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Securing forest tenure rights for rural development
Forest-dwelling communities and people who live in forests and depend on them for their livelihoods are often among the poorest and politically most marginalized population in their countries. About 22% of the income for the rural poor living near forests comes from timber and non-timber forest resources. This economic contribution of forest resources is larger than wage labour, livestock or self-owned businesses.
Knowledge Beyond Forests
In 2018, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) identified pathways to curtailing global emissions to 1.5Oc—all included planting forests and protecting existing forests to reduce and avoid further emissions. Catastrophic forest fires, made worse by climate change, sharply increased the urgency to adapt forest management practices. New research showed that biodiversity loss is even more severe than originally thought, with unprecedented levels of deforestation and land degradation.
PROFOR knowledge is showing how forests and the people who directly depend on them are... Read More »
A low-carbon future must protect the world’s forests
So, what mining takes place in forests? Many different minerals are mined in forests, with gold, iron ore, and copper most commonly mined by large-scale operators in forests. Bauxite, titanium, and nickel are the most reliant on forest-based mines, as the ores that contain them are mostly found in forest areas. All these minerals are crucial components of low-carbon technologies as well as for cell-phones and computers.
Trees and forests are key to fighting climate change and poverty. So are women
According to WRI's ‘Global Forest Watch’, from 2001 to 2017, 337 million hectares of tropical tree cover was lost globally – an area the size of India.
So, we appear to be losing the battle, if not the war, against tropical deforestation, and missing a key opportunity to tackle climate change (if tropical deforestation were a country, it would rank 3rd in emissions) and reduce poverty. A key question, then, is what can forest sector investors, governments and other actors do differently to reverse these alarming trends?
Counting charcoal trucks by the side of the road in Haiti
Across the world, over 3 billion people cook with solid biomass over traditional stoves resulting in negative impacts on health and the environment.Â
In Latin America this number is around 90 million people. In this blog, I want to focus on the case of Haiti, where 93 percent of people (2.2 million households) cook with solid fuels and some 80 percent of urban households use charcoal as their primary cooking fuel.Â
Making a case for forest investments in Pakistan
A new report Forests for Green Pakistan highlights that while the forest cover in Pakistan is low, the contribution of forests to Pakistan's national economy and to the livelihoods of forest-dependent communities is significant. However, a lack of data on forest resources, management practices, and uses impedes the sector from articulating the importance of investing in forests among competing development priorities.Â
To reforest Haiti, include Haitians in land management decisions
Thanks to a new participatory watershed management methodology, communities in Haiti could be more deeply involved in land-use decisions, with better reforestation outcomes.
In Mexico, payments for ecosystem services benefit forests and communities
Mexico's national Payment for Ecosystem Services program boosts social capital and engagement in forest management activites, according to a new impact evaluation.
The Program on Forests (PROFOR) multi-donor partnership provides knowledge, tools and in-depth analysis to facilitate forests contribution to poverty reduction, sustainable economic development and the protection of global and local environmental services.
Thematic Areas
Cross-Sectoral
Sustainable forest management requires cooperation across many sectors so that good forest practices are not undermined by shifts in macroeconomic policy or other areas. PROFOR’s forest-smart and...Read more
Poverty
An estimated 1.3 billion people—nearly 20 percent of humanity—rely on forests and forest products for their livelihoods, with the majority living on less than $1.25 a day. In some areas, forest...Read more
Finance
Sustainable forest management seeks to balance increasing demand for forest products and benefits, and preserving forest health and diversity. Financing this equilibrium requires new approaches, both...Read more
Governance
Strong forest governance is essential for many reasons. Clear regulations can encourage legitimate enterprises to make socially and environmentally sustainable investments in the forestry sector....Read more
Climate Change
Not only are forests and trees essential for capturing the carbon emissions that contribute to climate change, but they can also build peoples’ resilience to climate variability. Forests can be...Read more
