CHALLENGE In 2009 a World Bank report called Roots for Good Forest Outcomes provided the framework for a comprehensive look at forest governance in terms of five building blocks and their principal components and subcomponents. As such, it provided a better insight into what constitutes “ideal” forest governance. The next step was to develop a simple and actionable governance diagnostic tool which would help benchmark and pinpoint areas requiring reform, at a time when international initiatives such as FLEGT-VPA and REDD+ are putting pressure on countries to improve governance in the forestry...
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CHALLENGE Artisanal and small scale mining (ASM) is an important source of income for millions of poor people around the world. The past decade has seen increasing numbers of individuals and households turn to ASM, and this trend is likely to grow in the face of high mineral prices, population growth, poverty and climate change. Because ASM activities contribute to poverty reduction in remote rural areas, efforts to simply eradicate the activity tend to fail. However ASM tends to  destroy and degrade forest ecosystems (through habitat destruction, the use of toxic chemicals, pollution of...
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CHALLENGE Small and medium forest enterprises (SMFEs) are the norm in most developing countries. They often represent 80-90% of all forest enterprises and more than 50% of formal forest jobs -- plus many more of an informal and seasonal nature. They accrue wealth locally, empower local entrepreneurship, strengthen social networks and engender local social and environmental accountability. But in least developed countries, structures that connect with and support SMFEs and their associations are weak. They face problems such as excessive bureaucracy, unstable policies or regulations biased...
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Evaluating the effectiveness of public spending in the forestry sector: lessons from global good practices CHALLENGE Public expenditures in the forest sector arise from the need to maximize development outcomes and enhance livelihoods, conserve a variety of local and global public goods, set an attractive investment climate to leverage private investment, and contribute to the costs of forest administration. Yet the sector is typically poorly funded in most developing countries. Lack of adequately qualified staff, lack of funds to carry out essential supervisory operations and lack of ...
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CHALLENGE Lessons learned from the first generation of sub-national REDD ‘demonstration activities’ will shape the international REDD mechanism’s ability to promote policies and actions that are equitable, effective and efficient. Those lessons will also have a crucial impact on the design of the second generation of REDD strategies and activities. Yet harvesting credible, evidence-based lessons is not as straightforward as it seems. APPROACH This knowledge activity was carried out by CIFOR with financial support from PROFOR and other donors. It set out to ensure that first-generation REDD...
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CHALLENGE An estimated 1.2 billion people rely on forests for some part of their livelihoods. However, the importance of forests is often overlooked in national development processes such as poverty reduction strategies due to inadequate evidence documenting how forests sustain the poor.   Poverty-Forests Linkages Toolkit by PROFOR (Program on Forests) is licensed under a...
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Drawing Lessons from Transparency International (TI) The forest sector badly needs functioning integrity systems. Corruption promotes illegal logging and trade, and illegal logging is a multi-billion-dollars-per-year problem for the world. Beyond the lost revenues, illegal logging is almost never sustainable. No one has ever quantified the environmental and social harm it causes worldwide. Transparency International (TI), the world's leading organization in the fight against corruption, pioneered the National Integrity System (NIS)...
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