Publications

A New Approach to Forging Public-Private Alliances around Sustainable Land Management

Today, we face twin challenges of maximizing the effectiveness of publicly funded sustainable land management and identifying incentives to attract private capital to these investments. To do so, there is a need to transform land-use policy objectives into larger-scale sustainable land management and environmental investments. Given the scale of the challenge, we need to move […]

Participatory Social Impact Assessment for Natural Resource Projects and Programs

There is a growing realization that good practice Social Impact Assessment (SIA) is an issue of self-interest; it can strengthen social sustainability, reduce investor risks and transaction costs, inform adaptive management, and build stakeholder ownership when undertaken in a participatory way. Participatory SIA is also compatible with a rights-based approach to development, especially free prior […]

Dependent Documents

La Evaluación Participativa del Impacto Social Para Proyectos y Programas de Recursos Naturales

By Michael Richards - Forest Trends

Penilaian Dampak Sosial secara Partisipatif untuk Proyek dan Program Sumberdaya Alam

By Michael Richards - Forest Trends

Managing Water

Potential Contributions of Investments in Watershed Services and Linkages to Poverty Reduction

We are facing a growing number, and increasing range, of water issues. As with climate change, when it comes to water, we are on an inevitable collision course with global disaster. So what is the answer? One suite of tools that, in certain situations, could help to address water problems are watershed payments. Watershed payments […]

The Opportunity for Agriculture

Becoming Climate-Smart and Sequestering Carbon

The future of agricultural productivity is intertwined with climate change. Agriculture is a significant contributor to GHG emissions (10-12% of all emissions); at the same time, many agricultural areas are facing changes in mean temperature, precipitation, and increasing climate variability, all of which may impact their harvests. As a result, it will be essential for […]

Is Equitable REDD+ Possible?

The Role of Social Safeguards, Standards, and Impact Assessment in Reducing Risks and Enhancing Outcomes

The main focus in the early years of terrestrial carbon markets has been on assuring the environmental integrity of carbon offsets, while social and biodiversity objectives – the so-called ‘co-benefits’ – have received much less attention. But with the mainstreaming of Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) as a climate change mitigation strategy, […]

Dependent Documents

Es Posible una REDD+ Equitativa?

By Michael Richards - Forest Trends

REDD+ in Vietnam

Integrating National and Subnational Approaches

The international REDD+ community is still struggling with the question how a future REDD+ mechanism may be implemented in practice, both internationally under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and domestically within countries. There is a general consensus that emission reductions and removals must ultimately be accounted for at the national level. […]

Forest Certification in Myanmar

Forest Trends Information Brief No. 3

The easing of diplomatic and financial sanctions on Myanmar has sparked western interest in investment and trade opportunities. Interest in the export of world famous Burmese teak has led buyers from the United States, Europe, Japan, and Australia to ask questions about whether logs or timber exported out of Myanmar are legal or sustainable, as […]

Dependent Documents

Forest Certification in Myanmar (Burmese)

Forest Trends Information Brief No. 3

By Kerstin Canby - Forest Trends

Forest Certification in Vietnam

Forest Trends Information Brief No. 2

This article summarizes a March 2012 workshop held in Vietnam. According to Vietnam’s National Forest Development Strategy, by 2020, about 30% of Vietnam production forests – equivalent to around 1.8 million ha – is expected to meet criteria of sustainable forest management and to be qualified for certification. To achieve this objective, models of sustainable […]

Thailand

Overview of Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade

Thailand diverges from neighboring regional Mekong countries, with a decade or more experience of actively pursuing policies to combat domestic illegal logging and internal transportation. The 1989 logging ban, and the rise of grassroots social movements organizing around large-scale plantations and community displacement, has meant that Thai forestry institutions have needed to become more responsive […]

Lessons Learned for REDD+ from PES and Conservation Incentive Programs

Examples from Costa Rica, Mexico, and Ecuador

At the COP16 in Cancun, representatives from Costa Rica, Mexico, and Ecuador held a discussion on payments for ecosystem services (PES) and conservation incentive programs in these three countries and their relevance for national initiatives related to reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, conservation, sustainable management of forests, and enhancement of forest carbon (REDD+). […]