CHALLENGEDesert Cloud Forests in Yemen and Oman are unique and fragile ecosystems, subject to human threats and climate change repercussions.They are a remnant of the moist vegetation belt that once spread across the Arabain Pensinsula when the climate was generally wetter, and are host to precious biodiversity. They also represent a safety net for the local population who relies on these forests (kept alive by extracting water droplets from low-lying passing clouds) for wood collection and geazing land. However development pressure in terms of deforestation and uncontrolled grazing…
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CHALLENGEReducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) has been singled out as a promising way to cut the rate of carbon emissions, and contribute to mitigating climate change. But much of the focus has been on the first “D”. In countries with high forest cover, weak governance structures, and active concession forestry (where the challenge of measurement and enforcement will be the greatest), there may be opportunities through Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) certification, for inciting the private sector to contribute to more sustainable and less degrading concession…
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CHALLENGEA benefit-sharing mechanism among relevant stakeholders defines who will receive benefits, in what form they will be received (i.e., monetary or non-monetary benefits) and when they will be received. Establishing well-functioning mechanisms is important for providing effective incentives to participants for undertaking - or refraining from - specified actions. In other words, benefit-sharing mechanisms fundamentally determine how stakeholders contribute to resource management; sustainability; and the way desirable development outcomes are generated, distributed and reinvested. While…
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Building basic models of forest supplyCHALLENGEChina's forestry sector is in the process of transformation. A pattern of forest depletion has been reversed in China and replaced by the world's largest afforestation process. Centralized command and control of the sector is yielding to various forms of private, localized and frequently highly autonomous management arrangements. China is increasingly integrated into the world wood economy, becoming in a period of less than 10 years one of the world's largest importers of wood and wood products and an increasingly important exporter (and re…
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CHALLENGEThe international development community is increasingly demanding better evidence regarding the effectiveness of policies and programs across different sectors, and the forest sector is no exception. Governments and donor agencies explicitly seek to link investment to proven impact. Yet, the evidence base necessary to inform policies and programs in the sector that can successfully enhance the livelihoods of forest-dependent poor populations, foster economic growth, reduce emissions from deforestation and degradation, and conserve forest biodiversity remains weak. There is a…
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Program SummaryThe International Financing Facility for Forests (IFFFor) is a proposed mechanism designed to fill an incentive gap in the effort to combat deforestation. The IFFFor is a long-term investment fund, which will offer financial incentives to forest countries to preserve and restore the world’s most valuable forests. This would contribute to combatting climate change, preserving biodiversity, and enhancing economic development of forest countries.Conceived by the World Bank Treasury and developed by the Center for Global Development (CGD), the IFFFor is currently being co-financed…
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CHALLENGEBosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) is home to some of the most diverse forests in Europe with over one hundred tree species. 80% of these forests are state-owned, with the remainder owned by a number of individual private owners. The country’s rural population, estimated at 2 million, regards the forest sector as an important source of employment, as well as energy (fuelwood for heating, primarily from forest residues), non-timber forest products (NTFPs, e.g., mushrooms, berries and herbs) and recreation. The forest sector has also been used as a social safety net for vulnerable…
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Investment Opportunities: Constraints to Investment and Potential SolutionsThe Southern and East Africa Region Forest Investment Forum, held in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, from June 13-16, 2006, identified emerging opportunities for responsible private investment in the forest sector to drive economic development, reduce poverty and conserve forest resources. The Forum discussed constraints to such investment, specifically forest sector corruption and governance failures more broadly that manifest in a lack of transparency in forest resource use, ineffective land tenure policies, and a…
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CHALLENGEThough the deforestation rates in the Congo Basin countries have historically been low, the trend is likely to change dramatically due to the combination of many different factors: population increases (and associated expansion of subsistence agriculture and fuelwood collection); local and regional development; and the rise in global demand for commodities.The countries of the Congo Basin face the dual challenge of developing local economies and reducing poverty, while limiting the negative impact of growth on the region's natural capital.APPROACHPROFOR supported an in-depth, multi…
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CHALLENGEThe expansion of agricultural commodity production is a key driver of deforestation in many countries, particularly with cocoa in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana, the world’s two largest cocoa producers. In Ghana, cocoa cultivation caused 27 percent of the total deforestation between 1990-2008. Climate change is also exacerbating deforestation by causing marked shifts in cocoa production levels and quality. Unfortunately, West Africa’s smallholder cocoa farmers are at the epicenter of the twin threats of deforestation and climate change. In Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana, nearly 2 million farmers…
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