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.
Forests are an underestimated resource that could benefit the 2 million people who live near or on state forest land in the Kyrgyz Republic if a number of legal, policy, social and governance constraints were properly addressed. A new study, complemented with an analysis of the trade in walnuts, highlights exciting "green growth" opportunities that are relevant beyond the country's boundaries.
Once transformed into an amorphous bundle of planks, wood can be hard to identify let alone certify as legal or sustainably-harvested. The ambition of Double Helix Tracking Technologies is to apply genetics to forests and the timber supply chain.
A look at the use of ICTs to track tree planting on small farms in Kenya. And a peek at the work behind the new "FairWild" standard developed by TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring network. Both efforts are ultimately about keeping track of trees and plants thanks to much-improved technology.
On May 4th, Indonesia concluded Voluntary Partnership Agreement negotiations with the European Union. This marked the culmination of a long process toward establishing a legality verification system in the country and an important milestone for forest governance reform.
Large-scale land acquisition attracted considerable interest in the wake of the 2007-08 commodity boom. This global 'land rush' is unlikely to slow given volatile global commodity prices, demand for biofuels, rising incomes, urbanization and population increases. What impact has this rising interest in farmland had so far?
Work with the ASEAN Regional Knowledge Network has consisted of support for preparation of technical papers, a regional workshop on fleg reporting held in Kuala Lumpur November 2009 and the publication of a guide for country assessment and reporting on FLEG in partnership with FAO in June 2010.
Drawing on lessons from two decades of successful community-based natural resource management in the miombo region, as well as cases studies in Namibia, Mozambique and Zambia, the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) explored the opportunities for pro-poor REDD+ payments.
