Although in the last 10 years, the forest area owned or controlled by indigenous peoples and communities has increased from 21% to 31%. However, in many cases the penetration and enforcement of reforms transferring forest rights to communities is still problematic. In Latin America, where forest ecosystems cover as much as 21% of the land (940 M ha), and include more than 50% of the world’s tropical forests, rates of land use change are also the highest. Even in those countries that are beginning to control deforestation (e.g., Brazil), forestlands continue to be significantly threatened by…
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CHALLENGEThe forestry sector in Asia and the Pacific is undergoing sweeping and rapid change. Recent years have seen an increase in demand for both wood products and forest-related environmental services. This demand is anticipated to intensify in coming years, bringing with it the potential for greater revenue for forest goods and services. To successfully capture these emerging opportunities, countries will need to demonstrate effective forest law enforcement and governance (FLEG) and instill confidence among buyers that progress is being made in efforts to manage forests sustainably…
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CHALLENGEDespite efforts to establish protected areas and improve the planning and management of these areas, Benin’s forests are being degraded through slash-and-burn agriculture, demand for wood-based fuel, uncontrolled bush fires, and intensive animal grazing continues. Such activities undermine the essential ecological services that forests provide to populations. In a country where the forest sector contributes over six percent to GDP (2009 estimate) and employs more than 200,000 people in the wood-energy sector alone, the direct and indirect impacts of forest degradation are significant…
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CHALLENGEBurkina Faso is a Sahelian savannah country which has experienced continued degradation of its natural resources including forests. Poor governance is seen as an important contributing factor to this degradation. Burkina Faso is also one of eight pilot countries selected by the Forest Investment Program (FIP) for investments that would address the underlying causes for deforestation and improve forest carbon sequestration. This program could result in significant investment activities totaling USD 30-35 million, however poor forest governance, corruption and lack of transparency…
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CHALLENGEThe World Bank’s 2002 Forest Strategy laid down two bold targets, which it saw as the collective outcome of global efforts to promote Sustainable Forest Management, through improving forest governance. First, by 2012/13, a reduction of global illegal logging by 50 percent (from an estimated baseline value of $10 billion per annum); and, second, a 50 percent decrease in the estimated value of taxes, fees, and levies willfully evaded. However, there has been little systematic effort to assess the extent to which these targets have been achieved. This is a drawback (applicable not only…
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Assessing the Potential for Forest Landscape Restoration to Contribute to Poverty Alleviation, Climate Change Mitigation & Sustainable Forest ManagementCHALLENGEForests once covered almost twice the area that they do today. Today the loss is continuing at the rapid pace of roughly 13 million has per year. While the focus of the international forest and climate debate has been on avoiding further deforestation and degradation of forests in developing, often tropical, countries, these discussions have begun to acknowledge the potential for forest restoration to enhance carbon stocks and…
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CHALLENGEJamaica’s coastal areas play vital economic and social roles and reduce vulnerability to natural hazards. Protecting and restoring these coastal habitats is both an opportunity and a need. Targeting mangrove ecosystems could increase resilience to climate change, reduce the risk to disasters in coastal areas, and provide co-benefits associated to livelihoods maintenance (i.e. tourism) and food security (i.e. fisheries). This activity will support the Government of Jamaica in promoting cost-effective coastal protection measures through mangrove ecosystems enhancement.APPROACHThis…
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CHALLENGEAccording to the analytical studies of the Institute of Incidencia at the Rafael Landivar University, illegal logging in Guatemala represents about 30-50 percent of the annual harvested timber. Based on the analysis of the Integrated Accounting on Forest Products from the Cuente con Ambiente project, legal timber is estimated to make up only five percent, while illegal logging represents 95 percent of the total traded timber. In 2008, IARNA (Agricultural, Natural Resources and Environmental Institute, Guatemala) in its forest products flows analyses documented that 89 percent of the…
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CHALLENGEDeforestation in the Congo Basin is expected to increase significantly in the future as investment in productive sectors grows. Thus, it will be essential to assist Congo Basin countries in ensuring that forestland development is planned and implemented in such a way as to avoid, minimize and/or offset unnecessary economic losses and social hardship and to draw optimal benefits from sustainable forest resource use. In 2013, the World Bank published a study on “Deforestation Trends in the Congo Basin – Reconciling Economic Growth and Forest Protection,” with support from PROFOR. One…
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A Citizens' Report Card (CRC)CHALLENGEProvision of services such as health, education, water and sanitation and transport are important determinants of the standard of living and of social welfare. In developing countries these services are typically provided by the public sector and the efficiency of public service delivery has been constantly criticized. Public service delivery agencies are seen as overstaffed, under-resourced, corrupt and indifferent to the needs of their clients. Reforms are clearly called for, but need to be backed by diagnostic tools to pinpoint the nature of the…
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