Impact Stories

In Honduras, managing landscapes to protect water resources in a changing climate

Nov 12 2013 - 4:18pm

As leaders in agriculture, forest, and climate change research converge in Warsaw for the Global Landscapes Forum this week, a study focused on a watershed in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, provides a potent example of the extent to which land use management matters to preserving drinking water sources in a changing climate. According to one climate change scenario predicted by the study, poor land management could cause soil erosion to increase by 155 percent, damaging reservoirs that are ths source of water for people and crops, and effectively erasing the potential positive effects on soil of the...

What Would You Pay to Save the Amazon?

Oct 28 2013 - 4:44pm

An article in the Washington Post mused about the findings of World Bank researchers on the Willingness to Pay (WTP) to protect the Amazon rainforest using Contingent Valuation interviews with European experts ("What’s the Amazon jungle worth? $36 a year per family, ‘oracles’ tell the World Bank"). It concluded on a light note: "Anyone want to bid on a glacier? Or Miley Cyrus?" Joke aside, the results were quite interesting. They showed that European households were ready to pay an average of US$ 46/year to keep 85% of original forest protected and US$ 36...

In search of integrated, climate-smart, productive landscapes

Oct 2 2013 - 3:20pm

"There’s a huge and exciting tool box we can draw from to build climate-smart productive systems that will last beyond our own generation," writes Rachel Kyte, World Bank Vice President for Sustainable Development, in a blog introducing some of the ideas behind the Global Landscapes Forum. Read more. Rachel Kyte will be delivering a keynote address during the Forum's opening plenary.

"We can't look at forestry and agriculture in isolation"

Sep 6 2013 - 10:25am

In a video released on Youtube on 9/5/13, CIFOR's Peter Holmgren and CCAFS' Bruce Campbell explain the motivation behind the merger of two influential annual conferences on forests and agriculture into a single Global Landscapes Forum.

Travel the world and the seven seas

Jul 23 2013 - 1:59pm

Forest policy analysis, from PROFOR and partners, to round out your summer reading list. Indonesia Working Paper: Integrating Communities into REDD+ in Indonesia (June 2013) Ongoing PROFOR Activity: Benefit Sharing and Customary Land Rights in Forest Areas for Indonesian Indigenous Peoples IUCN News: REDD+ Project in Indonesia Supports Customary Land Mapping (17 July 2013) Liberia FCPF Publication: Assessment of Key Governance Issues for REDD+ Implementation through Application of PROFOR Forest Governance Tool (June 2013) Field Note: Listening to what Liberians say...

Rain is a good thing

Jul 1 2013 - 6:23pm

Contributed by Tuukka Castren, Senior Forestry Specialist at the World Bank I have rarely had the chance to see so many different aspects of forestry in a 10-day span. On a recent work trip to Indonesia I went from discussing illegal logging and trade, to hearing about indigenous peoples' rights, REDD+ and haze. My first stop was in the city of Medan, in Northern Sumatra, where the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) held meetings on issues ranging from trade in services to data security and illegal logging and associated trade. APEC is a superb forum for discussions on timber...

Listening to what Liberians say about their forest governance

Jun 28 2013 - 10:15am

Contributed by Neeta Hooda, Senior Carbon Finance Specialist at the World Bank I recently came back from Monrovia, the capital of Liberia, energized. Although the sustainable management of Liberia’s vast forests continues to pose many challenges, the country has the opportunity to benefit from international processes that seek to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+) and improve governance and trade (FLEGT-VPA). These processes are supported by a myriad of development partners, including the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF), where I work. In April...

Something has been bugging me...

Jun 18 2013 - 4:52pm

Peter Dewees, PROFOR's manager, submitted this blog. I loved the attention garnered by a UN report urging people to eat insects during the conference on Forests for Food Security and Nutrition hosted by the FAO in Rome. For experts of all stripes, it was a reminder of what the broad public really thirsts for: not necessarily data, but vivid stories that challenge our assumptions, with a dose of shock and humor (bugs!!!) thrown in for good measure. The short paper I presented at the same conference ("Bouncing Back: Forests, trees and resilient households"), lacked the elements of...

Trouble in the forest, seen through the eyes of orphan bonobos

May 22 2013 - 5:23am

What if we heeded the warning calls of our closest relatives, the apes? To the bonobos, also known as pygmy chimpanzees (with whom, by the way, we share 98% of our DNA), the signals are clear: pressure on their rainforest habitat is on the rise. And if nothing is done to put an end to rampant illegality and destructive activities, years of conservation gains could be dismantled in the name of greed and need. The pressure is visible in the data below which charts the arrivals of orphan bonobos brought to the Lola-ya-Bonobo (“bonobo paradise”) sanctuary near Kinshasa, in the...

Do trends in woodfuel consumption spell disaster for forests?

Apr 18 2013 - 4:00pm

A blog published today on the World Bank's website highlights two startling trends: Woodfuel use went up almost 300% in Germany between 2000 and 2010 Timber theft is also on the rise. In Greece, the age-old olive tree under which Plato was said to have taught his students was cut down for firewood this winter The two facts taken together hint toward a reversal in developmental progress: a climb down the so-called energy ladder (which normally leads from traditional to more modern fuels); and a rise in forest crime driven by poverty and a breakdown in the rule of law. But as the...

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