There have been several major research efforts on the rate and causes of Indonesia's deforestation in recent years and much associated literature, but there is still no consensus in the research community on these issues. This paper reviews the areas of uncertainty and confusion, and proposes questions that must be answered to get a better grasp of the subject. Among the key questions are: (1) How are we to define "forest", "deforestation" and "agency” in the context of Indonesia?

This proceedings contains a summary of national seminars on social forestry in Indonesia. It covers history of social forestry in Indonesia, principles of social forestry, and the different types of social forestry initiatives in Indonesia. There are similar problems faced in forestry sector such as forest boundaries, land tenure. Other problems in social forestry are: a) national forest policy (2) Decentralisation and space for social forestry; (3) Multistakeholder arrangements in social forestry; and (4) strengthening institutions and collective learning processes.

Rights to large areas of forest have been granted to communities and indigenous peoples in Latin America, offering these groups an opportunity to participate in REDD+ initiatives. However, tenure is not always secure, and security of tenure alone is insufficient to guarantee positive outcomes for both forests and livelihoods. The question of carbon tenure rights has only just begun to be addressed, and even less attention has been given to liabilities. REDD+ initiatives provide an opportunity to consolidate indigenous territories but present a risk to those without secure land rights.

Secondary forests form a major component of the forest types in the Central Himalayan region and in the north eastern hills of India. Deforestation in these areas is largely due to external pressures of timber extraction for industrial use. When large scale deforestation from outside the region is superimposed upon the demands of the local communities for food, fodder and fuelwood, the previously balanced use of forest resources, including the management of swidden fallow secondary forests, becomes impaired.

Forest resources share attributes with many other resource systems that make difficult their governance and management in a sustainable, efficient and equitable manner. Destruction or degradation of forest resources is most likely to occur in open-access forests where those involved, or external authorities, have not established effective governance. Conventional theories applied to forest resources presumed that forest users themselves were incapable of organizing to overcome the temptations to overharvest.