CHALLENGE The World Bank Group has been successful in reporting on the business and investment climate in developing countries through its Doing Business rankings which look at regulatory systems at the country and sub-national level. PROFOR and other partners have also devoted time and energy in trying to mobilize greater participation of businesses in meeting forest sector economic, social and environmental goals. A conducive investment and business climate would seem to be an essential element in this effort and would help increase the forest sector's contribution to "green...
Read More

CHALLENGE How can rural communities take advantage of complex REDD+ initiatives to reduce poverty? What are some of the barriers to bottom-up, community climate change projects? APPROACH In order to map out opportunities and hurdles facing rural communities in developing countries, a framework for a community forest climate project was developed in Zambézia Province, Mozambique during 2008-2009 by Indufor. Lessons learned were summarized in a paper called "Lessons from developing a REDD+ A/R project in Zambézia, Mozambique." This work complements the IIED publication...
Read More

CHALLENGE Taking gender into consideration in relation to forests matters because how, why and where men and women access, use and manage forests differs. These differences matter for the design of policies, institutional arrangements and interventions aimed at supporting sustainable forest landscapes. Persistent gender gaps remain across all regions in: access to services, access to markets and value-addition activities, land and tree tenure, voice and agency, and hiring labor. In addition to these, gender differences in the capacity for addressing climate change has been recognized as an...
Read More

Providing information to motivate market activitiy CHALLENGE Worldwide, there is growing interest in market-based approaches to conservation. Public regulation and protected area systems, while critical, are insufficient to stop widespread resource degradation. For natural resources to be conserved they must be more valuable than the alternative uses of land and in order for them to be well-managed, good stewardship must be rewarded over bad stewardship. Markets and payments for ecosystem services, such as carbon sequestration, watershed protection, and biodiversity conservation are emerging...
Read More

CHALLENGE The commercial forestry sector in the Central African Republic (CAR) has considerable potential to attract private investment and contribute to economic development. CAR’s productive forests are governed by sustainable management plans and they still offer a wealth of harvestable species for which there is substantial demand on international markets. Prior to 2013, the forestry sector represented over 6 percent of GDP, roughly half of total exports, and about 10 percent of state revenues. It also provided some 4,000 direct jobs and 6,000 indirect jobs. Under the country’s...
Read More

CHALLENGE Although only 5% of the world's forests are located in Southeast Asia, the region accounted for about 17% of global forest loss in 2000 to 2010: An area about the size of Vietnam was deforested in the past decade. Illegal logging is one major force driving deforestation and degradation. This results in loss of biodiversity, tax revenue and the potential of forest resources to contribute to poverty reduction. In tropical regions, the challenge of improving forest management to meet certification standards, and increasing pressure to prove timber legality, has led to development...
Read More

CHALLENGE Chile is one of the most developed countries in the southern hemisphere and relies heavily on its natural resource base for employment and exports. Yet, despite its natural assets and economic prowess, the country is plagued by serious land degradation problems including desertification, accelerated soil erosion, and forest degradation. In addition, climate change is exacerbating land degradation through changes in rainfall quantity and regimen, and the melting of glaciers, which are critical for the country’s water supply. An astounding two-thirds of the national territory (...
Read More

PROGRAM SUMMARY The objective of this activity is to improve the knowledge of the Chinese government on sustainable forest management so that China’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) can be achieved. CHALLENGE Forests rose to prominence in the 2015 Paris Agreement and in many countries’ policies on Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC), including China’s. Since 2015, the Chinese Government has included in its NDC a commitment to increase its forest stock volume by an estimated 4.5 billion cubic meters by 2030, compared to the 2005 level, and to...
Read More

CHALLENGE Large parts of MENA are covered with drylands – such a harsh environment limits water resources to support its fragile ecosystems. In 2013, the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification Secretariat identified the far reaching impacts and downward spiral of desertification, deforestation and their impacts on food, security and extreme poverty. Turn Down the Heat III described the multifaceted role of climate change on desertification; whereby increased temperature and evapotranspiration and reduced precipitation can affect desertification and desertification...
Read More

CHALLENGE Large parts of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region are covered with drylands. This harsh environment may have limited water resources, but it still supports fragile ecosystems, which are vulnerable to the far reaching impacts climate change, including desertification and deforestation, and their associated impacts on food, security and extreme poverty. The 2014 Turn Down the Heat report describes the multifaceted role of climate change on desertification, but also notes the lack of regional studies on the dynamics of climate change, social influences, and...
Read More