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Communities Forests

A Brief Overview of China’s Timber Market

By Xiufang Sun, Liqun Wang, Zhenbin Gu - Forest Trends, School of Economics and Management at Beijing Forestry University, School of Economics and Management at Beijing Forestry University, Chinese Center for Agricultural Policy, CIFOR, CEM, Beijing Forestry University, DFID

China’s timber market has undergone dramatic changes in recent decades and continues to change rapidly. Currently, timber producers are allowed to market their timber directly to different buyers, although timber harvest and transport remain heavily regulated by the government. China’s primary wood-processing industry and wood-consuming sectors have experienced rapid growth in recent years. Sectors like […]

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Forests

Forest Governance in Federal Systems

An Overview of Experiences and Implications for Decentralization

By Hans Gregersen, Arnoldo Contreras-Hermosilla, Andy White, Lauren Phillips - CGIAR, Forest Trends, Forest Trends, Forest Trends, United Nations Forum on Forests, CIFOR, Inter Cooperation, SDC

Internationally recognized problems such as illegal logging and uncontrolled deforestation, as well as the broader political trends, are driving many countries to reconsider centralized systems of decision-making and direct government implementation of forest programs. The paper assesses the experiences of eight countries with federal systems including Australia, Brazil, Canada, India, Malaysia, Nigeria, Russia, and the […]

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Communities

Logging, Legality and Livelihoods in Papua New Guinea

Synthesis of Official Assessments of the Large-Scale Logging Industry Volume II

By Forest Trends

Between 2000 and 2005, in response to a widely held view that forest management in Papua New Guinea was not providing long-term benefits to the country or its citizens, and to assess the implementation and effectiveness of the new governance regime introduced in the PNG Forestry Act of 1991, the Papua New Guinea government commissioned […]

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Forests

Developing Future Ecosystem Service Payments In China

Lessons Learned from International Experience

By Sara J. Scherr, Michael T. Bennett, Molly Loughney, Kerstin Canby - Ecoagriculture Partners, Peking University College of Environmental Sciences, Forest Trends, Forest Trends, PROFOR

Across the world, the growing scarcity of ecosystem services has led to a flurry of conservation innovations over the past decade in the form of payment schemes and nascent markets for these services. The global economic value of ecosystem services is estimated in the trillions of dollars, though actual payments for protecting these services are […]

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Forests Water

Developing Markets for Water Services from Forests

Issues and Lessons for Innovators

Of the many services that forests provide, hydrological services, such as water quality and water flow, are among the most valuable. As we look ahead into the next decade, water will become an increasingly critical issue as it becomes an increasingly scarce resource. The value of these hydrological services will only grow over time. Policy […]

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Communities

Beyond Timber

Certification of Non-Timber Forest Products

By Patrica Shanley, Alan Pierce , Sarah Laird - Forest Trends, CIFOR, People and Plants International

Non-timber forest products (NTFPs) are critical to rural livelihoods in both temperate and tropical areas. They provide communities with important subsistence resources like medicine, food and shelter, as well as a source of cash income. NTFPs are also part of large regional and international markets, and for centuries products such as spices, medicinal plants, fragrances […]

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Communities Forests

Customs, Concessionaires and Conflict

Tracking Cambodia's Forestry Commodity Chains and Export Links to China

By Keith Barney - YCAR, Forest Trends, CIFOR, DIFID, Asia Pro Eco Programme

Cambodia has obviously experienced some difficulty in implementing an effective framework of sustainable forest management. Indeed, the Cambodian forest sector can be considered a paradigmatic example of the close links between vast resource wealth on the one hand, and structural conflict and rural violence on the other. From the early to the mid-1990s, Cambodia’s illegal […]

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Water

For Services Rendered

The Current Status and Future Potential of Markets for the Ecosystem Services Provided by Tropical Forests

By Sara Scherr, Andy White, Arvind Khare - Forest Trends, Forest Trends, International Tropical Timber Association

The past decade has seen the widespread emergence of markets and other payment schemes for forest ecosystem services – such as watershed protection, biodiversity protection and carbon sequestration -around the world. At a global scale, several recent reviews indicate that these activities are nascent and still limited in scope and scale, but that they may […]

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Forests

China’s Forest Product Exports

An Overview of Trends by Segment and Destinations

By Xiufang Sun, Nian Cheng, Kerstin Canby - Forest Trends, Forest Trends, Chinese Center for Agricultural Policy, Center for International Forestry Research, DFID

In only 7 years, China’s timber product exports have tripled in volume and increased fourfold in value. The total volume of all forest product exports – including both timber and pulp and paper products – is now one-third of China’s total forest product import volume. The total volume of only primary timber products (excluding pulp […]

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Biodiversity Communities

A New Agenda for Forest Conservation and Poverty Reduction

Making Markets Work for Low-Income Producers

By Sara J. Scherr, Andy White, David Kaimowitz - Forest Trends, Forest Trends, CIFOR

The future of the world’s forests and the future of millions of the world’s poorest people are inextricably linked. Rural poverty is concentrated in many areas where the world’s biodiversity is most threatened. More than a billion people now live within the world’s 19 forest biodiversity “hotspots” and population growth in the world’s tropical wilderness […]