National Forest Programmes in Europe: Generating policy-relevant propositions for formulation and implementation

The concept of a National Forest Programme (NFP) is not new. It was first popularised in the 1980s when the Food and Agriculture Organisation, along with the World Bank, United Nations Development Programme and World Resources Institute, launched the Tropical Forests Action Programme (TFAP). There were five action programmes within the TFAP: forestry in land use; forest-based industrial development; fuelwood and energy; conservation of tropical forest ecosystems; and institutions. Over 80 countries launched National Forestry Action Programmes under the auspices of the TFAP. However the TFAP itself encountered a legitimacy crisis in 1990 when two NGO reports and an internal review found that National Forestry Action Programmes had tended to be donor-driven, had prioritised forest development and industry at the expense of conservation, had failed to fully involve the participation of a broad range of affected actors, and had not succeeded in slowing deforestation (Humphreys 1996, pp.42–54).