Field Notes
LAST UPDATED
11.17.2010
Our knowledge-sharing blog highlights analysis, stories, data and events that resonate with PROFOR's broad forest interests, whether they originated in our shop or not. Feel free to share your thoughts through comments.
Free lunch, in the shade of a marula tree
01.30.12 - 15:32
The marula tree dominates the rolling communal pastures and family courtyards in Bushbuckridge, South Africa. In a landscape where most of the bush has long been cleared for timber, firewood or farmland, the survival of the marula tree is a function of its special status and multiple uses.
Simple and effective, VERITAS calculator could complement FLEG-Trade work
01.17.12 - 15:33
PROFOR has uploaded a new tool on its website which should be of interest to a variety of exporters, wood associations and specialists: the VERITAS Timber Volume Calculator. This product could potentially be used globally by forest stakeholders to complement verification of timber legality and chain of custody initiatives -- by helping to identify red flags or anomalies in timber flow data and accounts.
A Perennial Perspective
01.12.12 - 14:37
Director General of the World Agroforestry Centre Tony Simons delivered a meaty, 102-slide presentation on "The Science Needs of Development: A perennial perspective" that gave rise to many questions. How do you nudge societies to adopt a tree planting culture? Why is the science of scaling up successful programs still so elusive? Can we emulate the health sector in this regard?
Wrapping your brain around the global "forest sink"
12.20.11 - 16:17
Perhaps no other graphic at Forest Day 5 was as enlightening and intriguing as the carbon sink accounting diagram shared by Bob Scholes. Now that CIFOR has posted it online, we can all ponder it at leisure.
Going Granular in Ghana
12.20.11 - 10:11
PROFOR first supported the mapping of landscape restoration opportunities at the global level. It is now drilling down at the country level with an assessment in Ghana. A new map provides a detailed and current picture of Ghana's land cover -- something that was missing until now.