All projects and articles

Climate change is set to significantly impact people and the environment. Rising temperatures will change crop growing seasons and impact food security. Changing rainfall patterns will cause water shortages or flooding in some areas. And rising sea levels means a greater risk of storm surges, flooding and wave damage for coastal regions across the world. 

Development policymakers, academics and practitioners gathered at a ‘provocation’ seminar in Stockholm, Sweden last week (3 March 2011) to discuss whether their approaches to supporting small-scale farmers sh

Every month we highlight a new, groundbreaking or bestselling IIED research outcome. This month we feature IIED's small and medium forestry enterprise project and publications series.

The second in a series of six seminars on markets and small-scale farmers took place in Stockholm, Sweden on 3 March 2011. Watch video of the event.

In December 2010, forestry experts from Africa and Asia met in Namaacha, Mozambique as part of the Forest Governance Learning Group learning event, to share experiences and ideas about tackling forest governance issues nationally and internationally.

Biomass energy currently makes up 10% of the global primary energy mix, but this is expected to expand to 30% by 2050. In the South, biomass enterprises often dominate forest-sector activities and have massive implications for forest governance, the prospects for the growth of small forest enterprise, and climate-change adaptation and mitigation.

Enterprise is the hallmark of poverty alleviation. Income-generating activities can serve to build a sustainable future for forest-dependent peoples and the forests themselves. Secure rights to the forest are a necessity for this to work, as well as access to supporting institutions and markets.

A series of reports dating back to the mid nineties, looking at the forces at play in contests over policy, the winners and losers, and the factors that affect policy outcomes.

The United Nations has declared 2011 the International Year of Forests to raise awareness on sustainable management, conservation and sustainable development of all types of forests.

More than seven million hectares of forest are lost each year — deforestation that contributes 17 per cent of the greenhouse gas emissions associated with climate change and directly affects the livelihoods of more than 1.4 billion forest-dependent people. The loss is being driven by rising global demand for food, energy, fibre and water.