to manage forest systems as C reservoirs (Kokorin, 1997).
As a result of the UN-FCCC and Kyoto Protocol, many developing and transition
countries are developing National Climate Change Action Plans which incorporate
forestry-sector mitigation and adaptation options (Benioff et al., 1997). ''No
regrets'' adaptation and mitigation options have been identified that are consistent
with national sustainable development goals. Bulgaria, China, Hungary, Russia,
Ukraine, Mexico, Nigeria, and Venezuela all have developed very specific forestry
sector climate action plans. The Russian Federation has a very progressive forestry
sector climate change action plan (Kokorin, 1997). Based on current economic and
climate change scenarios several mitigation and adaptation strategies have emerged:
(1) creating economic mechanisms to increase forestry sector effectiveness and
efficiency in logged (removal) areas, (2) provide assistance for afforestation
in Europe's-Ural region, (3) promote fire management and protection for central
and north-eastern Siberia, and (4) limit clear-cut logging in southern Siberia.
These steps are significant since Russia contains approximately 22% of the world's
coniferous forests.
