This report examines the destruction and systematic plunder of Asia's greatest rainforests under former Indonesian president Suharto. The report focuses on the 1997-1998 forest fires in Indonesia that resulted in the burning of 10 million hectares of forests. Many of these fires were deliberately set by plantation owners who take advantage of the dry season to clear the forests and plant export crops like palm oil.

Large areas of the humid tropics are like mosaics, combining features of forests and agriculture and housing hundreds of millions of people. Land uses that store high quantities of carbon, such as agroforestry and other tree-based systems, make up a large part of those mosaic areas. Yet current discussions on reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD) within the UNFCCC do not adequately address these land uses as part of a potential mitigation strategy.

This report analyses evidence linking community forest rights with healthier forests and lower carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from deforestation and forest degradation.

This paper provides a brief overview of the current knowledge and data on deforestation rates, research on the causes of deforestation and forest degradation and relevant policy options. It highlights issues of particular relevance to new discussions on reduced emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD) in developing countries at different stages of forest transition.

Using a computable general equilibrium (CGE) model this report identifies the links among economic growth, poverty alleviation, and natural resource degradation in Brazil.

An historical record of concessionaire activity in Cambodian forests since 1995, and a critique of the ADB-funded concession review carried out in late 1999.Available in Word and Text verisons and in Khmer at: http://www.fatbeehive.com/globalwitness/text/campaigns/forests/cambodia/...

The promotion of forestry activities is seen as a means by which to reduce poverty while protecting the environment. But if clearing of forests for agricultural activities can prove more profitable, will such efforts be effective?

The purpose of this paper is to provide a brief introduction to greenhouse and climate change, international frameworks, carbon sequestration and carbon trading. It focusses in particular on policy relating to Australia.The paper demonstrates that increasing levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide have been identified as a major cause of global warming. The Kyoto Protocol set the collective target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions of industrialised countries by 5% of 1990 levels by 2008-2012.

Briefing document on Cambodian forest reforms.Document available in Word and Text formats and available in Khmer at: http://www.fatbeehive.com/globalwitness/text/campaigns/forests/cambodia/...

This document summarizes current findings from an evaluation of Mexico’s National Payments for Hydrological Services from 2003-2010.  Th evaluation seeks to understand the environmental and socioeconomic impacts of the program, with the goal of extracting lessons learned and identifying room for possible future improvement.

Findings: an analysis of program selection criteria and the characteristics of lands enrolled suggests the program has met the dual goals of targeting funds to areas of ecological and social priority. Specifically:

Synthesizes the results of more than 140 economic models analyzing the causes of tropical deforestation. Raises significant doubts about many conventional hypotheses in the debate about deforestation. More roads, higher agricultural prices, lower wages, and a shortage of off-farm employment generally lead to more deforestation. How technical change, agricultural input prices, household income levels, and tenure security affect deforestation—if at all—is unknown.

The advance of the agricultural frontier constitutes the biggest source of deforestation in Central America today. This conversion of tropical forests into agricultural land and pasture is the direct result of individual land use decisions. This paper presents a simple analytical model of household land use, followed by an econometric analysis of household survey data from the Río San Juan region of Nicaragua in order to test for consistency with the model.