Claims of sustainability are virtually impossible to prove but enough is known about tropical forest ecology and silviculture to protect ecosystem functions and maintain biodiversity while still deriving financial profits from logging. Rapid improvements in long-term forest production will derive from better planning of harvesting operations and stand improvement treatments. Lack of good management plans generally results in logging practices that destroy natural regeneration and increase forest susceptibility to soil loss, wildfires, and weed infestations.

Beyond Timber: Certification and Management of Non-Timber Forest Products is a valuable contribution and a practical guide for communities, researchers, policy makers, and donors interested in assessing the value of investing time and effort in the still elaborate and costly process of gaining independent international recognition of sound management practices directed to harvest of non-timber forest products (NTFPs). Beyond Timber does not attempt to mask the difficulties of obtaining NTFP certification.

The current study was conducted in Cameroon from July 1996 to June 1997. In general, it aims to describe the current structure of the Cameroon logging industry, assess its importance within Cameroon's economy, and analyse recent developement which the industry has experienced since the devaluation of the CFA franc in January 1994.

The trade in illegally harvested timber provides a living for more than 45,000 people, a major source of income for corrupt officials and not a cent for the state.

Projects implemented as part of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) of the Kyoto Protocol will have the dual mandate of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and contributing to sustainable development. It is not yet clear what, if any, forestry activities will be eligible for CDM. Nor is it known what rules will guide the implementation of CDM projects. These decisions have important implications for poor people who live in and around forests in developing countries.

Projects implemented as part of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) of the Kyoto Protocol will have the dual mandate of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and contributing to sustainable development. It is not yet clear what, if any, forestry activities will be eligible for CDM. Nor is it known what rules will guide the implementation of CDM projects. These decisions have important implications for poor people who live in and around forests in developing countries.

Peru has the fourth largest area of peatlands in the Tropics. Its most representative land cover on peat is a Mauritia flexuosa dominated palm swamp (thereafter called dense PS), which has been under human pressure over decades due to the high demand for the M. flexuosa fruit often collected by cutting down the entire palm. Degradation of these carbon dense forests can substantially affect emissions of greenhouse gases and contribute to climate change. The first objective of this research was to assess the impact of dense PS degradation on forest structure and biomass carbon stocks.

Criteria and indicators (C&I) are tools to define, communicate and evaluate the sustainability of forest management. Since the Rio summit in 1992, numerous initiatives developed a various C&I sets as multifunctional tools to be applied for monitoring, auditing, science and decisions makers. The existing diversity of C&I sets is a cause for uncertainty and confusion, and thereby diminishes the acceptance and efficiency of the tool.