Industrial Activity Transition Program
;A system of standards and processes that facilitate the assessment, engagement, strategic planning, and expert teams to negotiate peaceful transitions of industrial activity out of all Ancient Forests.
Developed by forest expert, Jeff Conant.
Redirect the Money
Problem
Hundreds of billions of dollars in loan and investment finance is currently directed towards the very commodities that are responsible for forest destruction and degradation.
Solution
Develop pathways to phase out financing of forest destruction, and rechannel investment and loan financing into activities that are regenerative, restorative and rights-oriented. By working with -- and bringing public pressure to bear on -- the world’s largest financial services companies, financial regulators and ecological economists, we can reorient incentive structures to direct financing towards a just transition for forests and forest-dwelling communities.
Change the Rules
Problem
Weak governance and lack of enforcement allow primary forests to fall for corporate profit; overconsumption in wealthy countries and regions encourages “imported deforestation” -- the indiscriminate mass purchasing of forest-risk products. National economies are wholly oriented towards resource extraction and growth. Indigenous, afro-descendant and other forest-dependent communities lack legal recognition of customary territories and land holdings.
Solution
Public policies at all levels, in consumer countries and producer countries, to halt industrial activities in primary forests, to ban or restrict imports and procurement of forest-risk products. National efforts, supported globally, restore collective land tenure rights to legitimate rights holders. Support for forest monitoring, law enforcement and education of policymakers to implement laws that favor primary forests.
Defend the Defenders
Problem
One of the most important ways to protect forests is to protect the lives and the rights of the people on the frontlines of forest defense. But current economic incentives have unleashed an epidemic of violence towards environmental human rights defenders.
Solution
Multilateral agencies, governments, corporations and financiers adopt policies and practices oriented towards zero tolerance for attacks on forest and land defenders. Corporate loans and institutional shareholdings are conditioned on such policies. Human rights bodies are resourced and empowered to act with the necessary authority and capacity.
Support the Communities
Problem
Because current economics virtually demand resource extraction, smallholder farmers, fishers, and rural communities everywhere must choose between earning their livelihoods and destroying their environments. “Development” is predicated upon an industrial growth model that trades long term dignity and health for short-term profit.
Solution
While it is imperative to rechannel global financial flows, it is equally important to take the direct pressure off forests by cultivating the leadership, vision and opportunity for forest-dwelling and forest-dependent communities to thrive. This means developing and supporting local living economies, bioregional trade networks, and investment opportunities that encourage agroforestry, agroecology and proforestation in buffer areas at the edges of intact forests.
Transform the Corporations
Problem
Modern corporations have one primary purpose: to maximize shareholders’ wealth. This objective takes precedence over community well-being, worker health, peace, and ecological integrity, continually degrading natural resources and the livelihoods of those that depend upon their vitality. The motivation for endless growth and more profits fosters a culture perpetually driven towards increased competition and exploitation.
Solution
We need to incentivize businesses with new ideas and concepts for success, promoting well-being, regeneration, restoration, and renewal. New business models must be founded upon sound public policy, where the goal is not too much, but just enough; not exponential growth, but dignity; not competition, but cooperation.
Whether you call it the circular economy, triple-bottom line economics, or steady state economics, the goal is to incentivize corporations to build a participatory, forest friendly economy based on reciprocal relationships of interdependence between human communities and the natural world.
Let the Forests Grow!
Problem
The industrial approach to forests is motivated by an insatiable quest to convert forestlands into industrial croplands and maximum yields in board feet. Their “success” is driven only by ongoing expansion and growth at the expense of any natural resource that can be consumed or is in their way.
Solution
As we continue efforts to stop the degradation and destruction of forests, there is also a great need to restore degraded ecosystems, foster biodiversity, and let the forests grow organically. Traditional tree planting does not grow intact, fully functional ecosystems. We must engage in proforestation: the holistic practice of purposefully growing existing intact forests toward their full ecological potential.
