"Heart of Iron," a documentary about mining in the Congo Basin rainforest, will be screened at an event in Washington DC sponsored by World Wildlife Fund, the World Bank Oil, Gas and Mining unit and the Africa Region Sustainable Development Department.
Is Western Europe climbing down the "energy ladder"? Can traditional woodfuel be part of a modern energy mix? Two recent publications outline steps to help modernize woodfuel production and use, including in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Diji Chandrasekharan Behr, a Natural Resource Economist at PROFOR, was one of several panelists at a side event on Investing in Locally Controlled Forestry at UNFF 10 last week. In this blog, she asks why are we not seeing more investments in small and medium forest enterprises.
This activity aimed to develop consensus, through a stakeholder-driven process, on a course of action required to position Mexico’s community forestry sector as a high-value provider to niche markets from sustainably managed community forests, delivering both income and biodiversity protection. It has produced a guide in Spanish and English to evaluating economic and financial returns in community forest projects, as well as extensive training material.
In a newly published guide, author Dominic Elson starts from the premise that people should not be seen simply as "labor," or people who are in the way of "capital" and need to be paid off, but rather co-investors in the creation of wealth from forest investments. The publication offers guidance on how to structure enabling investments and prepare the ground for asset investments that yield acceptable returns and reduced risk, not only for investors, but also for local forest right-holders, national governments and society at large.
Methodological and sourcing changes could help improve World Bank forest data such as forest rents, net forest depletion, and forest wealth. Improved data and increased data usage could equip policymakers to better manage forest resources, improve forest governance, increase transparency in the rent captured, and ultimately lead to increased reinvestment of forest rents in other forms of capital to grow the total wealth of the country.
This activity seeks to support the development of a coherent and comprehensive national strategy for sustainable management of traditional oasis ecosystems in Tunisia currently under threat.
