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Communities Forests

Social, Environmental and Economic Dimensions of Forest Policy Reform in Bolivia

By Arnoldo Contreras-Hermosilla, Maria Teresa Vargas Rios - Forest Trends, CIFOR

Bolivian forests cover some 53 million hectares – or almost half of the total area of the country – mainly in the departments of Santa Cruz, Beni, La Paz, Pando and Cochabamba. During the last decade or so, there was a growing concern that the nation’s forests were increasingly under threat and that there was […]

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Communities

Rights and Resources Initiative

A New Global Initiative Advancing Forest Tenure, Policy and Market Reforms to Reduce Rural Poverty, Strengthen Forest Gove

Many communities are asserting their rights to manage their forests, and some governments and private sector leaders are introducing substantive changes to forest tenure, policies and markets. The forest sector is now undergoing important reforms.

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Communities

Who Owns, Who Conserves and Why It Matters

By Andy White, Augusta Molnar, Arvind Khare - Forest Trends, Forest Trends, Forest Trends

When thinking about forest tenure and conservation, it is important to recall that there are somewhere between 1 and 1.5 billion of the world’s poorest people living in and around forests. Recent studies indicate that about 80 per cent of the extreme poor – those living on less than one dollar a day – depend […]

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Communities Forests

An Assessment of Indigenous Participation in Commercial Forestry Markets

The Case of Nicaragua's Northern Atlantic Autonomous Region

By J. Montgomery Roper, Ph.D - Forest Trends

Nicaragua’s Northern Atlantic Autonomous Region (RAAN) contains a wealth of tropical forests and has a long history of forest exploitation. Nicaragua contains the largest tropical forest north of Amazonia with nearly 23,000 km2 of broadleaf and nearly 6,000 km2 of pine forest. Over three quarters of these forests are located in the Northern Atlantic Autonomous […]

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Forests

To Johannesburg and Beyond

Strategic Options to Advance the Conservation of Natural Forests

By Andy White, Augusta Molnar, and Sara Scherr - Forest Trends, Forest Trends, Forest Trends

As global concern for continuing deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries grows in intensity, there is also disenchantment – even weariness – with global agreements and international initiatives to address these issues. While they are broadly appreciated for raising awareness – the energy and effort that go into global institutions has not been matched […]

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Forests

Strengthening Forest Management in Indonesia through Land Tenure Reform

Issues and Framework for Action

By Dr. Arnoldo Contreras-Hermosilla , Chip Fay - Forest Trends, World Agroforestry Center, MFP, Rights & Resources, IHSA, Greenomics Indonesia, The World Bank, DFID, Ford Foundation

In Indonesia, as in many developing countries, the government is struggling to improve the management of their dwindling forest resources. Despite government efforts, Indonesia still has large tracts of primary and secondary forest ecosystems that are under intense threat from both industry and local people.

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Agriculture Communities

At the Supply Edge

Thailand's Forest Policies, Plantation Sector, and Commodity Export Links with China

By Keith Barney - York University, Forest Trends, CIFOR, YCAR, DFID, Asia Pro Eco Programme

This study on Thailand’s forestry sector was commissioned by CIFOR and Forest Trends as part of a wider effort to address an information gap regarding Asia’s forestry and plantation forestry industries as well as regarding the emerging trade linkages between East and Southeast Asia. This report on Thailand’s forest sector is one of three studies […]

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Communities Forests

Navigating the Border

An Analysis of the China-Myanmar Timber Trade

By Fredrich Kahrl, Horst Weyerhaeuser, Su Yufang - World Agroforestry Centre, World Agroforestry Centre, World Agroforestry Centre, Forest Trends, CIFOR, DFID

In addition to socio-economic pressures, the combination of insufficient regulation in China and political instability in northern Myanmar has exacted a high ecological price. The uncertain regulatory and contractual environment has oriented the border logging industry toward short-term harvesting and profits, rather than investments in longer-term timber production. Degradation in Myanmar’s border forests will have […]

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Biodiversity Communities Water

Strategies for Strengthening Community Property Rights Over Forests

Lessons and Opportunities for Practitioners

By Andy White, and Alejandra Martin - Forest Trends, Forest Trends

Tenure security has recently become a central concern of poverty, forest conservation and human rights advocates alike. Poverty experts now recognize that the world’s poor are disproportionately located in rural areas and strongly dependent upon forest resources for their survival. Recent studies indicate that about 80 percent of the extreme poor, those living on less […]

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Climate Communities Forests

Developing Markets for the Ecosystem Services of Forests

By Ian Powell, Andy White, and Natasha Landell-Mills - Forest Trends, Forest Trends

As human demands increase and natural resources become scarcer, those who bear the costs of degradation – such as downstream water utilities, local governments, private insurers and society as a whole – are exploring opportunities to reduce costs by financing forest conservation. At the same time, some forest owners are seeking compensation for the costs […]