Feature Stories
This blog post was submitted by Patti Kristjanson, Senior Research Fellow, World Agroforestry Center (ICRAF), and Gender Advisor, PROFOR…
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Forests may literally be a source of green growth.According to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), investing in forests gets us as much as one third of the way towards the mitigation goals that many studies say are necessary by 2030.So much for the ‘green’ – what about the ‘growth’?With support from the World Bank, PROFOR and WAVES, serious statistical efforts are underway to determine how much forests contribute…
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The sweeping and largely arid lands of Kazakhstan may not immediately conjure up images of a Garden of Eden - although the country is home to the original wild apple and one of the largest forest covers in Europe and Central Asia. Despite this, overall forest scarcity in Kazakhstan – and recognition of the substantial economic and…
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Looking back, the year 2015 highlighted both monumental challenges and opportunities to achieving sustainable forest management. Some of the setbacks included devastating levels of haze from forest fires in Indonesia, historically high numbers of wildfires across the western United States, and rising deforestation in…
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This blog post was submitted by Werner L.Kornexl, Sr. Natural Resources Management Specialist and Program Manager for PROFOR At the close of the Paris climate meetings,…
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In the Lao People's Democratic Republic, as in much of the world, average temperatures have risen and rainfall patterns have become less predictable in recent decades. For the poor and agriculture-dependent in Lao PDR, these new conditions under climate change have brought immediate consequences: longer and more severe droughts, more extensive pest infestations, and a shift in seasons that complicates the timing of the harvest. These threats pose daunting challenges for Lao smallholder farmers, whose poverty and limited access to infrastructure, new technology, finance, and…
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Development initiatives often emphasize the importance of “quick wins” and “low-hanging fruit.” But what if the issues that are the most pressing are also the most complex? The Bajo Lempa region of El Salvador is a good illustration of this. Located along the Pacific coast in what’s known as the Central American Dry Corridor, Bajo Lempa features everything from hillsides covered in coffee plantations, to flood-prone coastal plains where family farms border industrial sugarcane operations, to mangrove forests that compete with shrimp production. Increasing population and…
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A rising number of cities around the globe are facing crisis-level constraints in water access, highlighting the pervasive and immediate consequences of climate change. Honduras’ capital, Tegucigalpa, is one such flashpoint. The city’s water utility currently meets less than half of residents’ demand for water – some of the city’s one million residents receive water only once a week.Tegucigalpa’s problems have followed a common pattern: urbanization and population growth are rapidly increasing the demand for resources, while also encroaching on the natural systems that provide those…
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