Governing Independent Forest Monitoring from Theory to Empirical Evidence in the Congo Basin

Abstract

In this chapter, we focus on independent forest monitoring (IFM) by non-governmental organisations (NGOs), which emerged in the late 1990s as a forest governance mechanism in response to galloping forest crimes in the tropics. Initially promoted by international NGOs and multilateral donor agencies such as the World Bank, its popularity as a tool for civil society engagement in forest governance related processes has since spread to many countries including in the Congo Basin. IFM is a third-party assessment of how well forest management and forestry activities comply with national legislative and regulatory standards. With forest illegality continuing to rise unabated in the Congo Basin, proponents of this new forest governance mechanism have only now begun to question its contribution and effectiveness. Although donors, international and national NGOs, and local communities are generally supportive, timber exploitation companies and government decision-makers tend to ignore, contest, oppose, and seldom incorporate IFM recommendations into forest management and law enforcement decisions. This chapter provides a political economy perspective to look at the role of actors, their interests and motivations and the relationships that underpin their positioning in the forest governance arena in the Congo Basin. In this way, the chapter illuminates the challenges local IFM organisations face in delivering on their mandates, in a context with weak, coercive, mimetic, and normative pressures, and complex power dynamics. As a conclusion, it suggests actions that local IFM organisations can take.