Forest Governance 2.0 : A Primer on ICTs and Governance

Castré ; n, Tuukka ; Pillai, Madhavi

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: ACCESS TO COMPUTERS;    ACCESS TO INFORMATION;    ACCESS TO INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY;    ACCESS TO NETWORKS;    ACCESS TO TECHNOLOGY;   

RP-ID  :  63755

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

In this report, the authors study theexperiences and lessons learned on the use of Informationand Communication Technology (ICT) to promote good forestgovernance, and identify ways modern technology can beapplied to meet the challenges of improving forestgovernance and achieving sustainable forest management. Theauthors believe that countries and their developmentpartners can make their forest governance reforms moreeffective and inclusive through the use of informationmanagement and technology. The main focus in the report ison institutions how they interact with stakeholders and howtheir performance can be strengthened. The authors aretrying to fill the gap in which experiences from variousforest governance pilots are not widely shared. They do notcover forest inventories or technical resource assessment;extensive literature on these topics is available fromvarious national and international research institutions andthe UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). They do notpresent all possibilities and current uses of ICT in forestgovernance. Their goal is to demonstrate the range anddiversity of approaches, and the feasibility of usingtechnology to promote forest governance. The report coversboth 'small' and 'big' ICT. Small andmore affordable ICT applications are often based on consumerdevices for which the underlying technology is availableready-made from commercial sources. These devices can beused to interact with the public and in professionalapplications. The big ICT dimension includes professionalapplications that are tailor-made and often system-based andexpensive. The report does not try to provide solutions forspecific problems, but it demonstrates the extent to whichinformation management is an essential part of sectorreform. Development professionals dealing with forestgovernance can use their findings in consultations withpartner countries and to help plan interventions. The reportbegins with a discussion of recent developments in thegovernance discourse to set the stage and show how thedefinition of forest governance has evolved. The authorsthen describe recent developments in access to ICT services,particularly in rural areas, and how information is used inthe forest sector. There has been much concern aboutin-country digital divides; while they still exist, the pastfew years have seen an unprecedented increase in access totechnology in rural areas.