Optimizing Forest Governance in a Small Island Developing State: An approach to enhance Effectiveness, Coordination, Efficiency, and Accountability through Incremental perfectionism

Policy Governance

Forest governance refers to the set of rules, norms, and processes that shape how forests are managed, used, and conserved. National forest policies play a crucial role in promoting good forest governance by providing a foundation and framework for decision-making and actions related to forests. A clear, inclusive, and adaptable policy empowers actors across diverse groups, but the real test lies in effective monitoring, enforcement, and stakeholder engagement. Strong institutions, sufficient resources, and political will pave the way, while considering local context. Small Island Developing State like Mauritius have unique forest governance challenges due to their limited landmasses and scarce resources. Moreover, vulnerability to degradation from these factors is compounded by the impact of climate change and frequent natural disasters like cyclones and rising sea levels. Ultimately, whilst the success of a national forest policy hinges on its design, a well-orchestrated implementation symphony remains key. This paper dives into the National Forest Policy implementation challenges in Mauritius (NFP). It explores key micro-, meso-, and macro level barriers through focused group discussions and semi structured interviews of key stakeholders and bellwethers and proposes an approach termed ‘incremental perfectionism’ to improve the NFP implementation.

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