Forestry

Forestry, Biomass & Sustainability 2010 Conference

Date
Thursday, 13 May, 2010 - Friday, 14 May, 2010
Location
Hallam Conference Centre, London

Innovations in biomass energy for renewable local energy provision and legitimate income generation

This project explores how to optimise the contribution of woody biomass to renewable energy provision and legitimate commercial income generation – given its comparative advantages as the pre

Independent monitoring of a consultative process for Guyana’s Low Carbon Development Strategy and REDD

This project involved the design and independent monitoring of a multi-stakeholder consultation process for Guyana’s REDD-related Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS).

Conflict resolution in the Forest sector

Conflict between companies that profit from forests and local people who depend on them could be tackled by industry-led approaches, but too few companies use them.

South-South REDD: A Brazil-Mozambique Initiative

A workable national strategy for REDD in Mozambique is now critical.

Almost 70% of Mozambique (54.8 million hectares) is covered in forest and other woody vegetation types. Approximately 80% of the total population (20 million) of Mozambique live in rural areas where the incidence of poverty runs at 54%. Dependence on forest resources is high.

World Forestry Congress

The World Forestry Congress, held every six years, is the largest and most significant gathering of the world's forestry sector. Here are some articles on the most important issues for 2009.

Changing who gets to decide what in forestry

If REDD is going to succeed, and if locally controlled forestry is going to become a reality, then finding the practical ways in which forest governance can be improved is top priority. The Forest Governance Learning Group (FGLG ) has been working on this since 2003.

Green Shoots and REDD herrings

Forests continue to be trashed in many places. One recent estimate, admittedly ‘on the back-of-an- envelope’, indicates a global natural capital loss of US$2.5 trillion a year, of which forests represent a substantial part. We have all recently become used to hearing about trillions of dollars being wiped off the world’s ‘virtual economy’, but this natural capital is real, and its loss is permanent.

Forest Connect: sustainable enterprise at the forest frontier

At many of the world’s remaining forest frontiers, pitched battles for profit from farming and forestry are playing out. Forests generally lose: some 130,000 square kilometres still disappear yearly. Meanwhile, an estimated 1.6 billion of the world’s poorest people depend on those frontiers. Solutions that both avoid deforestation and reduce poverty are urgently needed.

Growing Forest Partnerships

In October 2009 a dedicated web site: www.growingforestpartnerships.org was launched. Please visit for full details of the initiative, videos, further resources and links.

REDD: Protecting climate, forests and livelihoods

Deforestation is a global issue. Beyond its destructive impacts on biodiversity and the livelihoods of forest-dependent people, it is a major driver of climate change and accounts for roughly a fifth of global greenhouse gas emissions. REDD — 'reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation' — could offer a way forward, as IIED's growing body of REDD research and reports reflects.

An interview with Virgílio Viana

Video discussing forests, and why their protection is important for tackling climate change and poverty reduction.

Collaborative management of forests and wildlife in Vietnam

This project aims to conserve threatened biodiversity in the Bi Doup Nui Ba National Park in Vietnam through the introduction of collaborative forest and wildlife stewardship models based on negotiated tenure and access rights.

Community-based forest carbon project in Mozambique

This project looks at designing a framework for carbon payments for afforestation/reforestation in small-scale forest plantations in Mozambique

Forest Connect: linking small and medium forest enterprises to markets and services

Many small and medium forest enterprises work together in associations to reduce transaction costs, adapt to new market opportunities and shape the policy environment in their favour. But in least developed countries, support structures for such forest associations either do not exist or fail to reach those who need help most.

The Poverty-Forests Toolkit: showing what forests mean to the poor

Forestry often has a low profile within national policies and strategies for poverty reduction because its contribution to rural livelihoods may not be sufficiently understood. The PROFOR-funded Poverty-Forests Toolkit aims to address this gap. It provides a framework, fieldwork methods and analytical tools to understand and communicate the contribution of forests to the incomes of rural households.

Forests, resilience and climate change

Forest ecosystems may not be able to adapt to the rate of climate change or the intensity of weather events and other effects such as fires or floods. Yet forests may also serve as a source of resilience – absorbing harmful CO2 emissions, providing resources to local populations, and through forest-landscape design to protect communities from increasingly erratic weather.

Small and medium forest enterprises and associations

The forestry sector in developing countries is dominated by small and medium sized forest enterprises. But the diverse range of these enterprises makes it difficult to understand the contribution they make to sustainability and poverty reduction.

Forest ethics

Development - in its current form - does not always advance human well-being and the global ecosystem on which that well-being depends. This project interrogates some of the value assumptions behind development. Due to the cross-sectoral benefits and challenges of forests, the forest sector is often used as a testing ground for broader development solutions. Nowhere is this more true than in the arena of development ethics.

Exploring fair trade timber

Fair trade has done much to help community enterprises – but mainly in agriculture, not forestry. It is now time to examine the demand and potential of a mechanism, such as fair trade, that can both empower and distinguish community forest products in the market place – opening up new market niches through which ethical consumers can channel their purchasing power.