Financing Sustainable Forest Management in Developing Countries: The Case for a Holistic Approach

Financing has been one of the primary topics of ongoing discussions on sustainable forest management (SFM) for at least two decades. Yet despite a wide array of existing data and literature, attempts to understand—let alone quantify—SFM financing as a whole remain surprisingly rare. The focus of existing research on individual flows and sectors prevents us from getting the bigger picture. This paper attempts to conceptualise SFM financing by offering a holistic approach inspired by two complementary typologies based on the source of flows and cross-sectoral interactions respectively. Together, these two typologies contribute to a better understanding of SFM financing in three ways: first, they help visualise the SFM financing landscape, composed not only of a variety of flows but also the trade-offs and synergies between them. Secondly, they help identify a set of recommendations to improve and increase SFM financing over the long term. Thirdly, they highlight the glaring data gaps that need to be filled before any attempt can be made at quantifying SFM financing in its entirety.